Release The Strategic Reserve On Gas Lower Prices Now

[DanieRains]

My Gawd, what are they waiting for.

We have to play the game right.

Republican sabotage works. We need to stay ahead of them.

[littlemissmartypants]

1. I was wondering the same thing today. ❤

ETA actually yesterday, I haven't been to bed yet...

[TreasonousBastard]

2. It's not even 2022 yet-- why blow the big guns when inflatuon is....

starting further away than memories?

[Chille]

18. I've surpassed 2009

we hit $4.00 yesterday at my gas stations

[TreasonousBastard]

21. So have I. My point is that the right thing is not thr political...

thing.

Why would the politican fight inflation now, when he risks it coming back and can look like a hero just before the election?

[Chille]

22. good point

It's just a mess

[MichMan]

3. I thought the purpose of it was to ensure a supply in case of a major disruption

Lowering gas prices is not a good reason

[TheFarseer]

4. +1

Yes, would really suck to have to explain releasing the strategic reserve next year when prices are even higher and we’ve squandered the reserve.

[Dave says]

14. We are experiencing a "major disruption" in the supply chain, thus the rise in price

Supply chain disruption = diminished supply in face of rising demand = rising prices

The danger right now is for inflation expectations to embed itself in people's minds. That's what we had in the seventies and it is why Fed Chairman Paul Volcker had to raise real interest rates in 1981. The intention was to burn expectations out of people's minds by inducing a severe recession. By suddenly slowing demand without diminishing supply (the effect of Volcker's method), the hope was to moderate, even reverse, price increases. It worked, but only through the economic pain of millions.

Releasing the reserve might help ameliorate prices for gasoline and heating oil, the biggest driver of current inflation, but it wouldn't touch the also inflation-causing distribution network constraints. We see 50+ ships anchored off our major ports waiting for their turn to unload. If I have 1 Bosch dishwasher (the other 9 are on the boats), and 10 potential customers screaming for it, I'll inch the price up until I have 1 left. This, also, is contributing to inflation.

Another (non-oil) inflation factor is the "change in appetite" effect of the pandemic. Rather than get in a car and drive to my favorite restaurant, I might stay home. It's safer. After getting bored, I might decide, OK, since I'm not spending on dining out, vacations, new cars, and so on, I might as well tackle that kitchen remodeling project I always dreamed of. Now there's 11 customers chasing 1 dishwasher. The result is the price of said dishwasher ticks up a little bit further. I don't see releasing reserves as helping here, either.

So I don't think releasing reserve now helps very much. May be better to keep our powder dry (..."oil dry"? ...).

[MichMan]

16. A major disruption is when gas becomes so scarce that people can't find gas and stations are closed

Not because the price went up. Gas is widely available

[cinematicdiversions]

15. Thank you

Gas prices are really not that high anyway. ($3.03 at my local Costco)

When gas starts hitting over $5 a gallon maybe something to look at but market manipulation is not the purpose of the reserve.

[Turbineguy]

5. Sell low

buy high.

[Walleye]

6. I really don't think the problem is that oil is in short supply

[Hortensis]

7. That'd actually be running scared and foolish from the Republicans,

doing what is not economically or strategically warranted in hopes of not being hurt.

The inflation is temporary but in any case wouldn't be helped significantly by pouring more of a fungible good tied to planetary prices into the supply. Inflation is possible because people in general have a lot of money and can pay higher prices, and would as necessary. Household savings soared during the pandemic.

This will pass and mostly drop as the pent-up demand, and backed-up supply chain, created by the pandemic and its recovery evens out. We're actually doing well.

[Chille]

10. I don't mean to be rude

but we are not doing well. People are hurting, myself included and I haven't a clue who these people are with lots of money that can pay higher prices.

There is a reason poll numbers are down and I'm not sure what fungible good tied to planetary prices means,

[Hortensis]

13. Nevertheless. WHY are so many people not returning to work,

or delayed, even those who previously worked low-pay jobs? It's not that everyone's doing good, but most are doing at least okay by their own standards. And many are doing quite well. That split between those who've been earning more and can grab that famous $20 hamburger for lunch and those whose incomes have been dropping for decades is roughly in the middle of the workforce.

As you indicate, some people with lttle or no discretionary income are being hurt by increased gas prices. I remember what that's like, also lying awake worrying about money; in the 1970s we were raising children and paying off big medical bills during the inflation, stagflation, lost job (!), and sitting hours in gas lines during the OPEC oil crisis. But while some now as then are genuinely being hurt, more are unhappy at having to allocate more of their limited income on gas.

[fescuerescue]

8. In retrospect, maybe shutting down the oil pipeline should have been delayed till

after the mid terms.

But then again, that's before Biden knew the Republicans would extend the Pandemic.

[roamer65]

9. I've seen gas higher than this.

It’s $3.50 in Michigan.

It’s isn’t an oil issue. It’s a supply chain problem, for gas and many, many other things.

[Chille]

11. I've been around and

driving since the 70s. Please tell me where and when prices were ever higher than they are now. My state has hit the $4.00 gallon

[MichMan]

17. 2012 was higher than it is now, but not by much

https://www.creditdonkey.com/gas-price-history.html

[Chille]

19. i am paying more nt

[Elessar Zappa]

25. Gas in my area in New Mexico

was higher in 2005 or 2006 (can’t remember which). Right now I’m paying $3.79 a gallon and back then I paid around $4.50/gallon. It was temporary and so are the current prices.

[dsc]

12. that would work for a short time at best

no way gas prices would be lowered for a year from that.

[Chille]

20. does anyone know why

opec refused to give us more oil?

[BumRushDaShow]

23. This is not a supply problem

it's a truck/delivery driver problem.

You can't throw an Uber driver behind the wheel of a specialized oil or gasoline tanker truck and expect anything but a disaster (let alone violations of all kinds of state motor vehicle and federal DOT laws). Once many of the pandemic restrictions were lifted the past year and mitigation efforts were put in place, there are trucking schools that have restarted their training programs and/or have expanded full bore vs their previous closures or limited enrollments pre-vaccines.

A shortage of 80,000 truck drivers is wreaking havoc on the supply chain—and it’s about to get worse


By Nicole Goodkind

October 28, 2021 7:00 AM EDT

America needs to keep on trucking: The $791.7 billion industry hauls 72.5% of all freight transported in the United States and employs about 6% of all full-time workers. But an aging workforce combined with the recent surge in labor shortages could spell disaster for the vital industry.

The ongoing truck driver shortage is now estimated at 80,000, up from 61,000 just three years ago. A new study by Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations (ATA), estimates that the industry will have to recruit 1 million new drivers within the next nine years to replace retiring drivers.

Many factors contribute to a lack of drivers, said Costello, including age demographics, trouble recruiting and retaining female drivers, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, drug testing, age restrictions (commercial drivers must be 21), time away from home, pay, and infrastructure issues. “Because there is no single cause of the driver shortage, that means there is no single solution,” wrote Costello. “The solution to the driver shortage will most certainly require increased pay, regulatory changes and modifications to shippers’, receivers’ and carriers’ business practices to improve conditions for drivers.”

https://fortune.com/2021/10/28/truck-driver-shortage-supply-chain-80000/

High schoolers are training to drive 18-wheelers amid a shortage of truck drivers

October 16, 20217:00 AM ET

Jonathan Franklin

When thinking about the trucking industry, the first thing that comes to mind about its drivers is that they tend to be older — industry experts say the average trucker is 54 years old. But given the nationwide truck driver shortage, that's now changing. A high school in California is now training teens to enter the industry through its truck driving school program.

Patterson High School in Patterson, Calif., is one of the first non-vocational high schools in the country to offer a truck-driving program for students. The elective course, which is open to seniors, is a part of the school's Career Technical Education Program — helping students learn workplace skills through hands-on training.

"A lot of [students] who enroll in the course have never considered trucking as a career," instructor Dave Dein told NPR. "Trucking doesn't have a great reputation and it comes with a lot of misconceptions about what exactly a truck driver is." Those misconceptions include that the work is dangerous, comes with low pay and and that the hours are unbearable. "If we don't start promoting trucking to our youth, they only can make decisions on the information that they have," Dein said.

Dave Dein began his career in the trucking industry in 1988 as a way to support himself through college. Now, he's teaching the industry's newest truck drivers at Patterson High School in Patterson, Calif. Guiding students through the basics of the trucking industry and trucking safety, Dein teaches not only the regulations to get a commercial driver's license, but also real-world scenarios that truckers face while on the road.

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/13/1045463623/high-schoolers-are-training-to-drive-18-wheelers-amid-a-shortage-of-truck-driver

[MichMan]

24. How is the price of a barrel of crude oil affected by a truck driver shortage in the US ?