When...are "you" going to "wake up"?

[Dien Rice]

Hi Michael,

Originally Posted by MichaelRoss

As for... They will sell it to others at that same price... that doesn't wash. Otherwise, we wouldn't be paying the high prices we pay. We'd be paying Low prices as those in some Arab countries pay... and even prices low like in the USA.

I just did a quick price check of oil prices. In Thailand it was 17 baht a litre and went to 30 baht a litre. 30 Baht is like $1A. The USA pays like the equal of $1.10A per litre. But we are paying $1.50 a litre... and down your end of the country it's closer to $1.60 even getting to $1.69 (Why almost a 20 cent price difference between your state and mine - you are Higher and yet the oil rigs everyone knows about are closer to you? Rhetorical question to get you Thinking.)

(Note: $1.50 a litre is around $5.68 a gallon, if I calculated right!)

I just checked... Aussies are taxed "twice" on fuel.

There's a 38 cents a litre "excise tax"... then...

There's the 10% GST. So the government "double-dips" on gas/petrol tax.

So, if you take away the 38 cents, Aussie petrol would be around $1.12 per litre. Then, take away the 10% GST and it would be down to $1.02 cents a litre. So, out of $1.50 per liter price you pay for gas/petrol, around 48 cents is tax.

So I think the massive tax Aussies pay on gas/petrol explains a lot of the super-high costs.

As for the Arab countries, I think many OPEC countries subsidize petrol/gas for their citizens/residents, so their prices are artificially low...

We all know the price of gas/petrol is a Con. And there is no Real Competition between oil companies - despite so called Watchdog groups and the like, which are PR exercises so it Looks like the Politicians are doing something.

I think there are various reasons why the price of oil is so high...

• Increasing demand. China, India, and many other countries are using more than before, so there's more demand for oil worldwide.
• Decreasing supply. This can be due to oil reserves producing less than before, war, etc.
• FEAR of decreasing supply, and hence EXPECTATION of higher prices. This leads speculators to drive the price of oil futures up, expecting to be able to make a profit by selling higher later on. This expectation can be due to the above reasons, plus fear of future wars in oil-producing regions, further limiting supply. From what I've read, this reason seems to be the "BIG ONE" at the moment...

I ain't no expert though (I just read a lot)...

- Dien