[Beetle01]

lol...Evidently you didn't read what I typed. I said when economic times are "good" in the US. The reason why we are exporting is because of vacant refining capacity. Anyone who understands about how the manufacturing/production process works can tell you that the cost of whatever you are producing goes down when you are running at full capacity. Gasoline would even be higher than it is now if these refineries were not filling the US demand "void" with exports.

But I do agree with what you posted in another thread saying that the price has been driven up due to speculators rather than what supply/demand has dictated.


I dont know Beetle about the cost of the spill. How much did BP pay out? How much did the US taxpayer pay out?

I read your post just fine, but I do not know when you consider to be good economic times. However, I do know that demand for gasoline has stayed relatively the same for quite awhile, at least going back a decade. Sure there are dips in peaks for a month or so here and there, and small trends over a couple months but overall the demand has stayed the same. When prices were high under Bush it wasnt because demand was greater than production capability. It was for the same reason prices are high now. Speculation.

The gas and oil industry has nothing to do with supply and demand when it comes to its prices. As soon as people get past this little distraction technique used by both parties the sooner we can get to finding a real solution. However, as long as politicians think they can keep everyone distracted, they will not have to address the problem and will continue taking big time money from energy corps.