Gas Prices Going UP!!

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:10 pm

Quote:

"We don't have a shortage of gasoline. We have a delivery problem," said Bill Weatherspoon, executive director of the North Carolina Petroleum Council, which represents major retailers that get gasoline from the pipelines.

Quote:

Although police in Charlotte, N.C., reported prior to daybreak that only 30 of Mecklenbur County's 230 fueling stations were out of gas, that number appeared to grow considerably Thursday as drivers continued to crowd the open stations, fearing a shortage. On some busy streets, stations that did have gas were seeing lines that were causing traffic backups.

Charles Richardson, assistant manager of a gas station in Charlotte, said his was one of the few stations in the city that had received gas since Monday. "We ran out yesterday, but we got a drop this morning," he said.

jimpastorius · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:21 pm

Rich Anderson wrote:

Translation: I am telling you all that we will be out of gas, am doing what I can for the government, but screw the rest of you, have fun with the wolves! Nice job. Someone bump this thread back to the top for me at election time please. :roll:

[rant]
Prefix: I did not vote for Easley. But what do you want the North Carolina government to do? Capping the price at $2.50 is not going to increase your supply. Them stating the obvious does no harm. The private analyst on Fox, MSNBC, CNN have been predicting this before the storm. Do we now muzzle them and trash the first amendment?

Big deal we have to pay $4-$5 a gallon and maybe wait in line for a hour or two over the next few days. We are in a lot better position than the people of the Gulf Coast. Geez, some people can not afford to tow their cars to the test and tune this weekend :roll:

...at least they still have their car, tow rig and have the option to go.

I am sure we will be back to $2.70 a gallon and the longest line is for your lottery ticket in the next week or so. A lot quicker recovery than others.
[/rant]

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

Rich Anderson wrote:

Translation:

Just come on out and say it.

Rich Anderson · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:26 pm

jimpastorius wrote:

Rich Anderson wrote:

Translation: I am telling you all that we will be out of gas, am doing what I can for the government, but screw the rest of you, have fun with the wolves! Nice job. Someone bump this thread back to the top for me at election time please. :roll:

[rant]
Prefix: I did not vote for Easley. But what do you want the North Carolina government to do? Capping the price at $2.50 is not going to increase your supply. Them stating the obvious does no harm. The private analyst on Fox, MSNBC, CNN have been predicting this before the storm. Do we now muzzle them and trash the first amendment?

Big deal we have to pay $4-$5 a gallon and maybe wait in line for a hour or two over the next few days. We are in a lot better position than the people of the Gulf Coast. Geez, some people can not afford to tow their cars to the test and tune this weekend :roll:

...at least they still have their car, tow rig and have the option to go.

I am sure we will be back to $2.70 a gallon and the longest line is for your lottery ticket in the next week or so. A lot quicker recovery than others.
[/rant]

How about since this exact situation has indeed been forecasted for almost a week, why not something pro-active? Why not tell people on Monday that our source of gasoline is threatened and makes changes then? The cat was out of the bag by the time they said anything and all it has done has make things worse. And no doubt we are better off than those in the Gulf, but that is not relevant.

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:28 pm

The Rich Anderson Plan in 5 easy steps.

1-Freeze gas prices at $2.50/gal
2-Have Gov. Easley come out and do his best imatation of Officer Barr Brady "Nothing to see here, move along".
3-Immediately kill all cell phone, internet, television and radio service. That way we all can stay completely ignorant of what's going on around us. We only need to hear Gov. Easley doing his Office Barr Brady imitation.
4-Explain who Officer Barr Brady is to Rich.
5- Watch the gas tanks empty much quicker than letting supply and demand take its natural course.

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

6. Get out a broomstick, because I call "Shenanigans," baby!

jimpastorius · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:37 pm

Number one, unless there is a state of emergency declared, I am not sure what the government can do to limit the price. Part of the cost of a democracy I guess. And I am not sure the power of Easley to do even that during a state of emergency.

If you use the model of Hawaii. They passed a law that gave the senate or house the power to vote on a price cap. But the govenor can end the cap at his/her choice. So they had to pass a law that would then give them the ability to vote on a price cap. And the price cap is a floating cap based upon a % of the price of gas in California! That is the only state in the Union that can enact a price cap on gasoline.

So I do not think it is as easy as Easley saying the cap is $2.50 and that is it.

Rich Anderson · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:41 pm

Wes Eargle wrote:

Rich Anderson wrote:

Translation:

Just come on out and say it.

Thanks for that stunning contribution of intellect. I guess I am a communist because I believe that the government has a roll to play in ensuring that the society as a whole does not suffer unduly from a natural disaster. Please make sure that you tell every single one of our members from the Eastern part of this state that suffered from Floyd so recently that any help they got was because of communists. Lower interest rates for rebuilding - communism. Publicly funded disaster relief to clear wreckage - communism. :roll:

jimpastorius · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:43 pm

Ryan Holton wrote:

The Rich Anderson Plan in 5 easy steps.

1-Freeze gas prices at $2.50/gal
2-Have Gov. Easley come out and do his best imatation of Officer Barr Brady "Nothing to see here, move along".
3-Immediately kill all cell phone, internet, television and radio service. That way we all can stay completely ignorant of what's going on around us. We only need to hear Gov. Easley doing his Office Barr Brady imitation.
4-Explain who Officer Barr Brady is to Rich.
5- Watch the gas tanks empty much quicker than letting supply and demand take its natural course.

If Easley bumped the price to $8 a gallon, then there would be no shortage. :shock:

Problem solved.

Maybe Rich is right, but set his target price too low. :lol:

Rich Anderson · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:48 pm

jimpastorius wrote:

Number one, unless there is a state of emergency declared, I am not sure what the government can do to limit the price. Part of the cost of a democracy I guess. And I am not sure the power of Easley to do even that during a state of emergency.

If you use the model of Hawaii. They passed a law that gave the senate or house the power to vote on a price cap. But the govenor can end the cap at his/her choice. So they had to pass a law that would then give them the ability to vote on a price cap. And the price cap is a floating cap based upon a % of the price of gas in California! That is the only state in the Union that can enact a price cap on gasoline.

So I do not think it is as easy as Easley saying the cap is $2.50 and that is it.

You may very well be correct that they are powerless to stop the situation without legislation. Again, as I said before, if they had been on top of this issue rather than an 11th hour proclamation of impending disaster, things could be different. That has been my contention all along.

Rich Anderson in the very first post I had on the Govenor's statement wrote:

All the announcement has done is cause panic and encourage gouging.

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

Rich Anderson wrote:

Wes Eargle wrote:

Rich Anderson wrote:

Translation:

Just come on out and say it.

Thanks for that stunning contribution of intellect. I guess I am a communist because I believe that the government has a roll to play in ensuring that the society as a whole does not suffer unduly from a natural disaster. Please make sure that you tell every single one of our members from the Eastern part of this state that suffered from Floyd so recently that any help they got was because of communists. Lower interest rates for rebuilding - communism. Publicly funded disaster relief to clear wreckage - communism. :roll:

Absolutely. Don't bother making a comparisons of apples and cotton candy, though. Controlling prices isn't in the same ballpark as lowering interest rates, it's not even in the same sport. And you know that.

You're saying that the government should step in and tell people what prices to charge for a commodity. Which is anti-free market which is therefore, c'mon, c'mon, wait for it, wait for it ...

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

Ryan Holton wrote:

Answer me this, you filled up all your cars yesterday because of the reports. If the price would have stayed at ~$2.50/gal and been froze there but it was reported that the next delivery of fuel is unknown. Would you have filled all your gas cans up? Maybe go to Wal Mart and buy a few more gas cans and fill 'em up too? This would have happened until there was ZERO supply. Again, IMHO.

I filled them up yesterday because of what I perceive as a situation that will not just clear up in a week or so. I already had 3/4 of a tank. So no I didn't run off to Wally World and get 50 gas cans and fill them all. Since I'm out of town until next Wednesday I saw it as prudent to gas up now because of a supply issue, not price issue.

The lower income people who can barely afford a beater to get to work though are taking it a lot harder. Middle income and above people are just bitching about the price. I still think a price control and gallon limit should have been established to try and spread remaining fuel around. Instead of it getting used for boaters, people who have these car hobbies, etc...

Supply and demand is practical most of the time. Not all of the time and certainly not in a disaster situation. So if you think that resembles Communism then so be it. I see it as a rational approach to balancing a needed commodity in a bad situation. A situation where simply asking the population to all play nice together isn't going to happen.

Rich Anderson · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:53 pm

Wes Eargle wrote:

Absolutely. Don't bother making a comparisons of apples and cotton candy, though. Controlling prices isn't in the same ballpark as lowering interest rates, it's not even in the same sport. And you know that.

You're saying that the government should step in and tell people what prices to charge for a commodity. Which is anti-free market which is therefore, c'mon, c'mon, wait for it, wait for it ...

Why is setting interest rates (which incidently are the price of a loan) any different than setting gas prices? And why is determining that clean up which would normally be a service paid for by an individual any different than changing prices? That cost construction company guys millions in business. The only difference is how you see it.

I guess the government setting interest rates (a price) makes Alan Greenspan a communist. I'll take that company then.

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:57 pm

Anyhow, a quick update for gas here around the Capital Blvd. area:
$3.49 reg.
$3.69 vtec juice (93)

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

Rich Anderson wrote:

Why is setting interest rates (which incidently are the price of a loan) any different than setting gas prices?

You really can't see the difference? Truthfully? Come on now. You're pulling the traditional Rich Anderson make a huge jump in logic, get called out on it then defend it to death argument again.

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