$5/Gal gasoline is now upon us. What is our tolerance limit?

[WinkyDink]

http://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/f772b5b1f31e2af83d29d52d228dd553/Gas-prices-continue-to-rise-in-Washington/

I say: none. We will pay and pay and pay. The poor will pay more on their three-buses-to-the-Dollar-Store-job; erstwhile vacationers will stay closer to home, hurting the tourism industry; commuters will spend more of their salaries to and from work. And that's just the obvious.

It's the transport of everything else we need that will take its devastating toll.

Of course, the military will get more money now. The fuel for those drones, you know.

[doc03]

1. If it stays around until the election be prepared to

see a Republican nut job in the Whitehouse.

[CBGLuthier]

3. Looking at the field, "Republican Nut Job" may be a tad redundant

Is there any republican running who isn't a nut job?

[doc03]

5. No n/t

[Aerows]

8. Totally redundant

Everyone of them is crazy. When Donald Trump is the most credible candidate you can come up with for your party, you know your party has descended into batshit crazy extremism.

[Imajika]

28. Yup...

If gas prices are really this high (or higher) come November 2012, even the looniest of Republicans will have a chance to win.

The price of gas directly effects the approval rating of an incumbent President like few others things do.

[theophilus]

2. Possibly, just possibly, more "things" will start to be made in the U.S.

or at least closer to home because shipping will be too expensive. Also, alternative energy (including electric cars) will be demanded by the public. Peak Oil might be the only thing that saves us but the journey will be painful. It will be less painful if the public, Dems and Reps, stand up ans shout, "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!". We'll see.

[bighart]

18. The crazy thing is that isn't happening.

Ocean freight rates have gone up some but from what I am seeing not that much. My company competes in an industry with a very high level of imports from Asia and we are still getting soundly beaten on delivered price. We import less than 5 percent of our product and as freight prices go up we are actually seeing the price of the goods decline proportionally which makes no sense unless you factor in under the table subsidies to keep the Asian goods flowing this direction.

[mcollins]

30. too bad the corperations, the banks, and the repugs all

shipped the factories and jobs overseas.

[Sherman A1]

4. about $1.00

but, I have done everything I can think of to reduce my usage.

Still have to get to work each day, but my little car gets 42 mpg.

[michreject]

9. You got me beat

I get 10 MPG.

[deminks]

6. What's my tolerance? about $1.59/gal. That's what it was Sept 11, 2001.

The day the gouging began. And not just with gasoline.

[LWolf]

7. I drive as little as possible already.

I don't know how to reduce my driving any further; there is no public transportation where I live.

[fasttense]

10. It's a bubble.

Ravi Batra predicted this bubble when the recession 1st hit. Since we have rescued the uber rich, they have to find a place to park all their unnecessary money. (They don't need to spend it, they have everything they need or want) Since the CDOs and other mortgage backed crap is known to be worthless, they need something solid and real. So, speculators are buying up gold, oil and other commodities. Simply put, with the help of the bailout, they are re-inflating the bubble.

This was posted on DU:

"“That’s how we have developed a massive glut of 677 million barrels worth of contracts in the front four months on the NYMEX and, come rollover day – that will be the amount of barrels ‘on order’ for the front 3 months, unless a lot barrels get dumped at market prices fast.

“Keep in mind that the entire United States uses ‘just’ 18M barrels of oil a day, so 677M barrels is a 37-day supply of oil. But, we also make 9M barrels of our own oil and import ‘just’ 9M barrels per day, and 5M barrels of that is from Canada and Mexico who, last I heard, aren’t even having revolutions.

“So, ignoring North Sea oil, Brazil and Venezuela, and lumping Africa in with OPEC, we are importing 3Mbd from unreliable sources and there is a 225-day supply under contract for delivery at the current price, or cheaper, plus we have a Strategic Petroleum Reserve that holds another 727 million barrels (full) plus 370M barrels of commercial storage in the U.S. (also full) which is another 365.6 days of marginal oil already here in storage in addition to the 225 days under contract for delivery.“

These contracts for oil outnumber their actual delivery, a sign of speculation and market manipulation, as oil companies win government authorizations for wells but then don’t open them for exploration or exploitation.

It’s all a game of manipulating oil supply to keep prices up. And no one seems to be regulating it."

There is so much oil out there, they can no longer store it in the US.

But Obama says he can't do anything about it except to drill baby, drill. I think Rachael said the Obama administration has already issues 11 or 12 more permits for drilling into the Gulf.

The complete piece is at: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2011/041911a.html

[al bupp]

24. Thank you for this, it's a very interesting piece /nt

[TxVietVet]

11. "What is our tolerance limit?"

That's what Wall Street is trying to find out. I hear the teabaggin' kkkluckers in the area crying for "drill, baby, drill". Most of them don't have a clue what it takes to explore, ship or process petroleum. Conservanazi toadies are such giant intellectuals.

[zbdent]

12. strange how it was "Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat Party's fault"

in 2007, according to all the "liberally-biased media" memo reads ...

but hey, under Obama, it was down to about $2.40 in Akron right before the 2010 midterm elections ... and it jumped 30 cents within two weeks of the Republicans "winning" the House ... and the current level of the gas prices is "all Obama's fault" ...

[badtoworse]

14. It's not a fault issue; it's an economic one

We need to increase the supply and lower the demand for oil. That is the only way to reduce prices.

[zbdent]

15. just heard yesterday that Saudi Arabia and such were mad because

they've got plenty of supply ...

Seems like we're not out of "supply" ...

[badtoworse]

21. If that's true, then the speculators will eventually get hosed when the bubble bursts.

I personally don't believe there is much reserve production capacity. Speculators are not idiots; most have substantial market intelligence available to them and they are betting heavily that demand is going to continue driving prices higher. I also believe that factored into the future price is the expectation that the dollar is going down the crapper compared to other currencies.

[Archaic]

32. No, they're not idiots

I'm thinking the speculators will unwind their positions as less savvy investors chase the "sure thing", just like gold.

That money has one destination, the 2012 election cycle. I should invest in ad firms,

[piratefish08]

13. the limit used to be $3 not too long ago.

then we grew accustomed to our new corporate masters.

[MilesColtrane]

16. We're all just frogs in the hot tub.

We'll be boiled before we even know what hit us.

[The2ndWheel]

17. We've always been paying a lot for gas

Just not monetarily. The price of our activity has slowly been creating all of our climate change issues. That's what happens when you socialize the costs throughout the rest of the environment.

[SusanaMontana41]

33. "That's what happens when you socialize the costs throughout the rest of the environment."

:thumbsup:

[Javaman]

19. Not the national average yet...

Those areas that have 5 bucks a gallon will feel the squeeze of higher prices of everything. And more than likely they will be pissed.

However, national furor won't take over until it's 5 bucks nationally.

[WatsonT]

20. I was told 5 dollar gas would cripple the economy

and yet there was some positive news today.

I think there is no limit.

We'll just change our behaviors to match the cost.

[TheCowsCameHome]

22. No limit. We're accustomed to taking it in the backside.

It doesn't make it pleasant, it's just the way things are.

[PVnRT]

23. There is little alternative for most Americans

The oil companies and speculators have the guns to our heads, and they know it.

[krabigirl]

25. I dunno...I honestly think if it keeps going up, things will start getting pretty bad.

[Iggo]

26. Frog. Slow Boil. (n/t)

[upi402]

27. Workers: Meat or Pet?

Fascism, in either party, is still fascism. Wake up America. Don't buy the TV News bullshit!

[Imagevision]

29. Gas in London is $8.72 per gallon - be prepared, Americans have it so easy...

[Gregorian]

31. It's a bargain.

At three times that price it's still a bargain. That being a totally separate issue from prices raised by speculators.

Walking to the emergency room in the rain. Digging a hole for a septic tank, by hand. I've recently had the opportunity to do both of these things, were it not for the EXTREME value of fossil fuel.

I'm just flapping my lips. People will never see this as clearly as they should.

[Raine]

34. No limit, pay and pay and pay

till it's all gone. x(