RV Fuel Issues & Prices - Post 'Em Here!
All other fuel threads will be automatically deleted. :)
Forum Discussion
It's true that we mere citizens have little control over gas prices and even less visibility into price trends, but the good news is that gas prices have been very flat for 50 years when adjusted for inflation. We are the beneficiaries of smart US government oil policies set in place 60 years ago that tended to stabilize oil prices by making oil fungible and by using other-peoples-oil at low prices while preserving our own oil resources. Thus we were largely spared being heldup by international monopolies (we successfully backed down OPEC in 1973 so successfully that they haven't tried it since) while we were able to dominate oil markets by being the largest buyer.
Things are changing, now, since we are quickly becoming a smaller part of the market (about 25% today and heading down to 20% soon)so the bad news is that we will lose some market power but the good news is that new market leaders like China will probably tend to drive prices down because they are so poor (even though they will increase demand pressure). More good news is that the domestic oil we banked by using OPO will increase in value, counteracting the effect of increased dependence on foreign oil. At the same time it's wise for us to develop alternate energy sources for surface vehicles so as to preserve vital oil for aircraft and military while applying competitive pressure to oil suppliers. We'll have to supply government capital to do that since existing energy companies will be reluctant to invest in new energy since they get a better ROI from bribing government politicians to support their monopoly against new energy, especially given the SCOTUS approval of open bribery masquerading as campaign contributions.
Things are changing, now, since we are quickly becoming a smaller part of the market (about 25% today and heading down to 20% soon)so the bad news is that we will lose some market power but the good news is that new market leaders like China will probably tend to drive prices down because they are so poor (even though they will increase demand pressure). More good news is that the domestic oil we banked by using OPO will increase in value, counteracting the effect of increased dependence on foreign oil. At the same time it's wise for us to develop alternate energy sources for surface vehicles so as to preserve vital oil for aircraft and military while applying competitive pressure to oil suppliers. We'll have to supply government capital to do that since existing energy companies will be reluctant to invest in new energy since they get a better ROI from bribing government politicians to support their monopoly against new energy, especially given the SCOTUS approval of open bribery masquerading as campaign contributions.
