gas prices we deserve

[Kaw1000]

See Rule #17

[wrongwayric]

If i bring a barrel of oil to your house would it help you? Nope not one bit and why is that? You don't have a refinery in your yard! The lack of refinery ability in the U.S. is the single largest factor in the prices we see here. Until we start refineing our own end product to meet or exceed our demands our prices will stay high.

[Kaw1000]

Agreed! and it goes hand and hand with this article.

[Mojava]

 I think this may shine a little more light on the subject. http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/05/23/arctic-drilling-wouldnt-cool-high-oil-prices.html

[Mickey1992]

www.eia.doe.gov

Total U.S. Petroleum Consumption (2006) - 20,687,000 barrels/day
U.S. Refiners Total Capacity (2007) - 17,443,492 barrels/day

The supply of gasoline is driving up the cost of oil, when the real issue is refinery capacity, not oil supply.  (Of course we all know the real reason for the current price of oil, greedy speculators).

However George Will's point is accurate.  The same people that are voting against drilling in the arctic reserve are the same people restricting the development of additional US refineries.

[Toad]

Krauthammer recently nailed it:

Some things, like renal physiology, are difficult. Some things, like Arab-Israeli peace, are impossible. And some things are preternaturally simple. You want more fuel-efficient cars? Don't regulate. Don't mandate. Don't scold. Don't appeal to the better angels of our nature. Do one thing: Hike the cost of gas until you find the price point.

Unfortunately, instead of hiking the price ourselves by means of a gasoline tax that could be instantly refunded to the American people in the form of lower payroll taxes, we let the Saudis, Venezuelans, Russians and Iranians do the taxing for us – and pocket the money that the tax would have recycled back to the American worker.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-krauthammer_09edi.ART.State.Edition1.46ce026.html

While the idea of higher gas prices is pretty frightening from an economic standpoint, I think he does have a point that price will be the only thing that initiates true lasting change. And if the price has to go up, why not pay the increase to ourselves? Put it against the national debt or something. Anything is better than giving it to the guys that have already grown rich on our oil needs.

[Donzo]

If i bring a barrel of oil to your house would it help you? Nope not one bit and why is that? You don't have a refinery in your yard! The lack of refinery ability in the U.S. is the single largest factor in the prices we see here. Until we start refineing our own end product to meet or exceed our demands our prices will stay high.

Not to mention all of the special fuel blends that the refineries are required to make for the different states during the summer months.

[Nashwan]

The US doesn't have a refinery capacity problem at the moment. It has in the past, for example May 2007, when gasoline prices averaged $3.15 a gallon, at a time when oil was about $64 a barrel.

May 2007, of the $3.15 for a gallon, $1.45 went to pay for the crude oil, and 88c went to pay the refiners.

This April, the latest figures the DOE have published, with a gallon of gasoline at $3.46, $2.52 paid for the crude oil, the refiners got a little under 35c.

The current price of gasoline has everything to do with the price of oil, and nothing to do with refinery shortages. In fact, US refiners have been cutting back production earlier this year because of weak demand.

[GrimCH]

If i bring a barrel of oil to your house would it help you? Nope not one bit and why is that? You don't have a refinery in your yard! The lack of refinery ability in the U.S. is the single largest factor in the prices we see here. Until we start refineing our own end product to meet or exceed our demands our prices will stay high.

We don't have refineries in the U.S.?

Their all over the place in Chicago/Joliet area.

[AKIron]

Electric cars with a range of 40-50 miles per charge and a constant speed gas motor to charge batteries for longer trips would cut our oil dependency dramatically. Nuke and coal plants for every city and we would then be able to satisfy our own oil needs domestically. High export taxes would keep our oil local and cheap.

<added>

Oh yeah, a moon base to harvest h3 for our fusion plants.

(Can it Moot) 

[ridley1]

but with an electric car....you have to charge it....
And put more strain on the grid.

[Kaw1000]

Ok I guess I never made a comment when I posted this link.....so I got "see rule 17"...This is an article about the gas prices we deserve.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/04/AR2008060403052.html

[AKIron]

but with an electric car....you have to charge it....
And put more strain on the grid.

More power plants and heftier/redundant grids. I didn't mean to suggest it would happen overnight but if we don't start sometime it will never happen. We sent a man to the moon in less than 10 years. We could become energy self sufficient if we tried.

[moot]

Oh yeah, a moon base to harvest h3 for our fusion plants.

It's gonna be awesome!  I can't wait

On the OP topic.. I wouldn't wager any particular theory, there's too many factors I don't know about and too many possible hidden strings being pulled.  But solar and other alternative energies do seem to be on their way to being competitive...  So the real issue, now, is probably more political, re: who gets how much oil until alternative energies catch up to oil's importance in the energy market/politics.

[Mickey1992]

In 2010 the Chevy Volt will sell like hotcakes.

Remember that people will be charging their electric cars at night, during off-peak hours.  I think the US should adopt the policy of many Canadian communities and charge more for peak-hour electricity during the day.  This will make charging your electric car at night even cheaper.