Problem is that a large portion of refineries are offline...and even when they do kick back on, you bet your ass that they will take their time actually lowering the prices...

The only good side is that hopefully refineries will be able to stockpile up barrels of oil

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Also, pump prices are about 2 months behind the curve. What you are pumping into your vehicle today was purchased for refining several months ago, and that is the cost being passed to you.

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Too bad it doesn't go both ways. It doesn't take the pump price two months to go up.

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TJ,
how come then when IKE hit the prices of gasoline went up by $0.65 overnight. I thought they purchesed the current gas over two months ago.

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$3.77? I want to know where you live. Here in S/E MI it was $4.30 for regular (a few days ago... I've been trapped inside sick for a few days)!!!

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Ok. I'm curious. How come if they can get $3.77/gal for gasoline when oil is $98 now, why didn't they do that before? Were they somehow less evil and corrupt then?

And if oil companies "gouge" us with $145/barrel oil, how come they're being nice now and giving us a break selling it to us at $98? I thought they had it all rigged?

Did you know that most of the world's oil supply is not controlled by private companies, but by nationalized companies that work for their perspective governments? Much of that money is stolen by kleptocrats, but a lot of it also goes towards paying for things that make the lives of the people there better. With a private corporation, the money earned through profits does things like help the retired schoolteachers and factory workers who own the stock enjoy their retirement. Or were you so silly as to believe that oil companies were owned primarily by a few dozen "insiders" ?

Do you think losing 19% of the nation's refining capacity and some pipeline capacity to disruption from two hurricanes just might have something to do with it?

Gas was $3.47/gal here a few weeks ago. Now it's $4.09. Were they just feeling nicer and less greedy a few weeks ago?

I'm curious. Where did you get the idea that gasoline is a public utility, like your electric bill? They can sell it for whatever they want to sell it for. I'm curious. How many times in your life have you offered to pay more for an item that was cheap? Or offered to return part of your salary even though you didn't have to? They're in business to maximize shareholder wealth, the same as you. They're just doing it collectively instead of individually. They do it by providing a service and pleasing their fellow man sufficiently to make them part with cash. If prices rise too much, the market forces kick in and viola!...they're lower. But if they stay high that's because that's the reality of the supply/demand situation.

If you can't afford it at the current price, drive less, get a more efficient car, get a bike, get a motorcycle, walk, or find a way to earn a better living.

Or better yet, join them! If you think it's so easy to make money in the oil biz, why aren't you buying some oil futures or stock in an oil company? You'd have tons of money for gas then. By the way, those greedy oil companies' stocks are down about 20% recently and some traders took a bath on futures when oil prices dropped. See how it works? Or do you not remember the days of depression in Texas and elsewhere when oil prices were below that of production?

It's a lot easier to get emotional and blame this and that than to actually sit down, spend a few hours and research the issue. It's simply market economics at work. It's not perfect, but it's the best thing so far for distributing resources properly.

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Don't hold your breath if you expect gasoline prices to drop anytime soon. With 25% of US production off-line due to Hurricane Ike, it will take a couple of weeks to get up and running again. Deliveries will be scarce. Watch for shortages.

But more importantly is what is going to transpire this afternoon. Bernanke & Co are in discussions as we speak about another interest rate cut.

Obviously the $50 billion dollar cash infusion to offset the $613 billion collapse of Lehman Bros is weighing heavily on everybody. Merrill Lynch was gobbled up by BOA, and AIG is faltering precipitously. WaMu is next in line and bound to join the party shortly.

A quarter percent interest rate cut is absolutely necessary to keep American business alive another week.

Unfortunately this will have some adverse effects as well. Foreigners will begin to dump dollars en masse again. The dollar will slide in value. The price of oil per barrel will therefore increase.

Got no choice. Either save the economy, or save the dollar. Imports (including oil) will get more expensive after 2:15 pm EDT today.

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@Todd: Wages and prices are Sticky Downwards.

With the price dropping so much so fast, it seems more like speculation than ever. Only specs are so pro-cyclical.

This was an interesting read: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8878
If these guys are even half-right about unregulated trading, it would explain a lot.

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Amen to that. I was in desperate need of gas 3 days ago and had to wait in line at a QT. During my 20 minute wait as I crawled up to the actual station the price went from 3.58 to 3.99. I passed by that same station later that night, no numbers and no gas. I later saw a shell station that was 4.30. In less than 24 hours. This has got to stop, seriously.

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Amen brother, We in Atlanta seems to bearing the worst of it. If everybody would stop panicking and storing gas in their drums, we would be a little better off.

Gas is actually cheaper in the hurricane effected area then here in Atlanta.

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@ kfj Dallas Texas.

@ all the Big apologists commenting here

Sugar coat it all you want, and it's not "supply and demand" - it's massive, cartel style corruption and cronyism from the individual oil fields all the way to the white house. Reminder diesel is $1.99 a gallon in Mexico.

Don't just sit there and take it. Get mad. Think of the Patriots that founded this country, the Boston Tea Party. Big Oil relies on our apathy, don't give them the means.

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@ Todd
i was going to upvote you until you threw in the diesel being 1.99 in mexico (ITS SUBSIDIZED YOU CLOWN) just like it was in china 2 months ago, as soon as the subsidies went by by, the chinese stopped buying gas like it was water.

downvoted...

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I don't remember Bush building any new refineries since oil started climbing after 9/11. He was in office for 8 years and did nothing. He only addressed the problem after oil reached its peak price and the whole country was in panic mode.

The truth is that nobody want a refinery in there backyard. Nobody wants a Nuclear power plant in the backyard either. I don't want one. They are total eye sores. Not to mention its always in the back of someones mind if an explosion happens at a refinery. Or a nuclear meltdown. Anyone in a 30 mile radius of a meltdown would lose there home because radiation sickness. Imagine trying to get your insurance company to cover that. Ha. Good luck. Refineries have to be built near a good port or a highly traveled river for transportion. So space is very limited. Building refineries for renewable fuels and natural gas for our future would be the smarter choice for the long run. No oil company plans on building one anytime soon because they also know that its coming in the future.

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You're blaming Democrats for high gas prices? huh? I don't get it. Bush hates the environment, and loves oil companies, and has been in office for nearly 8 years. The last new US refinery was built in 1976... have there been any other republican presidents or congresses since then? Your argument is retarded.

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