I can't wait for all these people who moved here to Texas from California and bought huge mini-mansions to get their first electric bill of the summer when the air conditioning gets cranked. They are going to be screaming.
I can't wait for all these people who moved here to Texas from California and bought huge mini-mansions to get their first electric bill of the summer when the air conditioning gets cranked. They are going to be screaming.
In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :
The rate for electricity on Texas is about half what it is in California. Probably less than half if you are in the upper tiers. I think they will be fine.
In reply to Boost_Crazy :
When I lived in California I saw houses that didn't even have a/c. Unless you are in the Central Valley it is much hotter in Texas. I know people in Dallas who pay $800 to $1,000 a month for electricity when they crank their a/c in the summer. I don't know what they pay in California, but $1,000 a month is a lot to pay for electricity. I guess if you can pay a million dollars cash for a house, you don't care.
When somebody from California pays half a million dollars for a house next door to me and these houses sold for $160,000 just 10 years ago, my property taxes go up like a rocket. We never had a Proposition 13 here. That might be OK for all you rich Californians,but at a certain point I'm going to have to move to Oklahoma or into a motorhome.
In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :
True, if you live within 20 miles or so of the coast you don't need AC in CA. But lots of people don't live within 20 miles of the coast. It doesn't take much to get an $800 bill in the summer here unfortunately. While prop 13 is one of the few things we got right (and are trying to end,) I'd gladly do a cost of living and taxes swap with Texas.
UP ten more cents yesterday.
Man I still can't figure out why gas prices are so high...... turn this off, shut that off, start a war, stop this other thing over here, deplete reserves..... guess it's all just bad luck.
I had to make a 320 mile trip from Ventura to Oceanside and back yesterday for a little business I own...$6.399 a gallon in Redondo Beach for 87 octane and that's with a ten cent grocery store discount thingy.
AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:Man I still can't figure out why gas prices are so high...... turn this off, shut that off, start a war, stop this other thing over here, deplete reserves..... guess it's all just bad luck.
...or the beginning of the end.
The price of your average three bedroom tract home in Denver is now $800,000. Rent is stoopid expensive here in Dallas. People are commuting from South Oklahoma to Dallas because of the housing shortage here and getting seriously whacked by the price of gas. Something has to break soon.
When Black Friday comes
I'll stand down by the door
And catch the grey men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor
When Black Friday comes
I'll collect everything I'm owed
And before my friends find out
I'll be on the road
When Black Friday falls
You know it's got to be
Don't let it fall on me
When Black Friday comes
I'll fly down to Muswellbrook
Gonna strike all the big red words
From my little black book
Gonna do just what I please
Gonna wear no socks and shoes
With nothing to do but feed
All the kangaroos
When Black Friday comes
I'll be on that hill
You know I will
When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna dig myself a hole
Gonna lay down in it
'Til I satisfy my soul
Gonna let the world pass by me
The Archbishop's gonna sanctify me
And if he don't come across
I'm gonna let it roll
When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna stake my claim
I'll guess I'll change my name
For anyone who's signed up for Advance Auto's Speed Perks, and also Shell's Fuel Rewards, they've now merged the two.
So when you buy parts for your hoopties from Advance(online, but pickup in store, because it's always cheaper than just walking in the door) you'll get $0.05/gal discount up to 20-gal. They'll accumulate too, so at one point I had $0.20-off when I got gas for the RV.
6.79 for non premium today in San Diego at the local station. Bought all of 3 gallons for the bike which will last me 10 days of commuting.
As for electricity cost we have the worst in the nation I think even worse then Hawaii. 37c per kwh here is Sunny San Diego.
My wife and I without me working the shop or welding, we don't use AC as we are on the water, and efficient appliances runs about 240$ a month. Some of the guys who live out east of me who have to run the AC 800-1100 a month is not uncommon for a 2.5K sqf house with a newer AC system.
In reply to wearymicrobe :
If you can get to the 76 Station on West 190 St. in Torrance (you know, the one DIRECTLY across the street from the berking oil refinery), you can get 87 octane for $6.299.
AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:Man I still can't figure out why gas prices are so high...... turn this off, shut that off, start a war, stop this other thing over here, deplete reserves..... guess it's all just bad luck.
such a mystery.... such a mystery.
RX Reven' said:In reply to wearymicrobe :
If you can get to the 76 Station on West 190 St. in Torrance (you know, the one DIRECTLY across the street from the berking oil refinery), you can get 87 octane for $6.299.
And if you go down 8 blocks to 182th st it's $5.65 for 87 octane at Arco
Just sayin......
Only a 104 mile drive for me. Could make the math work somehow. 
I paid $4.25 this morning at WalMart.
AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:Man I still can't figure out why gas prices are so high...... turn this off, shut that off, start a war, stop this other thing over here, deplete reserves..... guess it's all just bad luck.
According to some people, the President stands in front of a comically large gameshow knob labeled "gas prices" and they turn it while looking back at the audience for approval like on The Price Is Right.
AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:Man I still can't figure out why gas prices are so high...... turn this off, shut that off, start a war, stop this other thing over here, deplete reserves..... guess it's all just bad luck.
The primary driver of gas prices has always been supply vs demand. Demand is rising, supply has serious issues (some on purpose) and add in some uncertainty.
The real question is, when will it recovery, bounce back? End of the war (not looking likely anytime soon at this point) could help a bit (mostly with uncertainty since supply probably won't jump up?). It "looks" like OPEC has been bringing up production a bit (doesn't really look like a strong trend though), but demand is of course coming up (probably what the most recent spike is form, start of the summer travel season). No expert, but summer looks to be more of the same.
(OPEC Update, May 2022): https://seekingalpha.com/article/4513583-opec-update-may-2022
Of note, the production numbers (barrels a day) are still below what they where pre-s-show:
It's going to get "interesting" (scary?) next winter when the requirements of Europe start to jump up again and almost no supply from Russia. We can only hope someone is developing a plan for that...
So, why are gas prices so high? I can't quit figure it out. For reals.
In reply to wvumtnbkr :
Because the oil producers would rather collect more money than produce more oil.
But now Wall Street is scared because people who spend more at the pump are spending less at Target and Wal Mart, eating out less and canceling their Netflix subscriptions. This will not end well.
The basic reason is there is more demand for gas (oil) then there is supply currently.
I don't think, from the production (e.g. refining) side, "we want more money" makes any sense. On that side there is plenty of competition so that would have to be a massive conspiracy. On the supply side (holes in ground), that is almost a monopoly (for most of the supply) so "we want more money" so we won't supply more, is not an unreasonable assessment.
The market is super sensitive and really stupid in many way (e.g. known short term supply problems shoots prices up for no real reason), so I certainly won't justify it entirely.
It's nearly impossible to discuss this topic and not get political. But there is a line between "political" and "partisan", which it is possible to avoid. Supply & Demand is a good basic tool for discussing markets, but it falls short here. I don't believe there is a shortage of fuel in the world. There certainly doesn't seem to be in the U.S. I can go down to my local Citgo and the proprietor will happily sell me all the 87 octane I can fit in my tank for $4.49 per gallon. I have not heard of anyone not being able to buy gas because there wasn't gas to buy. The reason why supply & demand fails here is that fuel has a very inelastic demand curve. Most people have set their lives up in such a fashion that thy will consume a certain amount of fuel. When gas prices go up 50% in a few months, there really isn't the option to suddenly buy a hybrid, move closer to work, etc. There's "stickiness" in everyones' lives. Over a longer period of time, yes, people will make these changes, but not when the time horizon is measured in "months".
There has been discussion about at what point will people seriously start to curtail their usage in these short terms. This curtailing could range from the mild - not driving to church on Sundays, not going on vacations, not driving to go out to eat - to the extreme. At what point will people not drive to work? There's other activities besides driving that use fuel, too. I imagine pleasure boat use is going to decline somewhat. I need to buy 5 gallons of gas every few weeks for my mowers too. Especially in the spring. Will people not mow their lawns?
Think about diesel fuel for a minute. There is not one single tangible product you can name that does not require diesel fuel for some aspect of it's production cycle. Literally everything needs diesel fuel. Rising diesel prices will make everything more expensive.
When I was a teenager, minimum wage was $4.25 an hour. I think by the time I was in college and had a car it was $5.25. I know- I was getting paid that. At that time I recall filling up my truck for typically ~$1.50 a gallon. I remember when $2 a gallon gas was a big, expensive deal. But still - that was less than 40% of an hour's wage, at minimum wage. Now, minimum wage is what, $7.25? And gas is averaging over $4.50 a gallon? That's over 60% of an hour's wage. You don't need to be a member of the socialist party to realize that's a problem. I trend way more on the conservative/ classical liberal part of the spectrum, and I see this is a problem. Not only does it take a greater percentage of an hour's work at minimum wage to buy a gallon of gas, but as mentioned before, as diesel prices go, so goes the price of everything else. And to those who would say, just raise the minimum wage, I say, have you ever heard of the wage-price spiral?
As others have said, this pretty much has to end badly. Target, Wal-Mart, etc just reported earnings for the last quarter and it was a big whiff for both. When _discount_ retailers are reporting earnings are off, you know things are in a pinch. In rough economic times, discount retailers usually do better, as folks shift their spending to be more thrifty. But when they're cutting back spending there, those are big warning bells. Amazon's stock price has cratered, too, so the online retailers have been feeling it as well. All the Covid cash that the government printed and injected into the economy has been spent- which also likely contributed to the inflated prices and messed up supply & demand in other sectors of the economy (housing, lumber, etc). About the only bright side (for now...) is that we're still at full employment, but if these trends hold, that won't last.
A bit old (May 5), but apparently the northeast is seeing a shortage of diesel.
Streetwiseguy said:
Crossed a tooney per litre by me for 87-octane crap gas about a week ago, topped up 2 days ago and it was about 1.99/L
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