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International Herald Tribune
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With growth slowing, high energy prices that were once easily absorbed by consumers are now more likely to act as a drag on household budgets, leaving people with less money to spend elsewhere. These costs could exacerbate the nation’s economic woes, piling a fresh energy shock on top of the turmoil in credit and housing.
“The effect of high oil prices today could be the difference between having a recession and not having a recession,” said Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard University economist. The depth of the nation’s economic problems became clearer Tuesday with the release of figures showing that prices at the producer level rose 1 percent in January, driven in large measure by energy costs. Compared with a year ago, prices were up 7.4 percent, the worst producer price inflation in the United States since 1981.
In other news, Exxon has posted another record in profits.
The company reported Friday that it beat its own record for the highest profits ever recorded by any company, with net income rising 3 percent to $40.6 billion, thanks to surging oil prices. The company’s sales, more than $404 billion, exceeded the gross domestic product of 120 countries. The company also had its most profitable quarter ever. It said net income rose 14 percent, to $11.7 billion, or $2.13 a share, in the last three months of the year. The company handily beat analysts’ expectations of $1.95 a share, after missing targets in the last two quarters.
Of course Exxon is just a company that is doing exactly what’s expected of them by their stockholders. Enjoy! And have a great summer everyone!
“Ready to pay $4 per gallon at the pump?”
you betcha i am ready, the problem is it would have to drop to get to $4 per gallon.. translated we are paying 4.71 per gallon for normal 95 octane here in australia
welcome to the world economy, and peak oil.
#1 is that $4.71 AUD?
Yikes.
Time to dig out my bicycle.
Personally I can’t wait ’till bread costs over $100.00 a loaf. That’s when the mass lynchings of corrupt greedy corporate criminals and their political facilitators will start. Then maybe we can start the country over again.
Basically Exxon is a massive beneficiary of the fixed price futures market. It’s a racket.
And who says the Bush presidency has been a total failure?
One of the main policy goals of Dick Cheney’s energy summit has happened.
http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/global_gasprices/
We have it cheap still
I have friends in the EU that can afford a car but not to fill it with gas.
Holy crap!
Venezuela Caracas $0.12/gal.
“Venezuela Caracas $0.12/gal.”
– don’t they have WMDs in Venezuela? – we must invade them to be sure. Then we’d get cheap oil. And we’d be welcomed as liberators.
What could possibly go wrong?
Gas is already well above $4/gallon in most of Canada. Here in Winnipeg we pay $1.139/L, this translates to CA$4.311/gal (US$4.395).
When gas hits $4.00 a gallon my truck will double in value every time I fill the tank.
As a major Exxon/Mobil share holder for several decades, I’d like to thank each and every one of you. Keep driving and I’ll keep smiling. Oil is a commodity driven by market demand, nothing more. Get over yourselves…oops, I forget to whom I was typing.
All of you nimrods that blame Exxon/Mobil need to wakeup. The real problem is a total lack of a comprehensive energy policy in this country. The blame is equally shared by both the Democrats and the Republicans. OPEC is now addicted to $100 a barrel oil. The US must reduced our consumption of oil, increase supply of domestic oil, and find alternative sources of energy now!
High energy cost + resulting higher food cost (compounded by food resources being diverted to bio-fuels production) + declining property values + high taxes on producers = very deep recession or depression.
Even here in ‘oil-rich’ Alberta gas is $1.054/litre. That works out to about US $4.07 a gallon.
It took Bush and Cheney to make Gore’s dream of super-jacked gas prices a reality!
That Cheney must be a big closet environmentalist!
Think of all the conservation of our fossil fuels by people no longer buying SUVs and joy riding and otherwise frivolously wasting our resources.
Well, at least it keeps the old people off the roads and teenagers can’t afford to drive, so is this not key to a better world?
/Part joke, part not joke.
Um, I thought we invaded Iraq to keep gas prices down. You know — for the fuel perks!
WTF?!?!? We’ve been had!
I guess it’s always up to me to point out that we’re already paying $15/gal. We just don’t pay it at the pump. That means that we all subsidize GlobalWarmer (or whatever he’s calling himself these days) everytime he pulls his enormoSUV into the gas station.
http://tinyurl.com/yr2mh2
So, yes, I’d pay $4. I’d rather pay the full price $15+ at the pump rather than have it hidden in my tax bill. Maybe, just maybe, we’d make some better vehicle choices here in the Democratic People’s Republic of the Christian States of America.
The easiest route would be to bomb Saudi Arabia. They’re swimming in the oil money and they are the ones that collectively embark on raising the oil prices for their own profit so they can build more luxurious hotels, monuments, islands, gold toilets, whatever.
At least a positive thing out of these rising oil prices is that the automakers will have to make more fuel efficient cars in order to sell them. One thing that keeps on pissing me off is that the U.S. government is doing nothing to improve mass transportation such as trains. Why don’t we have efficient high speed trains when other countries have had them for decades?
Avgas (100 LL) is about US $6.50/gal. around DFW. In Arlington, 20 mi. away, it’s only $4.30. Airplane gas wars, who’d a thunk it?
That 4-banger Lycoming and 7.5 gph looks better every day.
I remember that when I was in school, in the late 80’s, I learnt that the US was the first producer AND the first importer of oil. I don’t know how it is nowadays.
Average gas price in the Netherlands is 1.55 Euro. That’s per liter by the way, so 3.785 liters per gallon would make it about 5.87 Euro per gallon. That’s about 8 dollar 80 per gallon. We pay this every day, so don’t bitch about 4 dollars per gallon….
Yes! Bring it on!
I would love to be as little as $4/gallon. It sure would make commuting a lot cheaper around here.
Why aren’t you guys cheering? Higher gas price has been the goal of the global warming crowd for decades, and it took George Bush’s foreign policy to make it happen, with an assist from Iran. As a result, the US has lowered its emissions of those deadly greenhouse gases. OK, Europe is still increasing, but you figure they’ll become Muslim soon enough, and then their emissions will plummet. So only China and India are left, and the next highest polluters are Brazil and Indonesia with their deforestation.
Welcome to the world
Why the north americans don’t use alcohol like the south americans? It’s very cheaper.
Flex fuel cars are a hit here in BraSil.
#24 – MikeN,
I’m sorry, was it not clear from my post that I do indeed welcome higher gas prices? My main point though is that $4 is not higher. We pay $15 now!!
I would rather pay my $15 at the pump rather than subsidizing the enormoSUVs of others with my tax bill. If we paid the $15 that we already pay anyway at the pump instead of in our tax bill, perhaps we’d have fewer Naggravators, Land Bruisers, Humpers, Pathgrinders, etc. on our roads.
The sign is hysterical and clever. I love it!
LOL
OMG
WTF
I’m surprised a station has not used this. Everyone knows the current naming convention is meaningless.
I’m with JPV!
I’m ready. So if it goes to $4, just adjust. The big rich oil companies get richer, so what, they have to spend it somewhere on planet Earth so we all win. You think they aren’t going to spend it? Show me anyone rich who doesn’t like spending their windfalls. They buy more things that need to be manufactured, which means more jobs. It’s only when they start sending the extra revenues to other economies to the countries of Venus, Mars, Jupiter, etc. that I worry.
Reminds me of the Carter/Ford days. Trying to sneak off-base with a tank full of aviation fuel, always wearing a sweater and making interest only payments on the food bill for my family of four!
WIN? (Whip Inflation Now)=========