Car Talk
- Thread starter JHDK
- Start date
Wolf
AI is here, time to obey our robot overlords!
I'd like someone (not DRC, a gas company exec) to explain this:
June 2008: Crude oil $140/barrel
June 2008: Gas price $4.10/gallon
March 2022: Crude oil $98/barrel
March 2022: Gas price $4.32/gallon
Sources:
tradingeconomics.com
June 2008: Crude oil $140/barrel
June 2008: Gas price $4.10/gallon
March 2022: Crude oil $98/barrel
March 2022: Gas price $4.32/gallon
Sources:
Crude Oil - Price - Chart - Historical Data - News
Crude Oil rose to 92.77 USD/Bbl on June 7, 2026, up 2.47% from the previous day. Over the past month, Crude Oil's price has fallen 2.77%, but it is still 42.10% higher than a year ago, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity...
tradingeconomics.com
I can swear you already posted this meme, and I responded to it. But the simple answer is the value of the dollar. Unless inflation is zero for 14 years, you can't compare prices. I believe when I looked this up, the 2008 price of about $4/gal is equivalent to like $5.50 now. Also, it's a meme, so they take liberties. I'll bet any amount of money that in June 2008, a barrel of oil was at $140 for like one day. The rest of the time, it was between $100 and $120. But that wouldn't be as interesting, right? You can go right now, and look at how oil prices change. Sometimes, there's a disaster, or a war breaks out, and the price jumps. But the gas stations already have their immediate supply, so the price at the pump doesn't always match the daily price of oil.I'd like someone (not DRC, a gas company exec) to explain this:
June 2008: Crude oil $140/barrel
June 2008: Gas price $4.10/gallon
March 2022: Crude oil $98/barrel
March 2022: Gas price $4.32/gallon
Sources:
Crude Oil - Price - Chart - Historical Data - News
Crude Oil rose to 92.77 USD/Bbl on June 7, 2026, up 2.47% from the previous day. Over the past month, Crude Oil's price has fallen 2.77%, but it is still 42.10% higher than a year ago, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity...
But lastly - and this is the big one - have you noticed the price of everything?!?! If food and services are up 30 - 40% because of the pandemic world we live in, why would gas be immune from that? If you took the 2008 gas price, adjusted for inflation, then added 30% for supply chain shortages and labor costs, you'd get $7/gal. Yet we're only paying $4.32, so what's everyone complaining about?
Oh, and just like the responses above in this thread, the price of a gallon of gas is highly dependent on location, and the meme doesn't indicate where those prices were taken from.
On this chart, oil is at $127 in June 2008, and $128 in July. It very well could have hit $140 at some point in June, but it averaged $127.
I wasn't sure myself.
I don't think what I posted is a meme?
a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc., that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by internet users
I posted two values from a government website (the U.S. Energy Information Administration) and another from a site that tracks trade.
I may be ignorant on this matter, but the way I see it, if prices go up for gas due to inflation, so wouldn't the price of a barrel of crude oil?
Again, I may be ignorant on this, but wouldn't crude oil go up the same amount? If a loaf of bread doubles, a gallon of milk doubles, a 9 volt batter doubles, and a gallon of gas doubles, should a a barrel of oil do (basically) the same?
It varies from region to region, but the numbers I posted above are the country's average. If a loaf of bread goes from $1.25 to $2.50 in California, and 75 cents to $1.50 in Vermont, you take the average and say "nationally bread went from $1 to $2 a loaf" I would think?
Fair enough. The value I took from my source was dated first of the month. But it's still not $98, and gas is still higher too.
California charges a 51¢-a-gallon excise tax, the highest in the nation, on gasoline. There is also a 2.25% sales tax on gasoline, so we're paying a tax on top of a tax! And there is a "mystery surcharge." Nobody seems to know what it is for.
thehill.com
Why California has the highest gas prices in the nation
California has the most expensive gas in the nation, reaching an average statewide price of $5.44 per gallon in early March even as the nationwide average set a record of $4.173. Experts say …
thehill.com
OK, so I'll start with an apology; because I searched DRC, and although we did discuss this in the Patriotic thread, the wording you just posted here (which I called a meme) was not posted here. I probably saw it on Facebook. I call it a meme because the one I saw previously was word-for-word identical. You can call it an urban legend if you like.
I see the logic of assuming that everything in 2008 is priced relative to each other, and so it's the same today. But it's not that simple. You can't compare a raw material (oil) to a refined product that has been shipped and trucked and handled by laborers, and sold and resold. All I can say is that the people who put together that particularly-worded price comparison are trying to make a point, and are disregarding the tremendous complexities and factors that should be considered, before coming to such a conclusion.
IMO, here's the short answer. If everything today has shot up 50% because of the world market (supply chain, worker shortage, demand), why single-out a gallon of gas? Anyone can make a similar chart for anything. You can list the raw ingredients that go into a cake, for instance. So my point is that the chart/meme/urban-legend intentionally disregards all the other factors that we know exist. They found some stats that fit their predetermined conclusion.
IdRatherBeSkiing
Sherbert is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
The price of everything is up because the price to transport anything anywhere is up because the price of gas (particularly diesel) is up.
But the real answer is oil companies are crooks. At some point in the past where there were some fluctuations here are 2 quotes from the same oil company spokesgroup explaining how the price of gas is or is not tied to the price of oil. 1st quote is when gas prices were going up and the price of oil was going up:
"The price of gas is directly tied to the price of oil. When the price of oil goes up, the price of gas must go up".
2nd quote is when price of oil was falling and gas was not:
"The price of gas is not tied to the price of oil. The relationship between the 2 is complex and the change in price of oil does not necessarily immediately cause a change in price of gas".
Look at the annual reports of Exxon and other oil companies this year and you will find their bottom line did very well.
ExxonMobil posts biggest quarterly profit ever, $14.8B
By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
October 30, 2008
ExxonMobil said Thursday that third-quarter earnings jumped 58% to nearly $15 billion, solidly beating estimates and setting another record for the biggest profit by a U.S. corporation as higher refining margins offset the initial drop in crude oil prices.
I can't imagine the profits they're making right now off of us all.
I'm not about to defend big oil, but let me just mention how business works. When we were building our house, there were a series of hurricanes in Florida, Texas, and Puerto Rico. The price of our underground electrical conduit went from $800 to over $2,000, because it was all going to the disaster zones. My builder still added his 20-point (25%) margin to the higher-priced material. So he made several hundred more in profit from that one price hike, which had nothing to do with him. That's how business works. When any company is doing well, and making higher sales, the profit margins are always higher. They're not charities, or non-profits.
But that's exactly what's happening with most businesses, such as restaurants. In normal times, maybe they wouldn't, but after 2 years of scraping by, they need to keep their places open, and make a profit.
I hope the are able to make it through these troubled times….
Wow, that was pretty close!
You're mashing together 2 different conversations. The oil companies are making more profit, because overall prices are higher. I'm not sure what everyone's expecting them to do. If they "scraped-by", and lowered their profits, your $4.59 gallon of gas might drop to $4.57. It's not going to drop to $2.99, because they're only a small part of the overall process.
This whole topic is as silly and futile as complaining about CEO pay, as if that's going to fix anything.
It's not futile if complaining makes me feel a little better about it.
Like Eminem once said:
"I'll be in a canoe paddling, making fun of your yacht"
And every revolution starts with the masses complaining. Actually, I just made that up. But it sounds good.
Like Eminem once said:
"I'll be in a canoe paddling, making fun of your yacht"
And every revolution starts with the masses complaining. Actually, I just made that up. But it sounds good.
Customers, shareholders, and employees can put a bit of pressure on companies that gouge the public like a lot of them are doing. Granted, it doesn’t happen often, but it should.
And yes, there is a decent amount of jealousy involved because I can’t crank my fees up for no good reason.
And yes, there is a decent amount of jealousy involved because I can’t crank my fees up for no good reason.