I just heard on the Today show that gas is supposed to average over $5 a gallon by Memorial day. We are paying around $3.70 in Wisconsin right now.

I think that economy cars like the Fit will be HOT sellers and will bring top dollar on the used market!!!

 

Don't believe everything you see/hear. I'm not saying that it's impossible to happen, but the recent spike in crude oil prices is mostly because of the drama in Iran regarding their stance in exporting oil to European countries due to UN sanctions that they disagreed with, not because of anything "natural." The reports are just basing their predictions on the increasing prices of crude oil without looking at why the prices went up in the first place.

 

While I miss My 600hp Mustang at times,
I'm loving my new Fit and heck gas is already 5.00/gal here on the Westside of Los Angeles.

I'm laughing all the way to the bank with all the money I'm saving with my little Fit

 

Although I understand the thinking behind "ya cant believe everything ya hear" I betting if people arent slamming the phones or blowing up E-mailing their reps in goverment. We r going to get 5.00 bucks a gallon. Of the top 10 exports in America, Oil tops the list aint that funny. Not!!

 

TBH, I wish it would get to $8.00/gallon.

But I also only drive about 400 miles per month

 

Not to sound like a conspiracy nut, but I wonder if part of the reason of that "forecast" is to manipulate the stock market. When people think something is going to happen, some folks play the market a certain way. And even others bet on/against those people.

Anyway... as much as it will affect me, with my 1500 miles per month, I just don't care that much.

 

I'm fairly convinced that peak oil has either passed or is incipient to us currently. That is, we are at a point where all the very cheap to produce oil has been acquired, the yearly production of oil is about at its maximum, and the yearly supply will be (slowly/quickly) decreasing. regardless of the US, global oil demand is only going up as china and india industrialize/ enter the global middle class, while production cannot go much higher.

I picked the fit in part because its a decent hedge against future gas price spikes. But yeah, gas ain't ever going down in price.

 

Truth to that ^ with the latest snuffle in the gulf the speculators will drive the per barrel cost. Their profit our loss but, to paraphrase a TV great, that's the way it is folks.

 

I agree with Mike, 8 bucks sounds goOD to me. but my reasons might not be the same. Its an est. of course but about 4 billion taxpayers money has gone to the oil industries each individually (for research). the dems tried to stop the welfare last time but the rep. stopped the passage. If it would go up we could find other ways to fuel our cars and get off the oil already. Nascar's cars run on ethonal, if they can do that, why cant we. Look at brazil, they told the auto makers to make a car that can run on both, that badge you see on the back of some cars that read FLEX/FUEL is a car that has a computer that adjusts the timing of the motor for ethonal. Sorry guys and gals. but we could make our own fuel, and we sure could pick a better producing plant to do it. Corn give me a break. Rant is now over.LOL

 

While there aren't any signs of that not being the case, we'll never know that for sure. When crude oil was north of $130 per barrel in summer 2008 and gas was above $4.50 per gallon (as I was paying as high as $4.82 per gallon of super unleaded that June), people thought that prices would continue to increase (and I remember the headlines), but in the same calender year, I watched crude oil fall to well below $60 per barrel and was paying around $1.89 per gallon of super unleaded throughout most of December 2008. Nobody predicted that gas prices would drop up to 60% that year either. However, I'm not holding my breath for that to happen.

 

Alot has changed in 4 yrs. but then again they are the same.

 

Barring a second global recession, gas ain't going down. And clearly the conditions necessary for that are even worse than gas prices going back up.

 

Won't inflation ride on the back of higher gas prices?
I see 30% tacked on as a fuel surcharge when I ship FedEx now.
Warranted or not, if gas goes up 35% I think we'll see everyone raising prices on all products due to increased shipping and manufacturing costs.

 

Higher gas prices will just slow down or end any possible recovery. As soon as they go up, folks start cutting cut back in other places.

By the way, Fitch just downgraded Greece to junk bond status and said a default there would be likely in the near term (even with the approved EU bailout). If we all remember, one of the reasons oil prices were run up during the negotiation period was due to optimism of the bailout package being completed. What a scam. Fitch downgrades Greece - Yahoo! Finance

 

Mild inflation would be good though. Since debt is paid in nominal dollars, inflation effectively cuts everyone's debts.

 

and taxes everyone holding the debt...

Not that I'm against this, my bond portfolio is pretty slim (non-existent).

My main investment is the Fit (it's done better than the house and 401K...), so higher gas prices warms the cockles of my heart.

 

Its all about OPEC reliance... we have oil in the country, but we choose not to drill it. We have oil from Canada but idiots won't let us a build a pipeline to get that oil here. And no one wants a refinery in their back yard either. Make your votes count in Nov, or you'll easily see $8-10/gallon gas in the next 4 years.

 

Oh please.

Crude is sold on an international market. The only thing that will change the market is if we decide to make oil a strategic resource and nationalize reserves, production, and distribution. The end result of this would be higher oil prices than if we let the market forces work.

If Canadian oil companies can't sell tar sand crude through Louisiana they'll just have to build a pipeline to Lake Superior and ship it from there. Yeah they'd prefer to pipe it through the US due to lower costs and excess refining capacity in Louisiana, but I'm not really feeling their pain, nor do the states where it would pass. What's that? Canada doesn't want to risk their own ecosystem? Go figure.

The price of oil is entirely dependent on worldwide demand and supply. Granted we have more than our share of the former and less of the latter, but the only thing that's going to change that is higher prices for crude, making it economical to extract the oil that remains in places like Wyoming and Texas not to mention deep offshore drilling while driving down the demand through more efficient Japanese cars. At some time the cost of crude will make other energy sources cost effective and we can thumb our noses at OPEC once and for all. Until then we may as well suck their wells dry.

"Drill here, drill now, pay less" is nothing but a political slogan to garner the SUV driver vote.

Edit: The current Keystone XL pipeline issue is over extending it from Oklahoma to Texas (not Alberta to New Orleans as I wrote). Plus a new pipeline to increase capacity from Alberta to Nebraska where it meets up with the existing pipe.

The whole thing is silly; it's about them getting the oil to a better market than Oklahoma where they'll get a better price. Not that it's going to lower prices for anyone buying gas (quite the opposite, Oklahomans will see their fuel costs go up). It's become a rallying cry for both left and right. The only benefactor would be the oil companies; they'll get a better price for their oil than they do now, the the detriment of Oklahoma and its neighbors.

 

Yup. I just got out of a presentation by a financial advisor this morning who mentioned that they were downgraded to a C rating or something like that.

It's possible that those in control are saving it for a rainy day. At that point when everyone else has exhausted their supply (or cannot produce enough to meet their share of the global demand) or tries to bully us into ridiculous crude oil prices or just refuses to sell, then maybe the domestic supply will be tapped. But that's just my guess, and it's pure speculation.

 

Most of the oil in the US is very costly to get out of the ground. Those costs include really really nasty environmental costs with lots of water usage in areas without lots of extra water, high energy costs to get out, and high refining costs as this oil is nasty. By their nature, these sorts of projects are not a solution to high oil prices, but a consequence, as they are only profitable if oil is expensive.