Gas, $3.75 a gallon by Summer Estimated

[Dan P]

Diesel went over $4.00/gal in the L.A. area today. That makes it 50 to 60 cents higher than reg. gas. I'm sure glad I didn't spend the extra 10 G's for the diesel truck!

[Brad B]

Not at all

Even at $10 a gallon you can't beat it for family and friends fellowship

[REW]

I just upgraded from a stern drive to a Bu and planned on extra gas anyway. We did over 300 gal last year and are planning on over 400 this year even at 4.00 a gal thats only 1600 for the summer. Not bad compaired to Disney(booked for April ) its a steal, more fun more trips less money.

[jjackkrash]

Demand is down, supply is up, and oil hits $110. So much for a free market at work.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/12/markets/oi...dex.htm?cnn=yes

[68Slalom]

Demand is down, supply is up, and oil hits $110. So much for a free market at work.

<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/12/markets/oi...dex.htm?cnn=yes" target="_blank">http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/12/markets/oi...dex.htm?cnn=yes</a>

It's just simply amazing how we the people are letting this get out of hand, and just think the govn't hasn't stepped in "I wonder why"

Edit: and the worst thing about the whole thing is when we adapt to the high prices and the economy gets back on it's feet "whenever" these are the prices we will be paying. We're paying it now and why wouldn't we pay it when we have more jobs and the housing market gets stronger.

That is the sad part...........

Edited March 13, 2008 by 68Slalom

[LS-One]

As if prices aren't bad enough, look what the CA Dem's wanted to do. As if this wouldn't be passed on to the consumers.

New oil taxes are blocked in Assembly

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Levies on drilling and windfall profits would yield $1.2 billion for California schools. Republicans say no to new taxes.

By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

March 13, 2008

SACRAMENTO -- Assembly Republicans on Wednesday night blocked proposed taxes on oil companies that Democrats said would offset Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's planned cuts to schools.

The Democratic proposal would generate $1.2 billion from an extraction tax on oil companies and a tax on windfall profits, neither of which they say would be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Republicans dismissed the proposal as a political "drill" and said during a three-hour floor debate that they would hold to their commitment to block any new taxes.

"It will result in higher gas taxes at a time when [they] are already a burden to working families," said Assemblywoman Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield), a former school superintendent who represents California's top oil-producing county.

Fuller, like other Republicans, expressed frustration at the way the Democratic leadership quickly brought the bill to the floor: without the standard committee hearings and with little notice to lawmakers.

Assemblywoman Audra Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) called the floor debate a "publicity stunt" that was intended to pressure Republicans on their antitax stance at a time when layoff notices were scheduled to be sent to thousands of teachers across the state.

Democrats said they had no choice but to bring the measure to the floor because the state was facing a multibillion-dollar deficit and GOP lawmakers were refusing to discuss raising new revenue. They painted the proposal as a way to fend off what they characterized as devastating cuts to the state's schools.

"Oil companies in this state aren't conducting bake sales so they can get by," said Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Burbank). "Our schools are."

The bill, AB 9xxx, would hit oil companies with a 6% tax on oil extracted in California as well as a 2% tax on "windfall profits" -- net income beyond $10 million. The bulk of the revenue would come from the extraction tax.

Supporters of the proposal say California, the third-largest oil-producing state, is the only state where oil is drilled that does not have an extraction tax. They point to 21 other states that impose extraction levies on oil companies ranging from 2% to 15%. They say the bill includes provisions that would prohibit the new taxes from being paid for through price hikes.

The extraction proposal is similar to one voters defeated at the ballot in November 2006. Proposition 87 would have imposed a similar tax and used the revenue generated to fund research and development of alternative fuels.

But legislative staff warned in its analysis of the bill that the prohibition against passing on the new tax to consumers "may be both difficult and costly to enforce." The analysis also noted that companies that violated the prohibition would not necessarily be subject to penalties.

Oil firms and business groups say that although the state does not have an extraction tax, businesses that drill for oil in California pay much higher rates on many other taxes than is typical in other states. They also say more taxes would discourage companies from drilling in California, ultimately increasing the state's dependence on oil from the Middle East.

Democrats offered the proposal as an alternative to the governor's plan to cut $4.4 billion in school funding to help close the state's $16-billion budget shortfall.

Lawmakers and the governor closed roughly half the budget gap earlier this year, mostly through deferrals and borrowing that ultimately will have to be repaid. Budget analysts say legislators will have to close the remaining gap with new taxes, deep program cuts or a combination of both.

Almost every GOP lawmaker has signed a pledge to vote against any proposed tax increase, which cannot be approved without the support of two-thirds of lawmakers.

Under the Legislature's current makeup, at least eight Republicans must support a new tax for it to pass. None of them backed the oil tax proposal, which failed in the 80-member Assembly by a vote of 45 to 30.

Democrats, for their part, have vowed to delay passage of a state budget until Republicans bend. Said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles): "If 'red' states like Texas, Colorado and Montana tax oil production to fund the services they value, then so should we."

Edited March 13, 2008 by LS-One

[Malibudude]

Isn't the first time they use education as leverage to raise taxes. Impose taxes on oil, guess what they raise the price of gas to all those whom these intelligent politicians are attempting to help. This would have only hurt the pocket books of those already stretched thin.

[68Slalom]

Yeah, this article and the way the govn't goes about trying to tax the oil companies. Yeah, right. They are going to tax the "oil" companies which in turn then raises the prices, it is all about the dollar revenue and I understand the economy is in trouble but I really want to see what happens in the future not that I want it to come any faster, but to see how we can come together and get a handle on this.

Edit: and the scary thing is that if demand falls they tax it higher to make up for the lack of total sales in volume. It just keeps going around and we the tax payer's just get stroked, I think it's time to go into business for myself or at least start a small company where I can write all these gas expense off. That is what everyone else does........

Edited March 13, 2008 by 68Slalom

[LS-One]

On average oil companies make ten cents profit per gallon of gas. The Government through Fed and State taxes make sixty three cents profit per gallon with none of the work invested. Somehow though the oil companies aren't paying their fair share according to the liberal side of the aisle in the Ca legislature.

Edited March 13, 2008 by LS-One

[REW]

Its always best to look at the profit margin. Most oil companies are making about 8% to 10%. Corporate tax rates (federal) are 39% so who is soking the public the Feds or the oil companies. No add in state taxes on fuel and federal gas taxes. and the companies are not getting as much as the government. this fact is not publicly known due to the fact that it doesent make a good sound bit for a public that doesent want to read a full artical or put forth the effort to understand basic economics.

[Madmanacrossthewater]

Who gets rich off $3 gas - who doesn't

The guy running the service station makes just a few cents, while crude oil producers take the biggest chunk.

By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer

Last Updated: March 13, 2008: 3:24 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Motorists may fume when forking over $3 a gallon at the local service station, but as it turns out, your local filling spot makes chump change from a gallon of gas.

So exactly who is getting rich?

Oil traders: Often blamed for pushing up prices, traders don't necessarily benefit from the high price of crude or gasoline, they profit from how much the price changes. Traders can get rich - as long as they bet correctly on whether prices will rise or fall.

An investment bank makes money when oil prices go from $95 to $100 a barrel if it bet the price will rise - or $100 to $95 if it bet the price will fall - not on the difference between production cost and trading price.

"If you wanna keep your job, you gotta be more right than wrong," said John Kilduff, an energy analyst at the trading firm MF Global in New York, explaining how traders make their money.

Gas stations: A surprisingly small amount goes to the guy who runs the station.

Most service stations are independently owned and operated and take in between 7 and 10 cents for every gallon they sell, according to the Energy Information Administration.

That 7 to 10 cents going to the gas station isn't even profit. Out of that, station owners still have to pay leases, workers, and other expenses - leaving them with a profit of just a few cents. For the service stations, most profit comes from selling coffee, cigarettes, food and other amenities.

These calculations are based off of EIA's most recent numbers, when gas was $3.04 a gallon. Gasoline hit another record nationwide average of $3.27 a gallon Thursday.

Taxes: The government takes about 40 cents right off the top, with about 18 cents going to the feds. State taxes vary widely, but the national average is about 22 cents a gallon. Most of this money is used to build and maintain roads.

Transportation: Getting the gas from refineries to service stations via trucks or pipelines - and the cost of storing it in large tanks - eats up another 23 to 26 cents per gallon.

Refining: About 24 cents a gallon goes to refining companies like Valero (VLO, Fortune 500), Sunoco (SUN, Fortune 500) or Frontier (FTO, Fortune 500) that specialize in turning crude oil into gas. Some companies like ExxonMobil (XOM, Fortune 500), Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) and ConocoPhillips (COP, Fortune 500) produce and refine crude oil.

Profits for refiners have been squeezed lately because the price they pay for oil has risen so much faster than the price they can sell the gas for. This helps explain why Big Oil companies -like Exxon, which actually buys more crude oil than it produces - haven't seen their profits rise as much as the price of oil.

Crude oil: This is the most expensive part of a gallon of gas. $2.07 from every gallon of gas goes to producers of crude like Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500), BP (BP), and smaller outfits like Anadarko (APC, Fortune 500) and Marathon (MRO, Fortune 500), or national oil companies controlled by countries like Saudi Arabia, Mexico or Venezuela.

Crude currently trades around $110 a barrel, but breaking down the money in that barrel of oil is tough. Exploration and production costs, royalty payments - all a big part of $110 a barrel oil - vary widely country by country and project by project.

"It's difficult to generalize, there's a whole spectrum of costs," said Ron Planting, an economist with the American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group.

They can range from $1 a barrel to produce crude in Saudi Arabia to over $70 a barrel to find, develop and pump oil in the deep water Gulf of Mexico or off the coast of Algeria, said Ann-Louise Hittle, an oil analyst with the energy consultants Wood Mackenzie.

EIA estimates it costs U.S. oil companies an average of about $24 a barrel to find, develop and produce oil worldwide, but that doesn't include costs like transportation, administration, or income taxes - which can be substantial. While Exxon made over $40 billion in 2007, a 60% increase from 2004, it paid over $100 billion in taxes and royalties.

Nonetheless, $40 billion - or any of the record profits seen by most oil companies over the last few years - is certainly a lot of money, and it has put Big Oil in lawmaker's cross hairs.

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., has called the chief executives of the five biggest oil companies to testify on the industry's record profits on April 1st. Markey's office swears it's no April fool's joke.

________________________________________________________________________________

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Who's laughing? Not me.

[joshturbo]

I just upgraded from a stern drive to a Bu and planned on extra gas anyway. We did over 300 gal last year and are planning on over 400 this year even at 4.00 a gal thats only 1600 for the summer. Not bad compaired to Disney(booked for April ) its a steal, more fun more trips less money.

i like your thinking

on a side note, i am located in Fort Mcmurray Alberta ,Canada and we are paying $1.10 per liter two days ago so it might have went up since

but i believe that works out to $4.10 a us gallon, depending on exchange rate but thats just regular unleaded. I believe diesel is 5 to 10 cents higher

then gas

so we are taking a beating up north aswell, but we have been paying that for a while so i am kinda used to it.

[REW]

I think what is comes down to is we would all rather pay less but will pay what ever is at the pump to enjoy the lake with our families and friends. I know my wife and kids are worth what ever it takes to get on the water.

[ericivey21]

My dad always asks me how I am going to afford gas this summer and my reply is always...Thats why I have a paddle and an anchor..I can launch the boat, row out 100 yards, drop anchor and drink beer and have some fun!!!!

On another note about gas does anyone realize that 10 years ago gas was around 1.39....In the past 10 years gas will have almost tripled. If this trend continues and gas triples again in the next 10 years gas will be almost $10 a gallon...

Seems to me over the past 20 years the U.S. Government has been turning a blind eye to some big problems that have been creeping up on us...(gas prices) Can you guess why the govt has yet to do anything about the gas prices? 20 years of power for Bush and Clinton families...Vote for Obama!!!!

Sorry to go political

[NorCaliBu]

...Vote for O...

Ya...an ultra liberal with almost no experience is the answer to all our problems.

Ever seen the picture where everyone is saying the pledge with hands over their hearts except for Obama, who is turned away with his hands folded in front of him? Never have met anyone who can explain, refute, or defend his actions caught in that photo.

I'm not a big GW supporter (but not for the same reasons as you) he has certainly made some mistakes but socialism is not the answer. Throughout history, socialism has failed in every part of the world that it has been tried. And anyone who says that socialism is not the Obama agenda is either stupid or intellectually dishonest. Change? You bet. From capitalism to socialism. Not the kind of change that I'm looking for though.

[lakewaterjunky]

Seems to me over the past 20 years the U.S. Government has been turning a blind eye to some big problems that have been creeping up on us...(gas prices) Can you guess why the govt has yet to do anything about the gas prices? 20 years of power for Bush and Clinton families...Vote for Obama!!!!

Sorry to go political

For once here in Kentucky we may actually get to participate in a presidential primary vote that could matter or make a difference

[Mechmaster]

$4.78/gal US for diesel today.

$4.57/gal US for 87 octane today.

Location: Langley, BC.

$3.75 would be a gift!

Edited March 14, 2008 by Mechmaster

[auto]

.Vote for Obama!!!!

Sorry to go political

Cocaine's a helluva drug. Just what everyone needs is higher taxes and a socialist

[68Slalom]

$4.78/gal US for diesel today.

$4.57/gal US for 87 octane today.

Location: Langley, BC.

$3.75 would be a gift!

So, what's is your point

[Mechmaster]

$4.78/gal US for diesel today.

$4.57/gal US for 87 octane today.

Location: Langley, BC.

$3.75 would be a gift!

So, what's is your point

I'm just venting.

I don't think this will effect what I do this summer at all, it'll just cost me more to do it. I hate paying more for something when it has no added value.

Edited March 14, 2008 by Mechmaster

[JohnDoe]

...Vote for O...

Ya...an ultra liberal with almost no experience is the answer to all our problems.

Ever seen the picture where everyone is saying the pledge with hands over their hearts except for Obama, who is turned away with his hands folded in front of him? Never have met anyone who can explain, refute, or defend his actions caught in that photo.

I'm not a big GW supporter (but not for the same reasons as you) he has certainly made some mistakes but socialism is not the answer. Throughout history, socialism has failed in every part of the world that it has been tried. And anyone who says that socialism is not the Obama agenda is either stupid or intellectually dishonest. Change? You bet. From capitalism to socialism. Not the kind of change that I'm looking for though.

Well we elected an ultra conservative with absolutely no experience and look where that got us! A liberal (which he isn't really by the way) has to be better than that! I say he's not liberal because the definition of liberal is not anyone who is not a right-wing extremist. Read one of his books Mike, you may be surprised. Lastly, it was the Star-Spangled Banner and there is no requirement to have your hand over heart, though I do, and understand people's gripes that he should as well, but it was not the pledge.

Edited March 14, 2008 by JohnDoe

[NorCaliBu]

Well we elected an ultra conservative with absolutely no experience and look where that got us! A liberal (which he isn't really by the way) has to be better than that! I say he's not liberal because the definition of liberal is not anyone who is not a right-wing extremist. Read one of his books Mike, you may be surprised. Lastly, it was the Star-Spangled Banner and there is no requirement to have your hand over heart, though I do, and understand people's gripes that he should as well, but it was not the pledge.

Hey John, haven't seen you around much lately. I figured some good liberal bashing would bring you out. OK, point by point...

GW is an "ultra-conservative"?

"with no experience"...well, except for that whole Governor of Texas thing, right?

Obama is a liberal. His voting record places him to the left of the Kennedy's. Which I didn't know was possible.

Why do you assume that I haven't read any of his books? No one is as well read as you, right?

You stating that the photo was during the Star Spangled Banner is the first that I've ever heard that. I have heard that picture interpreted ad nauseum and it has always been referred to as "The Pledge" photo. I really hate to agree with Hillary but she is correct in saying that the ability to deliver an inspiring speech does not equate to the ability to lead the most powerful nation on earth.

[bigD]

Lastly, it was the Star-Spangled Banner and there is no requirement to have your hand over heart, though I do, and understand people's gripes that he should as well, but it was not the pledge.

I haven't said the Pledge since grade school,but when the Star-Spangled Banner or National anthem was played when I was in the Service and every ball game or race I've been to you stand at attention and salute if in uniform and civilians put their right hand over their heart. A government employee that receives a pay check from We The People should be ashamed for not doing so out of respect for what that song is about and stands for.

But the Liberals probably don't do that in Berkley Ca. either

Edit: $4.10 for Diesel today,$1200+ to fill up our tractor at work

Edited March 15, 2008 by bigD

[LS-One]

Lastly, it was the Star-Spangled Banner and there is no requirement to have your hand over heart, though I do, and understand people's gripes that he should as well, but it was not the pledge.

I haven't said the Pledge since grade school,but when the Star-Spangled Banner was played when I was in the Service and every ball game or race I've been to you stand at attention and salute if in uniform and civilians put their right hand over their heart. A government employee that receives a pay check from We The People should be ashamed for not doing so out of respect for what that song is about and stands for.

But the Liberals probably don't do that in Berkley Ca. either

Edit: $4.10 for Diesel today,$1200+ to fill up our tractor at work

Was that a delivered price ?

[68Slalom]

Lastly, it was the Star-Spangled Banner and there is no requirement to have your hand over heart, though I do, and understand people's gripes that he should as well, but it was not the pledge.

I haven't said the Pledge since grade school,but when the Star-Spangled Banner was played when I was in the Service and every ball game or race I've been to you stand at attention and salute if in uniform and civilians put their right hand over their heart. A government employee that receives a pay check from We The People should be ashamed for not doing so out of respect for what that song is about and stands for.

But the Liberals probably don't do that in Berkley Ca. either

Edit: $4.10 for Diesel today,$1200+ to fill up our tractor at work

Maybe you could find a way to get the job done without using the tractor and pocket most of that money