Haiti is in flames as food riots have turned into a violent challenge to the vulnerable government; Egypt's authoritarian regime faces a mounting political threat over its inability to maintain a steady supply of heavily subsidized bread to its impoverished citizens; Cote D'Ivoire, Cameroon, Mozambique, Uzbekistan, Yemen and Indonesia are among the countries that have recently seen violent food riots or demonstrations. World Bank president Robert Zoellick noted last week that world food prices had risen 80% over the past three years, and warned that at least 33 countries face social unrest as a result.
The sociology of the food riot is pretty straightforward: The usually impoverished majority of citizens may acquiesce to the rule of detested corrupt and repressive regimes when they are preoccupied with the daily struggle to feed their children and themselves, but when circumstances render it impossible to feed their hungry children, normally passive citizens can very quickly become militants with nothing to lose. That's especially true when the source of their hunger is not the absence of food supplies but their inability to afford to buy the available food supplies. And that's precisely what we're seeing in the current wave of global food-price inflation. As Josette Sheeran of the U.N. World Food Program put it last month, "We are seeing food on the shelves but people being unable to afford it."
When all that stands between hungry people and a warehouse full of rice and beans is a couple of padlocks and a riot policeman (who may be the neighbor of those who're trying to get past him, and whose own family may be hungry too), the invisible barricade of private-property laws can be easily ignored.
Our ethanol policy has not helped the food or fuel situation here or abroad.
do you really think it is THAT easy to sell a house in this ecoonomy just to save a few bucks on gas? giving 6% to the realtor, paying the movers, any rennovations that need to be done to the new house. Get a grip man. It is easiler to lose a few thousand getting amore fuel efficient car than to uproot your family to live closer to a job you may just hate. Gas here in Lexington, KY is now $3.60 for regular. I bat is goes up again this week, probably friday.I will start working from home 2-3 days per week.
Why are the people starving? Because their leaders eat up too much of the tax-grain; that is why the people are starving. Why are the people difficult to govern? Because their leaders interfere; that is why the people are difficult to govern. Why do the people treat death lightly. Because their leaders are so grossly absorbed in the pursuit of living; that is why the people treat death lightly.
Indeed, it is wiser to ignore life altogether than to place too high a value on it.
Actually, there is a rule about working 10-hour days - - - it's called overtime and most companies wouldn't want to pay OT.
Change in spending habits - you bet. We don't drive to the park 7 miles away any longer. We walk the kids to the one about a mile away. We are also trying to have "no drive" weekends. Friday night I combine my errands, grocery shopping, kid pickup, etc. into one big loop. I carpool on weekend activities rather than drive myself.
It isn't as convenient but since my fill-up is $62 (and I DO pay $4/gal) v. under $40 a couple of years ago... you bet habits are changing.
Actually, there is a rule about working 10-hour days - - - it's called overtime and most companies wouldn't want to pay OT.
No that's incorrect. I work for a company that has its hourly-laborers on 2nd shift work M-Th, 10-hr shifts. They pay a 10% shift premium. Overtime at 150%-pay, is only paid after the first 40 hr are worked.
When we look at the changes and choices necessary to conserve, the biggest seems to be that many of us do not see that conservation is "really" necessary, or that it is our own individual issue.... and I'm as guilty as anyone else. I still drive a V8, when the V6 would have been adequate, I still prefer to be comfortable at home in the winter, rather than lower the thermostat way down and wear a couple of sweaters, socks etc, and in the summer, I still use central air. Yes, I've reinsulated rooms. Yes, I maintain tire pressures, drive smoothly etc. However, most of my changes are geared to doing the same thing, but just a bit smarter.
So when I look at where we are going in the auto industry I see that the trend is continuously combining more power, bigger vehicles WITH greater efficiency; It used to be that 250-300 HP was a big deal - sports car turf. (I'm talking post oil crisis, through the 80's and 90's) Now you can buy mainstream mid level sedans that are over 300HP. I sometimes wonder about the benefit of not looking to increase the HP on the Malibu, deciding that 250 (let's say) is enough, and trying to make it the most efficient. Agree that current sizes are big enough (anyone remember when the Accord was a small car?) weight is enough etc....
Having said that, China's gas is under $3 and not going anywhere.
I'll take you word on the price, but also consider the average Chinese worker is making $5,000 if lucky. The people in China buying cars are upper middle class, and might be making $15,000 - $20,000. So that is why I am saying other societies are dealing with the gas price. However their lifestyle might be living 3 miles from work, 1 car, and driving 5,000 miles/year.
These other societies deal with a much higher relative price compared to their income. Here in the U.S. the typical worker is pulling in $40K? $50K?
If I drive 10,000 miles/year at 25mpg @ $3.50/gal gas = $1,400. $1,400 really isn't that much compared to our salaries! If gas goes to $4.00/gal then my gas bill would be $1,600. $200 more is not that much ( 3 months cable TV ).
If you think these amounts are a lot, you have a lot of economic issues besides that. How you will pay for increasing health-care, college tuition, and retirement. You really need to consider a new career, or working another job, if those gasoline bills scare you. You have a much deeper problem.
If you think these amounts are a lot, you have a lot of economic issues besides that. How you will pay for increasing health-care, college tuition, and retirement. You really need to consider a new career, or working another job, if those gasoline bills scare you. You have a much deeper problem.
The issue with higher fuel prices is much more than the direct cost to the individual buying gas.... Higher fuel prices trickle through all the other things that we are all consuming.
I spent two months is Cape May and was able to see the town a couple of those days. Its a very pretty town and would love to go back and see the town in a more relaxed unhurried way.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Actually, there is a rule about working 10-hour days - - - it's called overtime and most companies wouldn't want to pay OT.
I know of no company that pays overtime for going over 8 hours in a single day. All pay overtime after 40 hours, so working 4 ten hour days would not result in any over time.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I know of no company that pays overtime for going over 8 hours in a single day. All pay overtime after 40 hours, so working 4 ten hour days would not result in any over time.
Well... I beg to differ. I worked for a company for 27 years, as both management and hourly, and hourly paid overtime was computed daily - so if you worked 10 hours in a day, 2 hours would be at an overtime rate. It all depends on the contract, and the applicable state laws
I know of no company that pays overtime for going over 8 hours in a single day. All pay overtime after 40 hours, so working 4 ten hour days would not result in any over time.
Plus, depending on how your contract is worded, even after 40 hours you're not necessarily going to get overtime. For instance, if you're purely straight salary, you get paid the same amount whether you put in 30 hours per week or 90.
In my company, there are two classifications that they put you into...either "exempt" or "non-exempt". Basically, "exempt" just means you're "exempt" from getting overtime! Over the years, they worked at getting rid of the non-exempt positions. I actually pull a lot of OT, so back in 2001 when they switched me, I got a 10% raise to compensate for it. And I if I go over 40 hours in a week (actually, with us its 80 hours in a 2 week period), I still get paid, but it's just an hourly rate and not time and a half.
But yeah, if I went to four 10 hour days instead of five 8 hour days, it wouldn't affect my paycheck any.
Actually, I do remember one company where if you put in more than 8 hours in a day, they'd give you time and a half. I used to work part time for the Hecht Company, which was a division of May Company. I think they're Macy's now. I remember if I got in more than 8 hours in a day, I'd get time and a half for any additional time. I quit there back in 1996 though...I'm sure they've changed their ways since then.
I applaud Chavez in Venezuela. The only reason he is being demonized is because he stuck it to the international oil companies and did not allow them to control to own or control the country. Now Venezuela will prosper with $1/gallon for the people and supply it to the world for a profit so Venezuela will prosper. Ask yourself why combustion engines have virtually not changed in 100 years ?? Consider any mechanical or technological invention in the last 200 years that has not been innovated or improved computers,phones, systems of any kind have all improved except the combustion engine. Shouldn't the present day combustion engine be obsolete and replaced by now with another type of engine to drive our transportation industry ? Atleast we should have a cheap energy source that does not pollute the environment by now. The electric car outlets in California disappeared why ?-seen that movie I think it is called who killed the electric car ? We need a drastic change, lets adopt how other countries like Japan manage their oil. Lets get the automakers to make those little cars to compete with Japan and get 35+ miles per gallon and get the US working again.
I know of no company that pays overtime for going over 8 hours in a single day.
Well, since this is a car forum...
UAW employees get paid overtime for anything over 8 hours in a single day, regardless of how many hours they've worked that week. Also, Saturday and Sunday is all overtime pay, even if the person hasn't worked 40 hours up to that point.
Having said that, China's gas is under $3 and not going anywhere.
Do you have a source to back that up?.
China does fix it's gas prices but they have gone up over the past year and I'm pretty sure it's above $3/gallon. If cheap gas really is the secret behind a booming economy you'd think that Venezuela and Iran's economy would just be exploding. If you look at the countries in the world with the highest standards of living they also tend to have fairly high gas prices. Which isn't to say that high gas prices will result in a higher standard of living it is only meant to dispute the argument that high gas prices are inconsistent with a high standard of living.
The problem with the US is that we've assumed there'd always be a cheap, abundant supply of gasoline and have made long term decisions accordingly. It turns out there's a price to be paid for a lack of foresight. To complain about the impact of high gas prices is comparable to complaining about the negative consequences of making bad decisions. Basically it's just whining. There's a lot of people now losing their homes because they made bad decisions based upon unrealistic assumptions. It's not the government's job to protect people from poor judgement.
"New cars and trucks will have to meet a fleet-wide average of 31.6 mpg by 2015, or about a 4.5 percent annual increase from 2011 to 2015. In 2015, passenger cars will need to achieve 35.7 mpg, and trucks will need to reach 28.6 mpg."
My girlfriend has been out in Los Angeles since Friday. Thursday night Sunoco Regular was $3.27. Friday morning it is $3.33. Saturday it is $3.39. Sunday though lunchtime today it is $3.41. I bring her back from the airport and see it at $3.49!!!
It jumped SIXTEEN CENTS a gallon since Friday? :confuse: I don't know about you, but something is not kosher! Gasoline prices haven't jumped this fast when Hurricane Katrina hit.
Just to be a nice romantic guy, I picked girlfriend up in the new Cadillac. Sunoco Ultra is now a truly, utterly, disgusting $3.75!!! :mad: It jumped TEN CENTS since lunchtime! :surprise: I'm probably the only guy who still uses it these days.
Sorry, my friends from Caracas would differ with you. Chavez is a dictator, pure and simple. He's running out of money to buy the allegiance of the poor, and is looking for new scapegoats in the food supply industry.
There are also people losing their homes because they were manipulated, misled, and misinformed by unscrupulous companies selling mortgages. It IS the governments job to protect people from predatory companies. Likewise if oil companies are being predatory it would be the government's job to step in. Saying they have no choice but to raise prices otherwise they'll be in the poorhouse, begging for tax breaks to help their poor, barely profitable industry, and then posting record hundred-billion profits, all at the same time doesn't quite wash with me.
I have no problem with companies wanting to be profitable, or even being profitable. But saying in one breath that they're at the edge of solvency and begging the government for a handout, and in the next breath announcing record profits sounds more like a scam, doesn't it?
As for the China thing, the price was in an article I just read this week and was dated recently. When I get to work I'll go dig it up.
But saying in one breath that they're at the edge of solvency and begging the government for a handout, and in the next breath announcing record profits sounds more like a scam, doesn't it?
You bet it does! I could see if Exxon, Shell, etc. were having big losses or just eking out miniscule profits, but they are making profits that are the envy of other companies, even very profitable ones. Why do they want to derail the economy for their benefit? Why are they trying to kill the golden goose? Do they know something we don't? Is science on the breakthrough of an amazing alternative energy source that'll render Big Oil obsolete so they're trying to make as much as they can before it all ends?
I see Congress recently had the heads of the big oil companies before them, but nothing seems to have come of it. I think gouging the American people during time of war is treasonous and these guys should hang!
A month or 2 ago oil was $100/barrel. as of yesterday it is about $120/barrel, a 20% jump. Now gas doesn't always go up the same day as the crude ... but look at what you were paying 2 months ago and today; about a 20% increase right?
My new house has oil-heat; I'm more worried about the cost to heat it than gasoline. I'm going to be cutting/chopping/hauling some wood this summer - good exercise and free-heat.
It's amazing that there are still people who believe our domestic oil companies set the price of oil. They are relatively small players in comparison to the nationalized oil companies and are incapable of producing enough oil to supply this country's demand. We need Canada's, Mexico's and Venezuela's oil. Does anyone believe we can dictate to them what they should charge?
Congress calling in the CEOs of big oil was pure political grandstanding.
No one's talking about the price of oil. We're talking about the price of GAS. Exxon-Mobil and company, among other things, make their money by selling GAS, after they either buy it from a refinery, or buy crude oil and refine it themselves.
If oil is that expensive, and the "oil" companies are STILL making huge profits, then that means there's LOTS of room to lower the price of gasoline and they could still be profitable.
Incidentally, it's not Canada and Mexico setting prices. It's the oil drilling companies operating IN Canada and Mexico. And sometimes that's also ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, etc.
Venezuela is a different story of course. :shades:
There are also people losing their homes because they were manipulated, misled, and misinformed by unscrupulous companies selling mortgage
A lot of people are losing homes that they never should have qualified for to begin with. So if they get foreclosed upon they are simply where they would have been in had it not been for the loose lending standards.
Actually they are worse off than if they had just stayed renting or owning a more appropriate house. They now have a foreclosure which will be a killer if they try buying anything on credit.
This does not absolve them from their predicament but the lending practices that brought them on were so unethical they are close to criminal.
2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
"There are also people losing their homes because they were manipulated, misled, and misinformed by unscrupulous companies selling mortgages."
I think a lot of people are using this whole "misled" thing as a cop-out. While I'm sure there are some unscrupulous lenders (as there are in any business), the vast majority of people that are in trouble did it consciously and it's there own fault. You can't tell me that people don't understand what happens when their 3 or 5 or 7 year arm runs out. It's in plain print in the loan documents and explained when options are discussed. If ones doesn't understand what one is signing, they need to be asking more questions.
A lot of what happened was that people went for the arms and/or interest only, etc. knowing the payment will go up later, just so they could get into a house they couldn't afford otherwise. And I'm not only talking about buying a larger house than they could otherwise afford, I'm also talking about people that couldn't afford any house and where continued renting would have been more realistic.
Then when folks get themselves in over their head, they say they were taken for a ride. Let's put the blame where it belongs and for the vast majority of these cases, it's on the individual borrower. No shoving off ones personal responsibility onto the lenders or the government for not "protecting" us poor, witless borrowers.
Budgeting your household is part of ones personal responsibility. If you have $200 to spend one month for food, and you decide to spend it on T-bone steaks and lobster, and then run out of money half way through the month, is it the fault of the grocery store for offering you food items that are beyond your means?
Really, the number of "homedebtors" affected by the mortgage crisis is small in proportion to the number of people with mortgages. Ninety-seven percent of people are able to pay their mortgage on time. I say "NO" to a bailout to either these "homedebtors" or the greedy banks who knowingly made these loans to people who obviously couldn't afford it.
On the other hand, gasoline and diesel prices affect EVERYBODY, even those without cars or trucks. The price of food and other goods which EVERYBODY NEEDS is affected.
I love how some of these posters say, "Get an education! Enhance you skills so you can earn more money!" Heck, I feel I already make decent money. What's it going to come to? Am I supposed to earn a doctorate so I can live the same lifestyle my Dad did with a high school diploma and a short stint in the Navy? Besides, where is the time for school and the money for tuition to magically appear for some working poor slob laboring 80 hours a week just to pay for the rent on some run-down apartment in the 'hood? Is this man to just abandon his wife and children to pursue higher education, (if he can even pass the entrance exam)? Congratulations, you've earned your MBA! Your wife and kids must be proud! Uh, I wouldn't know. They starved to death six years ago.
True. I wouldn't allow myself to be misled no matter how hard a mortgage broker tried to distort the figures. I remember some guy trying to push a mortage on me that alone would've exceeded ALL my current monthly expenses. I say, "Mr. Mortgage Dude, let me look into my crystal ball. My best friend is over to visit me in my beautiful new McMansion. My friend says, 'Wow, Lemko! What a beautiful house you have!' I say, 'Sure is! Let me show you around! Here's my living room complete with my milk-crate entertainment center with a Sears all-in-one AM/FM/phonograph/8-track stereo and black & white Philco television. Here's the kitchen. You'll observe the cable spool kitchen table and steel beer keg chairs! Check out my three-car garage! There's plenty of room for my orange 1973 hatchback with the brown door! Oh, I was about to make dinner! Are you up for some Top Ramen and Old Milwaukee? Shoot! Look at the time! I'm gonna be late for my shift at Wal~Mart! Gotta go!"
No one's talking about the price of oil. We're talking about the price of GAS.
Except when we're talking mortgages. :shades:
House GOP challenges Pelosi for gas price plan. (The Hill) Pelosi put tax breaks and royalty relief given to big oil and gas companies on the table then. Could be some interesting footmanship if the Dems decide to move on those issues and Big Oil says wait a minute.
Alaska just told Exxon to give up a major oil and gas field on state lands since they've been sitting on it 1977 with no development. (Alaska Report)
No one's talking about the price of oil. We're talking about the price of GAS. Exxon-Mobil and company, among other things, make their money by selling GAS, after they either buy it from a refinery, or buy crude oil and refine it themselves.
I think you just contradicted yourself in the same paragraph. If oil goes up, gasoline goes up, just like if wood prices go up, lumber goes up.
If oil is that expensive, and the "oil" companies are STILL making huge profits,
But they aren't making huge profits, year affter year. They're making decent profits now. Go to any financial webpage, lookup an oil company - like Exxon-Mobil (symbol XOM) and do some research. The value of stock is $94 and the EPS (earnings per share) is $7.28. There are 5.3 billion shares of stock issued. So people like me and anyone who has a 401K, has about $450B invested in Exxon-Mobil. We're making about 10% per year, hardly that extravagent.
EPS is what investors look at, and the %-profit they make. Exxon-Mobil's profit is not large relative to what people have invested.
EPS isn't the same as corporate profit. The company made over $130 billion. What you earn as a dividend is what the company decides to give back to Joe Schmoe Investor, after they pay the "special" dividends to the "major" stockholders. You know, like the CEO, the chairman, Dick Cheney, etc. :shades: Plus whatever money stayed in the company fir various reasons (some of which gets re-invested, but they count the new 10,000 sq foot executive suite as an investment too, heh).
If oil goes up, gas goes up, yeah. But if oil goes up, and gas goes up, and Mobil's profits go up, that means that they're raising the price of gas faster than the price of oil is going up, because their expenses are falling in relation to their income.
Oil co. profits are up, but to what level? About 16% of sales. People must think they're making 50% profit. Not so. Give it a year, costs are rising dramatically, and their profit margin will shrink. As for the news items, the Alaskan oil/gas field Exxon has been 'sitting on' (Pt. Thomson) cannot be developed without a gas pipeline, something that only now is going in.
There's oil and gas in that field and the state thinks that the oil from the gas condensates could have gotten to market decades ago. Not to mention that Exxon hasn't done any exploration there since '82.
I saw the pipe stacked at Valdez back in '73 right before construction started on the TransAlaska pipeline. Time files. :shades: Some predicted the pipeline would have been removed by now - Prudhoe production has fallen and it's not economic to run the pipeline half full I guess, so the state really wants more oil flowing through it. Otherwise they won't reap the royalty money that runs the state.
I think you're confused on the financials. The Net Income for Exxon Mobil - what was filed and revieded by the IRS was $40.6 billion for all of 2007. Google "Exxon Mobil annual report". The $130 billion you quote may have been Gross Profit - before taxes. Look at their Income Statement filed with the IRS.
EPS is the net-profit/# of shares issued. Investors compare the EPS to the price of the stock to determine if they want to invest in the company. If this is lower than some other company or industry, people start to think about putting their money in other companies.
If a companyy the size of Exxon-Mobil was only going to make $5B per year, investors would pull their money pretty quickly, and then guess what? Exxon-Mobil no longer has the $, or wants to sink the money into finding and refining oil.
As an investor I want a company to optimally earn 10+% on the money they have. If I buy stock at $90/share, I expect the EPS + the dividends to be 10+%. Why would I risk my money for less of a return? If Exxon-Mobil only earned $3/share, I'm pulling my money and buying U.S. treasury bills!
And remember that oil companies did not always make $10% a year, they had some tough times. So I do not think its awful if an oil company makes 15% this year, which may offset only having made 5% a few years ago.
and it re-invested a good portion of that in research and exploration. The price of oil is directly linked to the devaluation of the dollar against other world currencies as well as increased demand from emerging market countries like China, India etc.
Bernnke needs to stop dropping the fed funds rate and start inching it back up. Wall Street has finally calmed down and is trading within a reasonable range. Banks have taken their losses (Most of them imaginary due to ARMS resets that they wont be getting)
Lets get back on track with the dollar index and Oil will settle back down.
PS. I am already paying near $4/gal as my car can only use 91 octane and above.
"...they were manipulated, mislead and misinformed by unscrupulous companies selling mortgages..."
Didn't these folks retain a lawyer to make sure that didn't happen? Who buy's a million dollars worth of real estate without making sure you understand what's going on?
As to the people's failure to anticipate the rise in gas prices I don't think it's too common to consult commodities experts before you buy a car. In hindsight, maybe we should have.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
As to the people's failure to anticipate the rise in gas prices I don't think it's too common to consult commodities experts before you buy a car.
The mistake people make is not to plan for possible negative setbacks. Many people will spend whatever you give them, setting up a lifestyle they can not afford if they lose a job, or prices go up.
Then you have another group of people who think they're going to get out of high school, have no better skills than someone in Mexico making $1.50/hr, and have this expectation or assume a right to a middle-class lifestyle. Maybe they start a family too young, or keep having kids until they need charity. Maybe they expect to take 2 trips a year to the Caribbean, even though they're using credit cards. I really think people need to be held accountable for their choices. Either make choices to spend less, delay the family, work more jobs, get a good business going or something.
IT really isn't my problem if you don't plan, so that you're not spending 100+% of what you earn. You really need to setup your life so that you have extra money each money, and have savings. Many of us work hard, are smart with our money, and plan for a rainy day.
I guess there's no cure for "Not Smart" or "Lazy".
Didn't these folks retain a lawyer to make sure that didn't happen?
From what I hear, in NYS anyway, is that there's a lawyer on each side. One for the seller, one for the buyer. The one for the buyer can be (and in many cases is) provided by the bank or mortgage provider, and CAN BE THE SAME AS THE LAWYER FOR THE SELLER!!
So can you guess what these particular lawyers are going to tell people who don't understand what's going on?
"There's oil and gas in that field and the state thinks that the oil from the gas condensates could have gotten to market decades ago. Not to mention that Exxon hasn't done any exploration there since '82. "
One thing you can count on from Exxon - they'll do projects that make money. Their lack of development of Pt. Thomson is a good indicator it's not a very attractive project without a gas pipeline. It's expensive to develop a field if you have to reinject all the produced gas. Maybe it makes sense at $100/bbl, but we've only recently gotten to these prices.
I don't really disagree and think it's probably better to just leave the oil in the ground for a few more decades anyway.
But I think the State figures a hungrier, smaller company would have figured out a way to get the stuff to market long before now.
By the time they get the gas pipeline built, LNG supertankers may be able to dock at Prudhoe.
fwiw, the Alaska pipeline is ~40 miles west of Pt. Thomson, so getting the condensates there could be economically feasible (don't ask me how feasible getting permits would be...).
Comments
The sociology of the food riot is pretty straightforward: The usually impoverished majority of citizens may acquiesce to the rule of detested corrupt and repressive regimes when they are preoccupied with the daily struggle to feed their children and themselves, but when circumstances render it impossible to feed their hungry children, normally passive citizens can very quickly become militants with nothing to lose. That's especially true when the source of their hunger is not the absence of food supplies but their inability to afford to buy the available food supplies. And that's precisely what we're seeing in the current wave of global food-price inflation. As Josette Sheeran of the U.N. World Food Program put it last month, "We are seeing food on the shelves but people being unable to afford it."
When all that stands between hungry people and a warehouse full of rice and beans is a couple of padlocks and a riot policeman (who may be the neighbor of those who're trying to get past him, and whose own family may be hungry too), the invisible barricade of private-property laws can be easily ignored.
Our ethanol policy has not helped the food or fuel situation here or abroad.
a few bucks on gas? giving 6% to the realtor, paying the movers, any rennovations
that need to be done to the new house. Get a grip man. It is easiler to lose a few thousand getting amore fuel efficient car than to uproot your family to live closer to a job you may just hate. Gas here in Lexington, KY is now $3.60 for regular. I bat
is goes up again this week, probably friday.I will start working from home 2-3 days
per week.
Because their leaders eat up too much of the tax-grain;
that is why the people are starving.
Why are the people difficult to govern?
Because their leaders interfere;
that is why the people are difficult to govern.
Why do the people treat death lightly.
Because their leaders are so grossly absorbed in the pursuit of living;
that is why the people treat death lightly.
Indeed, it is wiser to ignore life altogether
than to place too high a value on it.
Change in spending habits - you bet. We don't drive to the park 7 miles away any longer. We walk the kids to the one about a mile away. We are also trying to have "no drive" weekends. Friday night I combine my errands, grocery shopping, kid pickup, etc. into one big loop. I carpool on weekend activities rather than drive myself.
It isn't as convenient but since my fill-up is $62 (and I DO pay $4/gal) v. under $40 a couple of years ago... you bet habits are changing.
No that's incorrect. I work for a company that has its hourly-laborers on 2nd shift work M-Th, 10-hr shifts. They pay a 10% shift premium. Overtime at 150%-pay, is only paid after the first 40 hr are worked.
So when I look at where we are going in the auto industry I see that the trend is continuously combining more power, bigger vehicles WITH greater efficiency; It used to be that 250-300 HP was a big deal - sports car turf. (I'm talking post oil crisis, through the 80's and 90's) Now you can buy mainstream mid level sedans that are over 300HP. I sometimes wonder about the benefit of not looking to increase the HP on the Malibu, deciding that 250 (let's say) is enough, and trying to make it the most efficient. Agree that current sizes are big enough (anyone remember when the Accord was a small car?) weight is enough etc....
Just a thought.
I'll take you word on the price, but also consider the average Chinese worker is making $5,000 if lucky. The people in China buying cars are upper middle class, and might be making $15,000 - $20,000.
So that is why I am saying other societies are dealing with the gas price. However their lifestyle might be living 3 miles from work, 1 car, and driving 5,000 miles/year.
These other societies deal with a much higher relative price compared to their income. Here in the U.S. the typical worker is pulling in $40K? $50K?
If I drive 10,000 miles/year at 25mpg @ $3.50/gal gas = $1,400. $1,400 really isn't that much compared to our salaries! If gas goes to $4.00/gal then my gas bill would be $1,600. $200 more is not that much ( 3 months cable TV ).
If you think these amounts are a lot, you have a lot of economic issues besides that. How you will pay for increasing health-care, college tuition, and retirement. You really need to consider a new career, or working another job, if those gasoline bills scare you. You have a much deeper problem.
The issue with higher fuel prices is much more than the direct cost to the individual buying gas.... Higher fuel prices trickle through all the other things that we are all consuming.
I spent two months is Cape May and was able to see the town a couple of those days. Its a very pretty town and would love to go back and see the town in a more relaxed unhurried way.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I know of no company that pays overtime for going over 8 hours in a single day. All pay overtime after 40 hours, so working 4 ten hour days would not result in any over time.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Well... I beg to differ. I worked for a company for 27 years, as both management and hourly, and hourly paid overtime was computed daily - so if you worked 10 hours in a day, 2 hours would be at an overtime rate. It all depends on the contract, and the applicable state laws
Plus, depending on how your contract is worded, even after 40 hours you're not necessarily going to get overtime. For instance, if you're purely straight salary, you get paid the same amount whether you put in 30 hours per week or 90.
In my company, there are two classifications that they put you into...either "exempt" or "non-exempt". Basically, "exempt" just means you're "exempt" from getting overtime! Over the years, they worked at getting rid of the non-exempt positions. I actually pull a lot of OT, so back in 2001 when they switched me, I got a 10% raise to compensate for it. And I if I go over 40 hours in a week (actually, with us its 80 hours in a 2 week period), I still get paid, but it's just an hourly rate and not time and a half.
But yeah, if I went to four 10 hour days instead of five 8 hour days, it wouldn't affect my paycheck any.
Actually, I do remember one company where if you put in more than 8 hours in a day, they'd give you time and a half. I used to work part time for the Hecht Company, which was a division of May Company. I think they're Macy's now. I remember if I got in more than 8 hours in a day, I'd get time and a half for any additional time. I quit there back in 1996 though...I'm sure they've changed their ways since then.
OTOH we do have cheap (relatively speaking) gas.
I don't think any state law requires OT past 8 hours a day.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
My guess is that your experience on the southern tip of NJ was greatly different.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
We need a drastic change, lets adopt how other countries like Japan manage their oil. Lets get the automakers to make those little cars to compete with Japan and get 35+ miles per gallon and get the US working again.
Well, since this is a car forum...
UAW employees get paid overtime for anything over 8 hours in a single day, regardless of how many hours they've worked that week. Also, Saturday and Sunday is all overtime pay, even if the person hasn't worked 40 hours up to that point.
Do you have a source to back that up?.
China does fix it's gas prices but they have gone up over the past year and I'm pretty sure it's above $3/gallon. If cheap gas really is the secret behind a booming economy you'd think that Venezuela and Iran's economy would just be exploding. If you look at the countries in the world with the highest standards of living they also tend to have fairly high gas prices. Which isn't to say that high gas prices will result in a higher standard of living it is only meant to dispute the argument that high gas prices are inconsistent with a high standard of living.
The problem with the US is that we've assumed there'd always be a cheap, abundant supply of gasoline and have made long term decisions accordingly. It turns out there's a price to be paid for a lack of foresight. To complain about the impact of high gas prices is comparable to complaining about the negative consequences of making bad decisions. Basically it's just whining. There's a lot of people now losing their homes because they made bad decisions based upon unrealistic assumptions. It's not the government's job to protect people from poor judgement.
Bush administration offers new fuel economy rules (CNN)
California wouldn't be able to set its own tailpipe standards, so Jerry Brown will sue if it passes.
btw, my wife worked 4 tens for a while and hated it....
It jumped SIXTEEN CENTS a gallon since Friday? :confuse: I don't know about you, but something is not kosher! Gasoline prices haven't jumped this fast when Hurricane Katrina hit.
Just to be a nice romantic guy, I picked girlfriend up in the new Cadillac. Sunoco Ultra is now a truly, utterly, disgusting $3.75!!! :mad: It jumped TEN CENTS since lunchtime! :surprise: I'm probably the only guy who still uses it these days.
As Marvin Gaye once asked, "What's Goin' On?"
I have no problem with companies wanting to be profitable, or even being profitable. But saying in one breath that they're at the edge of solvency and begging the government for a handout, and in the next breath announcing record profits sounds more like a scam, doesn't it?
As for the China thing, the price was in an article I just read this week and was dated recently. When I get to work I'll go dig it up.
You bet it does! I could see if Exxon, Shell, etc. were having big losses or just eking out miniscule profits, but they are making profits that are the envy of other companies, even very profitable ones. Why do they want to derail the economy for their benefit? Why are they trying to kill the golden goose? Do they know something we don't? Is science on the breakthrough of an amazing alternative energy source that'll render Big Oil obsolete so they're trying to make as much as they can before it all ends?
I see Congress recently had the heads of the big oil companies before them, but nothing seems to have come of it. I think gouging the American people during time of war is treasonous and these guys should hang!
A month or 2 ago oil was $100/barrel. as of yesterday it is about $120/barrel, a 20% jump. Now gas doesn't always go up the same day as the crude ... but look at what you were paying 2 months ago and today; about a 20% increase right?
My new house has oil-heat; I'm more worried about the cost to heat it than gasoline. I'm going to be cutting/chopping/hauling some wood this summer - good exercise and free-heat.
Congress calling in the CEOs of big oil was pure political grandstanding.
If oil is that expensive, and the "oil" companies are STILL making huge profits, then that means there's LOTS of room to lower the price of gasoline and they could still be profitable.
Incidentally, it's not Canada and Mexico setting prices. It's the oil drilling companies operating IN Canada and Mexico. And sometimes that's also ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, etc.
Venezuela is a different story of course. :shades:
A lot of people are losing homes that they never should have qualified for to begin with. So if they get foreclosed upon they are simply where they would have been in had it not been for the loose lending standards.
This does not absolve them from their predicament but the lending practices that brought them on were so unethical they are close to criminal.
I think a lot of people are using this whole "misled" thing as a cop-out. While I'm sure there are some unscrupulous lenders (as there are in any business), the vast majority of people that are in trouble did it consciously and it's there own fault. You can't tell me that people don't understand what happens when their 3 or 5 or 7 year arm runs out. It's in plain print in the loan documents and explained when options are discussed. If ones doesn't understand what one is signing, they need to be asking more questions.
A lot of what happened was that people went for the arms and/or interest only, etc. knowing the payment will go up later, just so they could get into a house they couldn't afford otherwise. And I'm not only talking about buying a larger house than they could otherwise afford, I'm also talking about people that couldn't afford any house and where continued renting would have been more realistic.
Then when folks get themselves in over their head, they say they were taken for a ride. Let's put the blame where it belongs and for the vast majority of these cases, it's on the individual borrower. No shoving off ones personal responsibility onto the lenders or the government for not "protecting" us poor, witless borrowers.
Budgeting your household is part of ones personal responsibility. If you have $200 to spend one month for food, and you decide to spend it on T-bone steaks and lobster, and then run out of money half way through the month, is it the fault of the grocery store for offering you food items that are beyond your means?
On the other hand, gasoline and diesel prices affect EVERYBODY, even those without cars or trucks. The price of food and other goods which EVERYBODY NEEDS is affected.
I love how some of these posters say, "Get an education! Enhance you skills so you can earn more money!" Heck, I feel I already make decent money. What's it going to come to? Am I supposed to earn a doctorate so I can live the same lifestyle my Dad did with a high school diploma and a short stint in the Navy? Besides, where is the time for school and the money for tuition to magically appear for some working poor slob laboring 80 hours a week just to pay for the rent on some run-down apartment in the 'hood? Is this man to just abandon his wife and children to pursue higher education, (if he can even pass the entrance exam)? Congratulations, you've earned your MBA! Your wife and kids must be proud! Uh, I wouldn't know. They starved to death six years ago.
Except when we're talking mortgages. :shades:
House GOP challenges Pelosi for gas price plan. (The Hill) Pelosi put tax breaks and royalty relief given to big oil and gas companies on the table then. Could be some interesting footmanship if the Dems decide to move on those issues and Big Oil says wait a minute.
Alaska just told Exxon to give up a major oil and gas field on state lands since they've been sitting on it 1977 with no development. (Alaska Report)
Criminal? That is ridiculous! Yes they loosened there standards, but I reiterate, budgeting your household is a personal responsibility.
So did the at-home conversations go like this?
"The bank will give us a $200,000 loan. This is great. But the payments are going to be $1,500 a month".
"But honey, we can't afford that payment."
"But they are willing to give it to us! We can't pass up this opportunity! Let's just do it! "
I think you just contradicted yourself in the same paragraph.
If oil is that expensive, and the "oil" companies are STILL making huge profits,
But they aren't making huge profits, year affter year. They're making decent profits now. Go to any financial webpage, lookup an oil company - like Exxon-Mobil (symbol XOM) and do some research. The value of stock is $94 and the EPS (earnings per share) is $7.28. There are 5.3 billion shares of stock issued. So people like me and anyone who has a 401K, has about $450B invested in Exxon-Mobil. We're making about 10% per year, hardly that extravagent.
EPS is what investors look at, and the %-profit they make. Exxon-Mobil's profit is not large relative to what people have invested.
One one of my jobs (transportation) I get OT after 8 and after 40. Not sure the state say after 8 or if it's our contract.
On my other job (farming) I get the same $4 per hour no matter how many hours I work.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
If oil goes up, gas goes up, yeah. But if oil goes up, and gas goes up, and Mobil's profits go up, that means that they're raising the price of gas faster than the price of oil is going up, because their expenses are falling in relation to their income.
I saw the pipe stacked at Valdez back in '73 right before construction started on the TransAlaska pipeline. Time files. :shades: Some predicted the pipeline would have been removed by now - Prudhoe production has fallen and it's not economic to run the pipeline half full I guess, so the state really wants more oil flowing through it. Otherwise they won't reap the royalty money that runs the state.
EPS is the net-profit/# of shares issued. Investors compare the EPS to the price of the stock to determine if they want to invest in the company. If this is lower than some other company or industry, people start to think about putting their money in other companies.
If a companyy the size of Exxon-Mobil was only going to make $5B per year, investors would pull their money pretty quickly, and then guess what? Exxon-Mobil no longer has the $, or wants to sink the money into finding and refining oil.
As an investor I want a company to optimally earn 10+% on the money they have. If I buy stock at $90/share, I expect the EPS + the dividends to be 10+%. Why would I risk my money for less of a return? If Exxon-Mobil only earned $3/share, I'm pulling my money and buying U.S. treasury bills!
And remember that oil companies did not always make $10% a year, they had some tough times. So I do not think its awful if an oil company makes 15% this year, which may offset only having made 5% a few years ago.
Bernnke needs to stop dropping the fed funds rate and start inching it back up. Wall Street has finally calmed down and is trading within a reasonable range. Banks have taken their losses (Most of them imaginary due to ARMS resets that they wont be getting)
Lets get back on track with the dollar index and Oil will settle back down.
PS. I am already paying near $4/gal as my car can only use 91 octane and above.
Didn't these folks retain a lawyer to make sure that didn't happen? Who buy's a million dollars worth of real estate without making sure you understand what's going on?
As to the people's failure to anticipate the rise in gas prices I don't think it's too common to consult commodities experts before you buy a car. In hindsight, maybe we should have.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
The mistake people make is not to plan for possible negative setbacks. Many people will spend whatever you give them, setting up a lifestyle they can not afford if they lose a job, or prices go up.
Then you have another group of people who think they're going to get out of high school, have no better skills than someone in Mexico making $1.50/hr, and have this expectation or assume a right to a middle-class lifestyle. Maybe they start a family too young, or keep having kids until they need charity. Maybe they expect to take 2 trips a year to the Caribbean, even though they're using credit cards. I really think people need to be held accountable for their choices. Either make choices to spend less, delay the family, work more jobs, get a good business going or something.
IT really isn't my problem if you don't plan, so that you're not spending 100+% of what you earn. You really need to setup your life so that you have extra money each money, and have savings. Many of us work hard, are smart with our money, and plan for a rainy day.
I guess there's no cure for "Not Smart" or "Lazy".
From what I hear, in NYS anyway, is that there's a lawyer on each side. One for the seller, one for the buyer. The one for the buyer can be (and in many cases is) provided by the bank or mortgage provider, and CAN BE THE SAME AS THE LAWYER FOR THE SELLER!!
So can you guess what these particular lawyers are going to tell people who don't understand what's going on?
One thing you can count on from Exxon - they'll do projects that make money. Their lack of development of Pt. Thomson is a good indicator it's not a very attractive project without a gas pipeline. It's expensive to develop a field if you have to reinject all the produced gas. Maybe it makes sense at $100/bbl, but we've only recently gotten to these prices.
But I think the State figures a hungrier, smaller company would have figured out a way to get the stuff to market long before now.
By the time they get the gas pipeline built, LNG supertankers may be able to dock at Prudhoe.
fwiw, the Alaska pipeline is ~40 miles west of Pt. Thomson, so getting the condensates there could be economically feasible (don't ask me how feasible getting permits would be...).