Date: June 07, 2022
01) LINK
“Gas prices are high again?!?”
A quibble over Ukraine “being a sovereign nation” aside…[because nations which rely on billions in yearly aid from other nations, and other nations funding/supplying their wars, are not honestly sovereign.]…
…Do remember what you’ve learned from this video, especially if you’re one of those uneducated weirdos who likes accusing the over worked, under paid person behind the counter, or even just the individual gas station itself, of personally being behind “the gouging of you”…
Gas stations in the U.S. follow a model far more like that of movie theaters in the U.S…
…They don’t make their personal profits, from what initially gets most people inside the store.
Profits from gas sales, to the immediate people selling it to the public, are very modest…Likely not even worthwhile, in their own right…You are forced to sell a lot of other things, in order to augment this business model.
So…next time anyone wants to make a snarky or nasty comment to the person behind the counter…a person who is making nothing additional during all of this…who is getting raped at the pumps just as bad as you…who is “gaining” nothing more than your nasty abuse…a person who’s likely spent days/weeks consoling, apologizing and empathizing with people, over these bullshit gas prices nobody can afford…Get A Fucking Clue…
Don’t be an asshole.
That business does not have to serve you…And the person behind the counter is not obliged to take your abuse.
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Our Love Frontier 
I agree that the price of oil is the biggest factor, but that alone is worth an entire post. Since only a handful of companies worldwide control the vast majority of crude, they have wide latitude in setting price and they usually just peg it to the futures market here and in London. Unfortunately for most of us, the hedge funds have a strong bias to buy crude rather than sell it, which drives up the price and since the big oil companies don’t have an incentive to hedge it, there’s little selling pressure.
In 2020, when covid sent prices reeling, the large spec funds were still long when the price went down to minus thirty dollars a barrel. They never got short as a group and they are always on the buy side. That sucks.
Also, see this article. https://unherd.com/2022/06/corporations-arent-greedy-enough/
The rig count is still down sharply from pre covid numbers, even with demand back to the same level. Rather than pump more, they just keep the price high and make more profit with less effort. It also pumps up their stock price, since it reflects the value of the crude still in the ground which is now worth $120 instead of $75. Throw in the sanctions on Russia, who’s crude makes better diesel and we are talking about record high prices.
Add in a shortage of food and we are good and truly cooked. My guess is that the Republicans will have a stunning victory in fall and when times get rough, they go to austerity for the masses and tax cuts for the rich. Not a good recipe for a happy ending.
Store food and buy guns, or is it store guns and buy food? Either way, not great.
G
I agree…The dead weight in Washington isn’t going to do jack.
The wealthy will stay in their gated communities, or even leave altogether…while the masses are decimated.
We know damn well, they realize what is going on. This is not an accident.