What I need to get rid of is my 12mpg Land Rover. Trade-in is horrible on these right now

 

ALL markets are speculative. Without speculation, there would be no investments of any kind.

 

Logic would dictate economy car...but we all threw logic out the window...doing about 150.

 

Exactly, speculation is part of the price discovery process, key to a fair and efficient market. Speculation on its own is not a bad thing (no matter how much they are trying to make it sound like it is) - price manipulation is, which potentially could be happening in this market since traders of physical oil (i.e. oil companies) and oil derivatives (e.g. investment banks) often team up.

 

I don't drive my car enough to ***** about gas prices. To and from work is about 3.5 miles.

 

I can get on the highway, throw it in 6th gear, put the cruise control on at 68 mph and I see about 28 mpg, cant beat that on a road trip if your driving a 500+ HP Porsche!

 

That is certainly part of it. People are using oil as a hedge against other poor investments. However, if you guys think things are bad now, just wait because to me the signs say that things are going to get a lot worse.

 

After investigations and investigations, some people still believe in oil company price manipulation. Do some research, those people who trade oil commodity are the culprit. I wonder how many people on this board would confess they trade oil commodities.

I don't believe most Pcar owners would bit'h about gas price; most just complain not driving the car enough.

 

Well oil companies do team up with investment banks and oil companies themselves trade oil futures. I know because where I work team up with Glencore.

Let me add that I do agree that the oil price surge has been speculation demand driven. Whether you put some sort of limit on speculation (i.e. do you only allow users / hedgers to buy oil?) is another thing though. Oil has always been a strategic asset and thus highly manipulated (by governments, OPEC ...), and we might be seeing another act of market manipulation by the government very soon.

 

Would that be the same as greed!

 

Total greed and a president that backs the oil speculation market. Enron gave us this type of oil market conditions.

 

That might happen in the Asia countries but in U.S.??? U.S. is a sue happy country and most major coops stay away with anything violating conflict of interests. Oil company in the oil futures??? No way.

 

I'm not psyched about gas prices, but I'm going to enjoy my car and just add it to the price of admission. Oh well.

Cruise control? On a Porsche? Sacrilege!

 

Oil company trading oil futures do have a legitimate reason - stabilizing i.e. hedging the price at which they can sell in the future. The joint venture of my firm actually operates in CT.

Saw a lot of comments about greed. Captialism is driven by greed. As long as the greed does not translate into actions that disrupt the function of a free and efficient market it has to be accepted - it's the same motivation that drives the society that we live and fight for. Greed itself is nothing to complain about.

 

I average 22-24MPG depending on the type of driving.

I also drive a 2004 Dodge Cummins 3500 Diesel... That thing eats diesel to the tune of 18MPG. My motorcycle gets about 48MPG. If my commute were 40-60 miles each way, I'd consider possibly getting a beater or new econobox.

Mike