# $2.00 Gas Coming?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [August 30, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795 "2006-08-30T15:04:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 26
### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/501 "2007-05-14T18:20:47Z")
Sometimes I wonder about you guys. Of course I only took 2 years on Econ in college. I kept up by reading The New Industrial State and other econ books during my life. The econ books are quite thick. I do not know why. All they need to do is say it is the law of supply and demand and stop right there. But somehow they get involved with monopolies ,cartels and other complete wastes of time. I probably do not just see your mantra which takes a huge and complex field and distills it to a one liner seriously enough for you.
But if you were correct, and it is that simple, then a doubling of gas prices would be accompanied an enormous disruption in supply. There is none. Gas price is what the gas companies say it is. They control it from exploration ,to recovery to shipping and marketing. They wield enormous political power throughout the world. They are in control.
The elevation of the gas prices preceded the summer driving increase.
---
### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/502 "2007-05-14T18:25:44Z")
[Reuters | Breaking International News & Views](http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnN14280898.html) Oh yeah ,your cite.
---
### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/503 "2007-05-14T18:31:41Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax]
Of course I only took 2 years on Econ in college.
[/QUOTE]
My advice to you is…go back and sue your ‘teachers’. They were obviously failures.
[QUOTE=gonzomax]
Oh yeah ,your cite.
[/QUOTE]
😛 You are TOO funny. You have no idea even what you were asked for, do you? This is a cite saying that oil supply in Nigeria is good. Whats that got to do with refinery capacity or shortages of GASOLINE…?
Seriously, you should quit while you are ahead…you obviously don’t have any idea what you are talking about in this thread.
-XT
---
### Author:  [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/504 "2007-05-14T18:49:11Z")
[QUOTE=Renob]
What are you talking about, **gonzo**? Supply is not high because there are a lot of problems at refineries. That, along with the government-mandated switch to cleaner gas, produces a bottleneck at the refinery level. That cuts off supply and, along with the rising demand for gas as summer approaches, means that prices go up. As you say, it is very simple.
[/QUOTE]
Someone asked this earlier, I believe: If, as you seem to contend, supply is “cut off”, then why aren’t any gas stations running out of gas? It seems self-evident that there is no shortage of gasoline. I don’t think you ever gave a satisfactory answer to this question.
---
### Author:  [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/505 "2007-05-14T18:55:21Z")
[QUOTE=lowbrass]
Someone asked this earlier, I believe: If, as you seem to contend, supply is “cut off”, then why aren’t any gas stations running out of gas? It seems self-evident that there is no shortage of gasoline. I don’t think you ever gave a satisfactory answer to this question.
[/QUOTE]
I’m not simply contending that it’s the case, it’s a fact. Refineries are having a lot of problems and that is reducing the supply.
I never said there was a “shortage” of gasoline. What I said was that supply is being limited. A basic understanding of economics is that when supply is limited and demand remains steady or increases, then prices rise. As **gonzo** ’s brilliant post from earlier today pointed out, prices are indeed rising.
When supply is being limited it does not necessarily lead to shortages. In fact, it very rarely does so unless prices are artificially prevented from going up. But prices rise, people use less of the product, and there is an incentive for supply to increase since there is more money in it.
---
### Author:  [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/506 "2007-05-14T19:08:01Z")
Thanks, Renob.
---
### Author:  [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/507 "2007-05-14T20:16:19Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax]
Sometimes I wonder about you guys. Of course I only took 2 years on Econ in college. I kept up by reading The New Industrial State and other econ books during my life. The econ books are quite thick. I do not know why. All they need to do is say it is the law of supply and demand and stop right there.
[/QUOTE]
You see, **gonzomax** , XT & friends are graduates of [this fine intitution](http://pratie.blogspot.com/2005/03/guidos-five-minute-university.html). You spend way too much time learning the details. They jump to the results - much more efficient that way, don’t you think?
---
### Author:  [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/508 "2007-05-14T20:21:25Z")
[QUOTE=ASAKMOTSD]
You see, **gonzomax** , XT & friends are graduates of [this fine intitution](http://pratie.blogspot.com/2005/03/guidos-five-minute-university.html). You spend way too much time learning the details. They jump to the results - much more efficient that way, don’t you think?
[/QUOTE]
Yes, I think we can all agree that of all the posters on this thread, **gonzomax** is the one with the best grasp of energy policy and the details of economics. :rolleyes:
---
### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/509 "2007-05-14T20:24:05Z")
[QUOTE=Renob]
Yes, I think we can all agree that of all the posters on this thread, gonzomax is the one with the best grasp of energy policy and the details of economics.
[/QUOTE]
Don’t forget his ‘friends’ either! 😛
-XT
---
### Author:  [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/510 "2007-05-14T20:36:07Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme]
Don’t forget his ‘friends’ either! 😛
-XT
[/QUOTE]
[Guilt by Association](http://www.fallacyfiles.org/guiltbya.html) fallacy.
---
### Author:  [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/511 "2007-05-14T20:53:58Z")
[QUOTE=lowbrass]
[Guilt by Association](http://www.fallacyfiles.org/guiltbya.html) fallacy.
[/QUOTE]
Don’t confuse them with facts - and let us all please stop feeding them.
They only continue because if they scream loud enough & long enough, they feel they can win. It probably has worked for them since preschool (last year). Maybe a time out is in order.
---
### Author:  [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/512 "2007-05-14T21:05:29Z")
[QUOTE=ASAKMOTSD]
Don’t confuse them with facts - and let us all please stop feeding them.
[/quote]
What facts are you talking about? The only facts that have been presented here were cites by us. The “facts” on the side of the conspiracy theorists were speculation about oil companies possibly manipulating prices or cites given by **gonzo** that talked about natural gas, Enron, and the oil supply of Nigeria. I have not seen a single fact on all pages of this incredibly long thread supporting the notion that there is some conspiracy at work that is raising the price of gas.
> [@](#):
>
> They only continue because if they scream loud enough & long enough, they feel they can win. It probably has worked for them since preschool (last year). Maybe a time out is in order.
Have I done any screaming? I simply present the facts. I fail to see how anyone, once they know the facts, can persist in continuing to believe in a conspiracy. However, it seems some do.
---
### Author:  [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/513 "2007-05-14T21:24:45Z")
[QUOTE=ASAKMOTSD]
Don’t confuse them with facts - and let us all please stop feeding them.
They only continue because if they scream loud enough & long enough, they feel they can win. It probably has worked for them since preschool (last year). Maybe a time out is in order.
[/QUOTE]
You’re right of course. A certain person here is just trying to get a rise out of others, and I’m enabling his behavior. I think a time-out is an excellent idea.
---
### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795/514 "2007-05-14T21:55:33Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** This thread is now 11 pages long, nearly nine months old, and does not seem to be generating much besides snark and _ad hominems_. Time to go.
**Moderator’s Warning:**
[QUOTE=ASAKMOTSD]
Don’t confuse them with facts - and let us all please stop feeding them.
They only continue because if they scream loud enough & long enough, they feel they can win. It probably has worked for them since preschool (last year). Maybe a time out is in order.
[/QUOTE]
**ASAKMOTSD** , veiled accusations of trolling are against the rules in this forum; and portraying other posters as screaming preschoolers is a personal insult, also against the rules. Please rein in the personal attacks (in future threads).
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-00-gas-coming/370795.md?page=25)