Gas prices in U.S. to hit $4.00 by April!

[star-warrior]

It's £1.019 per liter in my local Morrison's petrol station.

 

[Kulindahr]

The fact remains the American consumer is the person being forced to contribute to those profits at a time when we can least afford it.
If we all buy Exxon stock will that offset our pump increases?

"Forced"? I don't see coercion involved.
It's frustrating, and in many ways there's not much choice -- as a handyman, I either pay the price, or give up gasoline-driven equipment. But as I fill a can for my chipper, there's no thought that I'm being coerced, or even that the companies are taking advantage of me -- they're just doing business, as other companies do business. They're just in a more critical position in the economy, a more visible position in people's lives.
Sure, I wish they'd decide to cut their prices so I could do better. But they have a responsibility to their owners -- that's the stockholders -- first. If I were a stockholder, I'd be the sort to say "Let's cut the country some slack", and vote to cut prices by a couple of percent. I'd also be the type to be saying that half of earnings should be going to things like "everything to oil" plants, to take the plastic, rubber, and some other forms of trash and turn them into fuel. Once oil went past about $75/gal, oil from the EtO process became competitive with the real thing; getting heavily into it would mean staying in the oil business without importing.
Anyway....

I almost sat down a number of posts back to calculate that. It shouldn't be too hard to find Exxon's dividend and then figure how many shares it would take to offset the impact of rising prices. Of course then you'd have to figure whether the cost of a share made that worth it.

 

[drhladnjak]

Exxon's dividend (symbol is XOM if you want to search around for it) is currently at 35 cents per share per quarter. That yields 1.53% annually at the current price of $91.66 per share, which is actually way less than you'd get by putting your money in an FDIC insured high interest savings account. Now, in the past 4 years, their stock price has nearly tripled, largely because their earnings have shot up by about the same amount. But by and large, those record profits have not been paid out as dividends to stockholders but rather held by the company or reinvested back in the company.

Rest assured that if there is a recession, Exxon will get hit by reduced domestic demand even if global oil prices stay high. As soon as earnings drop, the stock price will drop too. In fact, that drop could even be more pronounced than the drop in earnings. If traders expect earnings to fall further in the future, they'll price that in.

 

[unclaimedblessing]

All that should make truckers, cabbies and their customers happier paying inflated rates.
It also has a snowball effect on shipping costs of other products. While we have focused so much on gas pump and heating prices, grocery costs are escalating at an alarming rate too.
Drivers without adequate alternative modes of transportation are in fact "forced" to pay the higher pump prices. We might be fairies, but we can't fly.
Moving back to the inner city, with the mortgage industry doing so well (not), decreases in home valuations and increased insurance costs doesn't seem too viable either.
I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories, but recent ecomonic trends seem to indicate unparralleled corporate greed and a general "screw the country and screw the people" attitude.
Corporate patriotism and concern for our citizens isn't red, white and blue. it's all green.

 

[Huskerboy]

That's what I've said all along... prices at the pump are one thing, but it's going to effect the economy in many others ways... Higher fuel prices increase grocery prices because it costs more to deliver them to the store. Higher fuel prices will raise freight costs, postage, parcel delivery (UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc.), everything that is 'delivered' will be more expensive... and that cost always trickles its way down to the end consumer.

When people are forced to pay more for the items they need, they won't have the spendable income to pay for the items they want. They're going to need their take-home pay to provide the basics; food, clothing, and shelter. Companies not providing those goods or services are going to be hit hard, sending stock prices down... There's going to be a huge period of adjustment coming, and it's not going to be easy.

 

[Kulindahr]

Exxon's dividend (symbol is XOM if you want to search around for it) is currently at 35 cents per share per quarter. That yields 1.53% annually at the current price of $91.66 per share, which is actually way less than you'd get by putting your money in an FDIC insured high interest savings account. Now, in the past 4 years, their stock price has nearly tripled, largely because their earnings have shot up by about the same amount. But by and large, those record profits have not been paid out as dividends to stockholders but rather held by the company or reinvested back in the company.

I know Exxon is sinking money into new ventures, which in the oil business can be costly. I think they're one of the companies looking at all the incredible volumes of natural gas trapped in some sort of ice matrix in Canada, and I think they're one that's involved in working on modifying oil-burning power plants to natural gas.

In the long term, that's better for their stockholders; it will give Exxon survivability as oil supplies inevitably dwindle.

 

[thewiz]

The first thing that needs to happen is for the U.S. to develop a comprehensive energy policy. That's not going to happen anytime soon because the Dems don't want success on the part of Repubs and vice versa. If one actually passed and was successful, that would be bad for party politics.

Second, the same intensity that put man on the moon needs to take place for the next generation of transportation. There are solutions; there just isn't the will or the focus.

Third, I will be using public transportation more and more; I always do if I can when I travel. Actually, I am fortunate that DC has great public transit and I can pretty much get anywhere without driving (except my office!)

Fourth, we have enjoyed low gas prices while friends in Europe and elsewhere have been paying high prices for some time.

Fifth, the real challenge will be as cars get better fuel economy, alternative fuels take the place of oil and gas, and people switch to public transportation -- all of our road networks, buses, some rail, and other transit is based on gas taxes paid by the gallon. Less gallons means less dollars for road maintenance and improvement as well as transit. It is a catch 22!