I admit I sent my answer before reading of the huge profits of the oil
companies - they sure are greedy!  But I still think the weak dollar comes
into play in some form for us Americans regarding the price of oil.

Kat
-----Original Message-----
From: Cerebral Palsy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Deri James
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 8:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: 10 dollar a gallon gas?

On Tuesday 29 April 2008 20:54:16 Cleveland, Kyle E. wrote:
> Has anyone been able to give a succinct, three-sentence-or-less
> rationale on why crude prices have jumped so astronomically in the last
> year.  During the OPEC crisis of the '70s there might have been
> shortages, but the price at the pump did not skyrocket in the manner
> it's doing now.
>
> Kyle
>

Hi Kyle,

I'll give you a two word answer:-

Rampant capitalism!! ;-)

(BP & Shell announced a PROFIT of $14,700,000,000 in just 3 months!!!)
That's 
after all their costs, tax, R&D, drilling exploration, executive bonuses, 
etc., their left with that amount of profit in 90 days!!!

See:- <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7372509.stm>

And this is just 2 oil companies, what about Texaco, Exxon, ...

I can see why the cost of crude has gone up - increased demand v. supply 
factored with increased uncertainty about future supply.

What galls is how highly "geared" this commodity is, everyone takes a %
price, 
rather than a flat-rate based on volume:

Refining
Taxation
Retail

all charge as a percentage of the price, so any change in crude soon gears
up 
to a larger change in gas/petrol.

Cheers

Deri

-----------------------

To change your mail settings or leave the C-PALSY list, go here:

http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?SUBED1=c-palsy

-----------------------

To change your mail settings or leave the C-PALSY list, go here:

http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?SUBED1=c-palsy