Gas Prices Below $2 in plezWorld

Running around town over the weekend, plezWorld was shocked when I started seeing consistent gasoline prices under $2 per gallon. Less than 2 months ago, people in metro Atlanta were suffering through a 3 week gasoline shortage that was exacerbated by $4 per gallon gasoline (for regular). Today, premium was at $1.999... prices haven't been this low in over 2 years.

The gasoline prices have followed the $150 per barrel oil that has recently dipped to just below $50 per barrel!

No complaints here, but one has to wonder what is driving the drastic price drop and volatility in the price over the past 2 months. Demand has certainly dropped, plezWorld has tried to conserve as much as possible. And it is quite possible that the worldwide recession has decreased demand, as well.

An article in CNN.com reports that the average price of self-serve, unleaded gasoline on Friday in the United States was $1.97, said Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the Lundberg Survey. The last time the price was below $2 was on March 4, 2005, she said. The all-time high average was $4.11, set on July 11, according to Lundberg, and prices have been dropping ever since.

Lundberg attributed the price reductions to a drop in crude oil prices and demand, and also because of low refining margins.

"Crude oil remains [the] main driver," for the decline, she said, noting that crude oil futures settled on Friday below $50.

Demand is always low in November, she said, but the weakening economy is reducing it further. However, Lundberg said that if crude oil prices do not fall further, "then the end of this [gasoline] price crash is either here or near." The Lundberg Survey is based on responses from more than 5,000 service stations nationwide.

An article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution cites the weakening economy for the price drop. The article states that The decline in sales was led by a huge drop in auto purchases, but sales of all types of products from furniture to clothing fell as consumers retrenched. That likely means fewer vehicle miles driven, both because of job losses and less trips to the shopping mall and less money spent on vacations. Businesses are slowing down as consumption drags.

~ ~ ~

plez sez: there are hopes that home heating costs will drop along with the gasoline prices.

and there are hopes that demand will not increase dramatically with the lower prices. there are some who will abandon their conservation efforts now that it costs less than half of what it did only six weeks ago to fill up.

it appears that holiday shopping and travel will be way down from last year. i know that plezWorld is buying fewer christmas presents this year and there won't be any interstate travel until the new year... we're driving up to washington, dc for the Obama inauguration! it'll be a lot easier on the family budget to fill up the suv at $2 per gallon as opposed to $4 per gallon!

~ ~ Citations ~ ~

Read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article about lower gas prices in Georgia.

Read the CNN.com article about $2 per gallon gasoline around the US.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gas Shortage in Atlanta, Georgia

The following CNN.com report is over a week old and the gas shortage in the Atlanta, Georgia area has gotten worse! Last week, I did notice that in many gas stations, only one or two grades of gas were available. In the last two days, very few gas stations in the area where I live (in DeKalb County, just east of downtown Atlanta) have any gasoline at all. And the few that do will have long lines where you'll have to wait over 30 minutes before you can get to a pump.

On Sunday evening, I ventured out to fill my wife's car. My first stop was a QuickTrip that had a line wrapped around the building, by some estimates, it was at least an hour wait for gasoline. After driving around for 30 minutes I found a long line at a Shell station. I had to wait over 20 minutes in line and the only gas available was premium grade at $4.4999 per gallon.

This morning, I took my car out to get gas and the Shell station was out. After driving around for 45 minutes, I found a BP station with gas. A 30 minute wait and the only gas available was premium grade at $4.499 per gallon. It cost over $150 to fill both cars' tanks.

The following CNN iReporter called the governor's office about the gasoline shortage in Georgia:

The following CNN iReporter drove around for hours trying to find gas in the north Atlanta suburbs:

Read the CNN.com article from last week about the gasoline shortage in Atlanta here.

plez sez: woe is me! i wasn't driving during the gasoline shortage of the mid-70's, but remember riding around with my father trying to get gas for the family's Cadillac. it was frustrating with all the gas rations and stuff.

i would like to know when the problem (whatever the problem is) will be solved. i've heard that the refineries were damaged by hurricanes gustav and ike. i've heard the gas pipeline that runs through georgia was damaged by the hurricanes. i've heard the "shortage" really isn't a shortage, but just rationing in certain states. i've heard that the special gas that we use in georgia is in short supply, thus causing the shortage. and a week ago, i heard the issue would be resolved in a week!

i'm concerned for the public safety: the longer this goes on, the increased likelihood that someone is going to get hurt because of (a) traffic problems around gas stations, (b) high costs causing some to try illegal means of obtaining gasoline, or (c) random violence fueled by the long lines and frustration of trying to find a station that has gasoline for sale. today, a discourteous driver cut me off as i tried to make my way to the pump. instead of escalating the situation, i calmly moved to another pump... but everyone isn't as cool and clear headed as plezWorld!

we can only hope that this shortage clears up in the coming days.

High Oil Prices Yield Iraq $79 Billion Surplus

Since the US invaded Iraq, we have spent $48 billion rebuilding the country. In 2009, the United States is predicting a record budget deficit of $482 billion.

The New York Times reports that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has concluded in an analysis released on August 5, 2008, the soaring price of oil will leave the Iraqi government with a cumulative budget surplus of $79 billion by end of this year. The unspent windfall, which covers surpluses from oil sales from 2005 through 2008.

Over all, the report from the GAO estimates, Iraqi oil revenue from 2005 through the end of this year will amount to at least $156 billion. And in sick financial twist, large amounts of the surplus money is sitting in an American bank in New York — nearly $10 billion at the end of 2007, with more expected this year.

The report was requested by two senior senators, Carl Levin (D-MI) and John W. Warner (R-VA), and on Tuesday they were quick to express strong dissatisfaction over the contrast between American taxpayer spending on reconstruction and the weak record of spending by Iraq itself, in spite of the colossal surpluses. Sen. Levin is quoted as saying, "We should not be paying for Iraqi projects while Iraqi oil revenues continue to pile up in the bank, including outrageous profits from $4-a-gallon gas prices in the U.S. We should require that U.S. taxpayers be reimbursed for the cost of large projects."

The senators pointed out in a statement that in 2007, for example, Iraq actually spent only 28 percent of its $12 billion dollar reconstruction budget according to the accountability office – and even that number could overstate the success rate in most of Iraq, since $2 billion of the spending took place in relatively peaceful confines of the northern Kurdish region.

In response to this report, Deputy Treasury Secretary Andy Baukol agreed with the figures while also stressing “Iraq’s commitment to use its growing revenues.” The remark may sound a bit farcical, since the US is poised to post its biggest budget deficit EVER! To make matters worse, 90 percent of Iraqi’s revenues are from oil, the surging price of which has pushed gasoline prices north of $4 per gallon and has wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy.

In 2003, then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz told the House Appropriations Committee, "We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon."

Read the entire New York Times article on the Iraqi surplus here and here.

Read the entire CNN.com article on the Iraqi surplus here.


plez sez: ONE MORE REASON to IMPEACH George W. Bush and Dick Cheney!

on top of their lies, a new Ron Suskind book alleges that the bush administration ordered the CIA to forge documents from iraqi intelligence to saddam hussein while making case for war in 2003), the iraqi government is housing BILLIONS in oil revenue surpluses in american banks (drawing MILLIONS in interest) while our economy has been driven to the brink of disaster (the eighth american bank this year failed last week in florida).

as if the lies and weak economy weren't enough, the US is spending BILLIONS of dollars rebuilding a country that is literally sitting on BILLIONS of dollars. there is no plan for repayment, no plan for restitution to the american taxpayer who has shouldered the burden of the war in iraq as well as the rebuilding effort. the oil companies are lining their pockets, thanks to the no-bid contracts they were awarded last month in iraq.

after it is all said and done... the american people, well, the poor and middle-class american people are being screwed (AGAIN!) by the bush administration. is anyone surprised?!?

For All the Oil in Iraq - Part 2

About ten days ago, plezWorld went out on a limb and opined that the US had everything to do with the Iraqi oil field no-bid contracts going to American oil companies. The New York Times reports that a group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies to develop some of the largest fields in Iraq.

Excerpts from the article continue:

The disclosure, coming on the eve of the contracts’ announcement, is the first confirmation of direct involvement by the Bush administration in deals to open Iraq’s oil to commercial development and is likely to stoke criticism.

In their role as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, American government lawyers and private-sector consultants provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts, advisers and a senior State Department official said. It is unclear how much influence their work had on the ministry’s decisions.

At a time of spiraling oil prices, the no-bid contracts, in a country with some of the world’s largest untapped fields and potential for vast profits, are a rare prize to the industry. The contracts are expected to be awarded Monday to Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, Total and Chevron, as well as to several smaller oil companies.

The deals have been criticized by opponents of the Iraq war, who accuse the Bush administration of working behind the scenes to ensure Western access to Iraqi oil fields even as most other oil-exporting countries have been sharply limiting the roles of international oil companies in development.

Read the entire New York Times article on about the US government's involvement in the awarding of no-bid oil field contracts in Iraq here.



plez sez: it's good to see that the ole crystal ball still works!

the funniest line in the article (more than likely added by the editor for some comic relief): "It is unclear how much influence the [US government's] work had on the ministry’s decisions."

since the bush administration is getting ready to vacate the white house, i guess it is time for all of the weasels to come out and start claiming their booty in iraq. it is a shame that bush (and cheney) will not be brought to task for their high crimes and profiteering associated with the invasion and occupation of iraq. gasoline has topped $4 a gallon here in atlanta (i'm paying about $4.20 a gallon for midgrade) and the bush and cheney are riding to the bank on the backs of every american who puts fuel in their car and truck... enough to make me ill!

...for all the oil in Iraq!

Atlanta Commutes Changing

Four dollar gasoline is finally driving Atlantans from their love affair with gridlock and rush hour traffic. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that traffic is down and MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) ridership is up... way up! The traffic in Atlanta is considered by many to be the worse on the planet, but there are indications that the sudden rise in gas prices are finally forcing commuters in the metro Atlanta area to consider alternate routes: MARTA, van pools, commuter buses, telecommuting, etc.

Atlanta's gas price has risen from $3 to $4 a gallon in six short months. The ARC ride-share database shows a 221 percent increase in car pool applications over the past year (May 2007 vs. May 2008), more people are considering riding with anyone who is heading to the same place. MARTA Rail ridership is up by 15 percent from a year ago. MARTA only covers Fulton and DeKalb Counties, other metro counties have express buses which feed into the MARTA System. Express bus ridership is up 67 from a year ago and there are signs that it will continue to increase as gasoline prices rise and folk have 30 to 50 mile drives into Atlanta. Douglas County vanpool ridership is up 160 percent from a year ago.

Read the entire AJC article on Atlanta's changing commuters here.


plez sez: i have one of those gas guzzling SUVs in my garage... and i leave it in the garage as much as possible. i consolidate trips, no more idling in fast food drive-thru - i go inside, only attend meetings that require my attendance.

i still wince and cuss george w. bush everytime i have to spend another $70 to fill that sucker up! thankfully, i'm able to get most of my work done from my home office, i cannot even imagine having to commute in atlanta's traffic... i would be on one of those express buses or at the MARTA station... no doubt!

For All the Oil in Iraq

Thirty-six years ago, Saddam Hussein rose to power in Iraq. From his lofty perch, he nationalized the Iraqi oil fields and kicked all of the oil companies out of the country.

Since that time, Iraq has gone to war with Iran (that lasted about 10 years). He tried to invade Kuwait and was repelled by US forces. And then on September 11, 2001, the United States was attacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists at the behest of Osama bin Laden (who was holed up in Afghanistan), and a few years later we declared war on Iraq. The US has been at "war" with Iraq for over five years, even though, Saddam Hussein was captured and hanged less than a year into the conflict.

Well, the New York Times reports that Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields. Only 4,000 US troop deaths into the War in Iraq and the greedy US oil companies are slithering into the Iraq for what they've been waiting for these long five years. The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.

There was suspicion among many in the Arab world and among parts of the American public that the United States had gone to war in Iraq precisely to secure the oil wealth these contracts seek to extract. The Bush administration has said that the war was necessary to combat terrorism. It is not clear what role the United States played in awarding the contracts; there are still American advisers to Iraq’s Oil Ministry.

Read the entire New York Times article on how US oil companies are chomping at the bit to do business in Iraq here.

plez sez: cajones... mucho gusto cajones

i guess someone has to refurbish the crumbling iraqi oil field infrastructure. someone has to get them on the right footing. it may as well be companies from the country that liberated iraq, right?

and dick cheney and those americans who advise the iraqi oil ministry had nothing to do with the awarding of no-bid contracts to the biggest and greediest oil companies in the us!

do you think this will increase the supply of crude oil enough to drop the price of gasoline back to $2 a gallon? me neither!

plezWorld & High Gas Prices

On April 26, 2006, I wrote the following:

plez sez: Just in time for the November elections. We'll be nice and desensitized to paying over $3.00 per gallon, and this will be a non-issue. Frankly, I've already forgotten what it's like to have gasoline for under $2.00 per gallon (and that was just 12 months ago)!

You can read the entite blog post here.

two years ago, i longed for the days of $2.00 gasoline. now plezWorld is paying double that per gallon and spending more than $80 to fill up the ole' Eddie Bauer. i like the get-up-and-go of a 5.0 liter V-8 engine, but it doesn't make much sense to drive around in something that literally guzzles gas. i am planning on getting a new car in a few years, but that cold-blooded Cadillac Escalade is not looking like a wise investment... even though, i could probably get a good price on one!

when is the escalating gas prices going to end? will the price ever go down to under $3 a gallon?

Obama Not Really Hurt by Wright

An op-ed piece and an article in The New York Times over the past couple of days show that Obama's support among Democratic voters is not deteriorating as badly as is being portrayed in the media. The Clintonistas and the media have been crowing about Obama's loss of support since the Rev. Wright incident. As much as Obama has been trying to move past the divisive rhetoric of the Wright brouhaha, the media and Hillary Clinton have been keeping it at the top of broadcasts for the past five weeks.

New York Times columnist Charles Blow wrote about a "Blacklash" in his May 3rd op-ed piece about the Democratic nomination contest. Excerpts from the op-ed piece follows:

The rhetoric appears to be trafficking in old fears and historic stereotypes. The unspoken (and confusing) characterization of Obama is that he’s militant yet cowardly; uppity yet too cool for school.

The question is this: Have white Democrats soured on Obama? Apparently not. Although his unfavorable rating from the group is up five percentage points since last summer in polls conducted by The New York Times and CBS News, his favorable rating is up just as much. While a favorable opinion doesn’t necessarily translate into a vote, this should still give the Clintons (and the superdelegates) pause. Electability cuts both ways.

Many blacks are aghast that their extraordinary support of Bill Clinton in the past would be repaid by the Clintons with racial innuendo (in a Times/CBS News poll after the salacious 1998 Starr report was released, his unfavorable rating among whites climbed to 52 percent; among blacks it was only 10 percent). [Many] who stood by him then now apparently feel betrayed.

Recent polls by The New York Times and CBS News show that Hillary Clinton's support has eroded with the Black community far more than Barack Obama's support among white Democrats. The graphic below shows Hillary's support with Black Democrats has eroded by over 35 percentage points since last summer and took a real nosedive after the primary season began this year. In contrast, over the same time period, Obama's support among white voters has risen by 5 percentage points.

Each candidate has a core constituency that is needed for the election in November: Clinton's working class whites and Obama's Blacks and affluent whites. After the nominee is selected in Denver, the Democratic Party is going to have to do a huge PR campaign to bring the other's voters into the fold for the fall election.

Excerpts from The New York Times article on Rev. Wright follows:

A majority of American voters say that the furor over the relationship between Senator Barack Obama and his former pastor has not affected their opinion of Mr. Obama, but a substantial number say that it could influence voters this fall should he be the Democratic presidential nominee, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

At the same time, an overwhelming majority of voters said candidates calling for the suspension of the federal gasoline tax this summer were acting to help themselves politically, rather than to help ordinary Americans. Mr. Obama’s rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, has made the suspension of the gas tax a centerpiece of her campaign in recent days.

In the survey, taken in the days leading up to the primaries on Tuesday in Indiana and North Carolina, Americans were divided over the merits of the gasoline-tax suspension, which has also been backed by the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, and condemned by Mr. Obama as political gimmickry.

Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama spent the final Sunday before the two primaries debating the gas-tax holiday and other issues on morning talk shows and in events across Indiana.

Read the entire New York Times op-ed piece about the graphic here.

Read the entire New York Times article about Rev. Wright's affect on Obama's support here.


plez sez: i'm not a big fan of polls and celebrity endorsements. and even though the poll above doesn't reflect a loss in support, one would have to be deaf and dumb to believe that there was no loss based on Obama's performance in the pennsylvania primary. and if he was such a hot commodity, then he would easily win the primaries in Indiana and North Carolina this week.

i still contend that Obama is the strongest democratic candidate, but i cannot be sure that the Clintonistas don't have another couple of tricks up their sleeve to grab the nomination at the convention.

if Obama is not the democratic candidate against john mccain, then john mccain will be the next president. i'm not saying that Obama is a shoo-in against mccain, but i KNOW billary will never win because more democrats won't be voting for hillary than won't be voting for Obama!

$4 Per Gallon of Gas in Our Future?

Over the weekend, plezWorld pumped $30 of gasoline into the SUV, that thirty dollars filled less than half of the tank! I drove to DisneyWorld a few weeks ago, other than tickets to the parks, the cost of gasoline was our biggest expense (over $300).

A report in the New York Times says that for the first time, regular unleaded is over $3.50 a gallon nationwide. According to AAA, gasoline prices will be at or near $4 a gallon by this summer.

Simple economics is a major driver of price: OPEC countries (which control about 40% of the oil production) have kept their supplies to the global market constant as the demand for oil has risen with emerging economies in Asia. The demand here in the United States is as high as it ever was. The price of gasoline is 22% higher than last year.

The price of oil topped $100 a barrel earlier this year, it is now hovering around $120. Some analyst expect the price to reach $125 per barrel this year. The price of crude oil has quadrupled in the past five years!

In addition to the increased demand for steady supply, the slowing economy and the weak dollar in the US has also played a role in the higher prices.

Unless we reduce our demand for oil or we find another BIG ASS supply (the US consumes about 20 million barrels of oil per day), the prices will remain high.

Read the entire New York Times article here.


plez sez: so much for the guaranteed oil that was going to help pay for the war in iraq. so much for having an "oil man" in the white house.

at four dollars a gallon, it will take close to $80 to fill up my suv. i'm kind of tall and don't want to have to by a Prius... i guess we're going to have to suck it up and steel ourselves against gasoline prices when they go over four dollars a gallon!

i had a blog post almost 2 years ago (April 2006) where plezWorld decried $3 per gallon gasoline. what i wouldn't give for $3 gasoline today!

labels: oil, gasoline, economy, opec, war in iraq, george bush,

Most Say Nation Headed in Wrong Direction

The New York Times reports that 81 percent of Americans who participated in a poll say that this country is headed on the wrong track. With the war on terrorism flagging, more than 4,000 US troops killed in Iraq over the past 5 years, the mortgage mess, the credit crunch, gasoline prices approaching $4 a gallon, three months of job losses, the stock market declines, the $150 billion cash band-aid, and an economy that is on the brink of a recession... there's not too much to cheer about around here!

An excerpt from the article reads:

A majority of nearly every demographic and political group — Democrats and Republicans, men and women, residents of cities and rural areas, college graduates and those who finished only high school — say the United States is headed in the wrong direction. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said the country was worse off than five years ago; just 4 percent said it was better off.

The dissatisfaction is especially striking because public opinion usually hits its low point only in the months and years after an economic downturn, not at the beginning of one. Today, however, Americans report being deeply worried about the country[...].

Only 21 percent of respondents said the overall economy was in good condition, the lowest such number since late 1992, when the recession that began in the summer of 1990 had already been over for more than a year. In the latest poll, two in three people said they believed the economy was in recession today.

Read the entire New York Times article here.


plez sez: when over four-fifths of the respondents say the same thing, you can probably take the results to the bank. but did anyone have to do a poll to know that almost every demographic has been adversely affected by the policies of the bush administration? every demographic has been adversely affected by the war. every demographic has been adversely affected by the mortgage mess. every demographic has to damn near empty their wallets to fill their gas tanks these days.

this poll leads me to wonder what drugs those 19 percent who think the country is on the right track are taking. they must be taking that good stuff if they are oblivious or unaffected by the severe downturn in the US economy... or they're making a lot of money because of it!