WOW! - What are the odds??

[packman]

Last edited Fri Dec 9, 2022, 03:05 PM - Edit history (1)

It's almost - if I didn't have a suspicious mind - as if some thing, some country, some industry was trying to sway votes! Hmmm---

[gratuitous]

1. The nation reels in shock

I did notice (before the election) that citing oil company quarterly profits was a sure ticket to releasing the Nitwit Brigades who wanted to blame the Biden administration for high pump prices and inflation. Sure, the oil companies were posting 10- and 11-figure quarterly profits, but what did that have to do with the price of a gallon of gas? Our oil companies were selflessly raking in those obscene profits and using them for the clear benefit of the American people. Did you see how they were buying back their stock and paying dividends to shareholders? Okay, the biggest shareholders of oil company stock just happen to be oil company executives, but if you're in a hedge fund that allocates 2% of its holdings to oil companies, you're benefiting too! It could mean as much as a ten dollar bump in your portfolio, so what's to complain about?

[Samrob]

22. But prices have not gone down on the products and services that supposedly were "affected" by high

oil prices. The rise in oil prices is the usual ruse used to raise prices on everything and gouge the consumer and blame it on high oil prices. Capitalism is a racket, just like war.

[Joinfortmill]

2. Next election we should make campaign ad jokes

about this.

[Hekate]

8. I endorse this idea! Why wait until the next election? nt

[DENVERPOPS]

3. The last time the Republicans

pulled the EXACT same crap was when carter was running for his second term..Massive inflation, massive interest rates, and an incredible increase in not only the price of gas, but also the availability.

It worked then, but not as much this time........

[Farmer-Rick]

28. Yeah, and they got Iranian terrorists to hold American hostages

Until the crazy old man Raygun raised his right hand. The second he raised his right hand to swear in as president, they released the hostages. Soooo obvious the supposedly liberal media never made a fuss.

Isn't it grand how Republicon oligarchs abuse America and America keeps taking them back? Love.......?????

[DENVERPOPS]

32. Exactly Farmer-rick

HW and his cronies were running the campaign, and then ran the show for the next eight/ten years.

He told Iran, (a serious enemy of the U.S.) that it would be better for Reagan's votes and if Iran would do that, they would treat Iran far better than Carter would. Consorting with the enemy was basically Treason. The last few months before that election, I became Hyper political and have been so ever since...............

They turned around and sold weapons to Iran, just after Reagan was "installed". As I remember bit later, Ayatolla Dipshit, fired one of the rockets Bush's crowd had sold them, into a U.S. Navy ship killing 27? sailors Clearly Treason. Then Bush's Boys went ahead and did the Iran/Contra thing after Congress had explicitly told them NO, you can't do that. Again, treason.

The damage that was done to the massive middle class, and lower class was unfathomable during those eight years. I was screaming from the roof tops what was going on, along with many others. We continue to suffer the consequences of the thousand things they did. Some subtle, in the shadows, and some right out in the open. The so-called Reagan Democrats were behind him 100%, and that group left me flabbergasted..........
By the end of the eight years, 100+ Bush co-conspirators were charged with a ton of felonies, and waiting trial. HW got into office and his first day, he pardoned all of them.

HW and his cronies were the common thread for the last 40+ years. HW was head of the CIA, then ran everything for eight years with his cronies, then four years he was in office, then he and Cheney literally and corruptly" installed" dimwit front-man "W"Bush for four years and progressed their agenda for another eight years. The Cheney/Rumsfeld/ CABAL did so many treasonous actions they deserved the maximum penalty. What they did, to instigate a war with Iraq, had Treason written all over it, and done so that Cheney could get the Iraq's oil for his old company Halliburton and a half dozen other oils companies.......The Saudi's have been in cahoots with the Bush Dynasty for decades. Especially since then, Trump was selling the Saudi Family top U.S. intelligence reports, and as a quid pro quo, they went all out giving Trump and his Spawn and unfathomable amount of money, now documented to be Billions.......

[iemanja]

41. How do Republicans control the price of oil?

And if they do, why did they let it fall again?

[SergeStorms]

4. And that's with the Saudis....

saying they're going to keep exports low in support of Putin's criminal war on Ukraine. It's not like there's more oil on the market.

Fucking fossil fuel industry can go to hell.

[Lucky Luciano]

6. Some of it is evidence of less demand as opposed to supply changes.

[joshcryer]

5. You should Tweet that out David.

Freaking hilarious. $88 on the 11th, right after the elections, just in time for Fox News to do some propaganda. But then the wash traders didn't want to keep it going (they actually lose money when they do this) and low and behold.

And this is with the Keystone leak that disrupted operations.

[ancianita]

7. President Biden publicly called them out for this.

Skip to 1:20.

Moore found that 74 Republicans, 59 Democrats, and one independent have fossil fuel industry investments, with Republicans outnumbering Democrats in both chambers. The top ten House investors are all Republicans. But it’s quite different in the Senate, where two of the top three investors are Democrats, and Democrats’ total investments, $8,604,000, are more than double the Senate Republicans’ total of $3,994,126. Topping the list is Joe Manchin (WV), with up to $5.5 million of fossil fuel industry assets, while John Hickenlooper (CO) is third, with up to $1 million. (Most reporting is in ranges.) Many top investors are Texas Republicans, including Rep. Van Taylor, with up to $12.4 million worth of investments....


Oil and gas lobbying totaled $119.3 million according to OpenSecrets, while 2020 election spending topped $40 million for congressional candidates — $8.7 million to Democrats and $30.8 million to Republicans. This came as the International Energy Agency warned that no new fossil fuel developments can be approved for the world to have a 50/50 chance to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, Moore reported. And, yet, “production of oil and gas is projected to grow 50 percent by 2030 without congressional action,” Project Censored noted. “The fact that so many lawmakers have invested considerable sums in the fossil fuel industry makes it extremely unlikely that Congress will do much to rein in oil and gas production.”

https://www.randomlengthsnews.com/archives/2022/12/08/censorship-beat/42824?fbclid=IwAR31BaAo17yPkNch3lPM1vJz032_wZqLBnN6-wf82d-5MM1czBe1zq9ZEiI

[Kablooie]

9. Wow! Even though Trump isn't president he can still lower oil prices for us!

What an amazing president!





(Do I really need to add this? )

[republianmushroom]

10. darn strange, isn't it .

[2naSalit]

11. Imagine that.

[mahina]

12. How about prices at the pump? That hasn't even inched down!

We are still at 5.29/g here. Booooo oil companies. Every bleached bone of them should be used to rebuild our Earth

[grantcart]

14. In most places prices at the pump are way down $ 2.60 in El Paso

[Meadowoak]

15. $2.89 here in central KY.

[Genki Hikari]

25. $2.51

Here in Podunkistan.

[eppur_se_muova]

26. They dropped more than 40 cents here when I wasn't even looking.

One day, over $3.10 everywhere around here. I was *sort of* expecting it might drop below $3 before I filled up next. I filled up at $2.69 yesterday. I don't even remember seeing a price in between those two.

[Prairie_Seagull]

16. Clearly a facistic maneuver.

Should be called out as such. Just because it's happening below the surface does not mean it's not happening. It will slowly have dire consequences if not curtailed. How much fascism are we willing to allow?

[mahina]

18. While feeding the inflation they mean to clobber Dems with

Grrrrr

[Farmer-Rick]

29. Yeah, the oligarchs are not happy with a few

Of the minor things done to help the majority of citizens.

Student loan relief, talk of tax increase, help for the infrastructure and no tax giveaways to the filthy rich are all really annoying to the oligarchs and its got to change.

[Prairie_Seagull]

30. Ah greed, We bought a piece of original art,

Last edited Sun Dec 11, 2022, 12:28 PM - Edit history (1)

from a Seattle artist and on it is a bullish dog standing aggressively surrounded with the words "Fuck you, You fuckers. We put the painting on our picture stairwall. I see it daily. It makes me smile and surprisingly brings me some peace.

I don't know what that says about me but,,,fuck it.

[DENVERPOPS]

31. You and the artist

should make a poster of it.........You could sell a ton of it. Hell, I would buy one for sure....

[Prairie_Seagull]

34. I'v been thinking about posting it here or

making it the avatar of my posts. Technically, I am just not there yet. I am sure the artist would love the added attention. When I do, I will clue you in. Honestly, it is pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

[Prairie_Seagull]

38. Here is a link to the painting. The artist is funny.

[padah513]

17. From $3.99 to $3.39 in my little neck of South Jersey. Go figure

[The_Casual_Observer]

19. It's down $2+ out here in the OC

[onenote]

20. Since this is pattern almost every year, the odds are actually pretty good

Gas prices drop in December almost every year, no matter who is in the White House or controls Congress.

Sorry to burst your balloon.

Compare September prices to December prices for each year since 2012. In almost every instance, the price was higher in September than in December.

https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/APU000074714

There are non-sinister reasons for this: For example, the EPA defines April to June as the “transition season” for fuel production. Refineries lead this transition and switch over to summer-blend production in March and April.

Gasoline blends used in the summer months are different than the blends used in the winter. There are also more fuels to produce during the transition season. In the winter months, only a few fuels are used across the United States. However, because of various state or regional requirements, over a dozen different fuel specifications are required for the summer months. Refineries must produce enough for each area to ensure there are no supply shortages, and that can complicate the production and distribution of fuels.

Finally, summer-blend fuel is also more expensive to make than winter-blend fuel. First, the production process takes longer and, second, the overall yield of gasoline per barrel of oil is lower. These complexities add as much as 15 cents per gallon to the cost to produce these higher-grade fuels.

It's a far more complex market than most people understand. And that's not taking into account the impact of other events -- wars, natural disasters, refinery accidents, OPEC's ups and downs, etc.

[WarGamer]

21. THIS is the correct answer...

PLUS... Globally, demand for gasoline is DOWN because of recessionary fears and inflation...

In fact... demand is flat or below pre-pandemic demand.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

24. Record-setting profits are not a pattern, else they wouldn't be breaking records.

[eppur_se_muova]

27. Thanks for the info. nt

[ProfessorGAC]

42. Mostly Agree

However, almost half the refineries in the US make no seasonal changes. There's no environmental benefit to changing formulas where temperatures are roughly the sane year round.
Secondly, the dirty little secret is that changes that are made don't actually cause a significant change in operating cost, beyond the inventory carrying costs of light "anes" for 3 to 4 months.
I'm friends with a refinery accounting manager so I know how they accounting for costs and I've done mutual aid tech reviews at 3 refineries in this area, from the early 90s until I retired.
The people who work at those refineries are very open about how things work. (The execs, not so much.)
A lot of this "seasonal adjustment" stuff was API propaganda that the commodity market traders accepted as gospel.
There is a cost difference, but it doesn't begin to explain the annual price swings, in either direction. .

[Just A Box Of Rain]

23. It would be nice if people studied economics, followed economic trends, and the impacts

of supply and demand on prices, rather than embracing crazy conspiracy theories.

When Trumpists act in this fashion, we rightfully laugh at them.

Please don't be an embarrassment.

[newdayneeded]

33. There they are!

I knew this thread would drag out the "this is not a conspiracy" people.

They jacked prices up and made record profits! They wanted to hurt the average consumer at the pump and then blame it on Biden.

The mid terms were a dud for them, and just like that gas prices, didn't come down, they fall in line to normal pricing. Also, just like that the media isn't reporting on the massive crimes all across America. This shit is all coordinated!

[onenote]

35. So what is your explanation for their deciding not to be greedy and to reduce prices

And what is your explanation for all the other years where prices are higher in the early fall and drop as we head into December and the winter months, no matter who is President.

[newdayneeded]

36. you just answered your own question!

You stated that prices are higher in the fall, turns out, that's when all elections happen. When either dem or repub is president they just adjust their story. if its a repub president then its "well the president has to battle high gas prices because of the dems in the senate/house not helping the American people"

[onenote]

37. The pattern holds in non-election years, so that kinda blows up your theory.

And you still haven't explained why after the Democrats did well, the oil companies would decide to be generous and lower their prices when, as you see it, they could continue to charge higher prices after the election.

[newdayneeded]

39. Obvious isn't it!

They were charging 5 bucks a gallon, people stopped driving for un-needed trips. So supply built up on the big oil. Now they need to lower their prices so we buy the gas.

Sometimes its not economic principles, it's greedy big oil raising prices way higher then they need, and then get shocked, shocked I tell you, that we won't buy their shit at $5+ per gallon.

I respect you and your knowledge!

I just think oil raises prices for no reason, or more accurately, they raise prices way higher than they need. Then get stuck in these situations where they need to lower prices.

[iemanja]

40. This again

Because our politics are more important than global markets or anything else on the planet. It's not like war, OPEC, or anything else matters. We as Americans put ourselves at the center of the universe because we can't imagine a reality in which anyone or anything else matters.