The recent surge in the cost of heating oil, diesel fuel, and gasoline in the United States has had significant impact on many sectors of the U.S. economy, but most importantly it has had quite a devastating affect on the trucking industry. This is important due to the fact that nearly “70% of U.S. communities rely solely on trucking for their supplies” (“ATA” 23). If the government continues it’s trend of non-intervention and refuses to place pressure on OPEC, the prices will continue to soar well over the two-dollar mark, and cause the trucking industry as a whole to shut down bringing the U.S. economy to a grinding halt.
What is the reason that gasoline and fuel prices are so high? Most people believe it is because of OPEC raising the price of oil. This answer is only partially true. In fact, there are several others factors that must also be taken into account when determining the cause of high fuel prices in the United States and in other parts of the world.
The main reason for the price increase is that OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) has decided to cut back on its oil production. What is the reason for this? Simply stated, OPEC knows that they have the United States under their control in terms of what price they want to sell crude oil to us at, and how much they want to ship. With the present economic prosperity in the U.S., it didn’t take long for OPEC to seize the opportunity to make more money by cutting production of crude oil, and thus forcing consumers to pay more for fuel. Just how much higher are prices you ask? “Crude-oil prices in early March hit $34 a barrel, while a year earlier it was selling for $12 a barrel, which is nearly a 75% price increase since last year. This equates to an additional 48 cents a gallon” (Logistics Management 15).
Another key cause to the price inflation issue is the extended period of bitterly cold weather that loomed in the northern and midwestern parts of the U.S. throughout the winter months. This led to an “increased demand in home heating oil, which is widely used in the region and is virtually identical to diesel fuel” (Lang1). This increased demand for fuel coupled with the restrictions on exported oil allowed OPEC to jack up their prices an exorbitant amount in a relatively short period of time.
A third cause of the high prices is that the types of cars and trucks we are driving tod...
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...ar. 2). Airlines and bus companies are also equating the extra fuel costs into their ticket prices.
The federal government continues to refuse to step in and help out the trucking industry and consumers by releasing some of the United States’ oil reserves and won’t put OPEC into the spotlight to make them increase their production of oil. Their so-called motives are that we can’t afford to use up some of our oil reserves because the fuel shortage is not a dilemma yet, and we may need the fuel more as time goes on. How can the government say that it is not a dilemma? Fuel prices have nearly doubled over the past year! Do they plan on waiting until the affects of their sluggishness brings the whole United States into an utter state of ciaos? As it was shown earlier nearly every activity of our day to day lives is governed by vehicles and machines using petroleum products, from the food we eat, to how we heat our homes, thus as the beginning stages of economic downturn begin, it is quite obvious that the government is not doing enough to give U.S. citizens, and companies our right to get a fighting chance of keeping our economy the solid, prosperous establishment that we see today.
...m fossil fuels, there remains alternative resources that can easily be taken advantage of. So why isn’t the United States taking this deeply into consideration and improving this dilemma? The energy crisis of the 1970’s continues on into the present as Americans search for new ways to fuel the consumption. This remains unresolved.
To conclude this analysis, it can be noted that any increases in the prices of fuel will increase Australia’s economy as a whole, in other words the higher the costs of logistics will increase the price of products (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission 2014). The consumers will have to handle the burden of having higher costs of products, which would create an inflation. With the increasing price of fuel, consumers might want to alter their lifestyles, such as using public transportation or even carpooling. Vacations and travelling will also have to be cut down. Australia requires further government intervention to control the price of fuel by subsidizing so that inflation may be curbed.
Why now? This a complicated question, but it boils down to the simple economics of supply and demand. Supply and demand means a relationship between how much of a particular product is available and how much of it people want, and especially the way that this affects the level of pricing. Now of course there would be a shortage of gasoline during the summer time when everyone is traveling Brent crude, the main international benchmark, was trading around $48 a barrel. The American benchmark was at around $45 a barrel (Clifford Krauss).
Arguments: America is dependent on other nations for their ability to create energy. The United States is the world’s largest consumer of oil, at 18.49 million barrels of oil per day. And it will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future, considering the next largest customer of oil only consumes about 60% of what the U.S. does. This makes the U.S. vulnerable to any instability that may arise in the energy industry. In 2011, the world’s top three oil companies were Saudi Aramco (12%), National Iranian Oil Company (5%), and China National Petroleum Corp (4%).
To understand the increase in gas prices, one must first identify the distribution of dollars paid per gallon at the pump. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (eia) in 2010, the annual average paid at the pump consisted of 68% crude oil, 7% refining, 10% distribution and marketing, and 15% taxes (see Fig.1). This shows an increase of crude oil over the 2000-2009 average of 51%. (e. I. Administration)
In the United States, modern car manufacturing has been historically dominated by the American companies including Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Group LLC, and General Motors Co. These three companies, known as the Detroit Three, controlled 95% of the market in the 1950’s and the dominance continued until the beginning of the 21st century. In the 1980’s Japanese auto manufacturers entered the United States, a decade later the Germans, and finally in 2000’s the Koreans. By the end of 2009, the Detroit Three only accounted for 45% of the total U.S. auto market. Another factor that had influence on this was constant fluctuations in gasoline prices and price sensitive consumers. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, gas prices hit record high averaging $3.07 per gallon in May 2007 and kept climbing up to $4.08 in July 2008. As gas prices kept increasing, consumer buying trends have been changing. In 2006 sales for SUVs, pickup trucks, and vans dropped 16%, while the market for compact cars rose by 3%. Unfortunately, the Detroit Three were not prepared for this since their...
I am a husband and a father of four lovely children. We need a large vehicle to haul all of us around town. And of course I would do anything to keep them safe and I always want to provide them with the best. Therefore, after the birth of our fourth child two and a half years ago, my wife and I decided to upgrade our Ford Explorer to a Ford Expedition. We got everything from the side-curtain airbags to the TV and DVD player. What we did not know was we also purchased a rather large unleaded gas bill. The first time we filled the tank it cost us roughly $35; today it costs us right around $75 to fill the tank. Obviously the price of gas has increased significantly in the last two years. The price increase is due to a fluctuation in the supply and demand of not only gasoline but also crude oil, which is needed to manufacture gasoline. In addition, several other factors are influencing a change in the price of gasoline.
The United States has had several scares throughout its history in terms of oil, most turn out to be over exaggerations of a small event. However, these scares highlight a massive issue with the U.S. and that issue is the U.S.’s dependence on foreign oil. Why does it matter that our oil should come from over seas? In a healthy economy this probably wouldn’t be as relevant, but the U.S.’s economy is not exactly healthy at the moment. There are 4 things that I would like to address: what the problem is, how it affects us, what some solutions are, and what solutions I feel are best.
Fuel prices is an area of concern for the motor carrier industry. Fuel prices are at an all-time high, driving the industry to make drastic changes. Individuals in the industry believe that by reducing the demand for fuel is the best way to address the current fuel issue. One of the leading alternatives to this fuel issue could be natural gas.
The automotive industry is considered elastic. The prices fluctuate depending on supply and demand. For example, when the economy takes a downturn and car sales are down the automakers attach incentives to the purchase of new vehicles to stimulate sales such as interest-free loans, rebates and lowered prices to encourage Americans to purchase their goods. Substitutes are available in the foreign car market. Lower cost, more fuel efficient models are available from many foreign car makers. Policy makers have placed limits on the amount of foreign cars that can be sold in the United States but in recent years the demand is higher so policy makers must respond to that demand. Past statistics tell the story of when fuel prices surge, smaller fuel efficient cars are more in demand. Higher fuel prices cause households to reallocate money from other areas to purchase fuels at higher prices because fuel is needed for transportation to and from work. When fuel p...
In 1970 oil reserves became more scarce, leading to a decrease in production, while consumption continued to grow rapidly (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011). In order to fill the gap between rising demand and falling supply of oil, the United States became more and more dependent on imported oil, primarily from Arab countries in the Middle East. Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. (2011). As the U.S. and many other countries became highly industrialized nations, they became even more dependent on oil imports. With demand being higher than the actual amount of supply, prices kept rising, reaching a peak of $140 a barrel in 2008.
...ls, power and diesel which have gone up compared with the previous year and the inability of manufacturers to pass on these increases to consumers.
Although mainly out of AirTran’s control, their income and costs are highly associated to the cost of fuel.
In conclusion, the effects of higher gas prices cutting back in vacation time, prices of everything is going up “inflation”, car companies making more efficient cars.
Mast, Tom R. Over a Barrel: A Simple Guide to the Oil Shortage. Austin: Hayden, 2005. Print.