Quote:
Originally Posted by RevMojo
Then why isn't gas cheap here in TX?
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This is a good question.. I was in Oklahoma a few weeks ago. I filled up in Tulsa for $3.39, gas was $3.79 in Denton (Texas). It's about 3.89 here now.
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Combined State, local and Federal taxes average 0.47 per gallon in the US. Here's a quick look at some of the states:
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Texas 0.384
Oklahoma 0.354
Illinois 0.579
Missouri 0.36
California 0.639
New York 0.596
Florida 0.516
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Check out your state at this link:
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http://www.api.org/statistics/fuelta...ARY_2008-2.pdf
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According to indusry analysts it costs pennies to get the oil out of the ground. Most of the price of a gallon of gasoline is in the refining and especially the transport of the product. Even if Texas crude contributed only 10% to the gasoline at the corner station in San Antonio if that 10% was figured into the total cost at somewhere near the cost of local production (not the cost of shipping a barrel from Saudi Arabia) then prices would be much depressed. But those good-old boy patriots can't be expected to sell their Texas (or Oklahoma or Alaska) crude for less here than they could get for it in Bejing!
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The answer to the question of how is gasoline priced is a simple one and was answered by a Chevron spokeperson a couple of years ago (I happened to be in California at the time and heard it on the radio)... "we price our product according to what we believe the market can bear" In other words all the talk about taxes and production costs and off-shore refining and more is just talk.. the price at the pump is the maximum price they can get for it.
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Long-term I'm not sure but that high gas prices could be a tonic for energy-pigs in the US! and make us be more conservative. Though I'm unsure why the giant multinational corporations have to make buh-zillions of dollars either by cheap oil or by high-priced oil. Law of nature (and corporate cronies in government) I suppose.
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It's painful now to think back to when Carter was saying let's tax ourselves on our oil use and use that money directly to upgrade our nation and get free of oil dependence.. Oh the cries of anguish and pain from the industry.. COMMIE TRAITOR!.. NOBODY will pay more that $1.00 for a gallon of gas! it will ruin our economy, people will be living in tents! Now of course we're paying $4.00, but the money is going to fat-cat multinationals and Arab sheiks not to build our country.
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Texas, of course, has recently been awarded the booby prize for most polluted (and polluting) state. Our carbon footprint and chemical footprint is more than many countries.. Holy heck but does it stink out there from Baytown to Port Arthur!
But Texas is run by the Republicans, and after (then governor) Bush got the state's attorney to counter sue the EPA over their plans to clean up the Texas Coastal bend and gave the petrochemical industry 'grandfather' exemptions to emmissions standards and waste-discharge ruless.. the Petro chemical industries annd coal producers gave him the money to run for President.
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(Circus music here).
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