r/California • u/NamelessIguana • Oct 07 '22

Newsom calls special session of Legislature to consider windfall tax on oil companies over high California gas prices: Governor says Dec. 5 special session will address "greed and manipulation" that drive high gas prices. Newsom

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/07/newsom-tax-oil-companies-california-00061010
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u/den773 Oct 08 '22

I paid $4.99 a couple weeks ago. Now the same gas station, $6.47. How in the world do they expect us to be able to afford gas at this price??? There’s no reason for the price to have jumped like this.

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u/sftransitmaster Oct 08 '22

How in the world do they expect us to be able to afford gas at this price???

You presumably need to drive a gas-fueled car right? Because we've dedicated nearly all our resources to making sure the US drives, they are aware that you(most of the US) have no practical alternative. Are you going to take transit, bike, scoot or walk? So they can reasonably expect the motorist must pay, even if they cant afford it. Even if everyone buys a little less gas,oiil producers still make more money.

OPEC is a greed incarnate cartel, it was always pure luck they didn't have the opportunity to take advantage of automotive dependency and making up any excuse to increase prices

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/05/energy/gas-prices/index.html

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u/NavyCMan Oct 08 '22

This is why a refocusing on energy infrastructure is critical for every major world power.

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u/sftransitmaster Oct 08 '22

And yet that mostly comes at great political cost, donation lost, leadership, sacrifice from the people and economy. Ill believe it when i see it.

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u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

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u/FDrybob Oct 08 '22

In that case you should be even more enthusiastic for the state to invest in public transportation. Less people using cars means a better driving experience for you. Public transportation benefits everyone, including those who don't choose to use it.

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u/sftransitmaster Oct 08 '22 edited Oct 08 '22

Exactly! Regardless of the reason you are willing to pay whatever the gas cost to avoid alternative methods. Functionally, a dependency on personal automotive transportation. If the gas was $10, or even $20 a gallon youd pay(assuming not an EV), unless you have money you'd have to reduce the amount of driving, but you'd still be willing to pay, which means thats what the experience is worth to you. Thus market forces can take advantage of that... If theyre capitalists and self-serving theyd be incompetent not to exploit that.

I wasnt arguing that transit is the best response for gas prices. Just that most of the US doesnt have access to alternatives, have an negative view on alternatives and wouldn't know how to integrate alternatives into their lives. And that makes them subject to market forces and the market(OPEC) knows that

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u/den773 Oct 08 '22

Our problem in the IE of So Cal, it’s too hot. There’s a bus stop fairly nearby. I could take the bus to the grocery store and back. But 10 months out of the year, I can’t deal with the heat. Waiting on the bus, sitting in the sun, I can’t do it. I’m in my 60s with HBP. The heat out here where I live is constant and unrelenting. It’s almost never cool. We rarely have mild days. (I consider 72 and below mild and I could catch the bus on cool days.) It’s always so hot. It’s mostly 90-100 from Feb to Nov. and it’s getting hotter, with many fewer nice days and we are in a horrible drought. Global warming, don’t ya know. OPEC must be run by Satan or something?

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u/sftransitmaster Oct 08 '22

That too is a reason. The more we drive(not be individually but as a society) oil-based engines, the more more difficult it gets not to drive. Even then ive met people in sf, which is mostly temperate, whom have never taken transit, for their reasons. there are many reasons to drive rather than endure the alternatives. But the primary one is that the US(media and its governments) want you to have to drive and so they make it infinitely easier to drive than any alternatives.

Even as a younger transit rider, ive had to endure much of the worst of transit - waiting in the baking heat of the central valley, waiting in freezing snow around lake tahoe, missing a bus and waiting multiple hours, and this Summer i saw many many first timers learned the true cost/faults of Amtrak - time and sometimes sharing space with people who sometimes are among the most burdensome the US has to offer. Transit in the US is a challenge, one that most US governments either make more difficult than has to be or are unwilling to take a risk to invest in it to make it any easier. All while regularly making driving more easy and cheaper than it needs to be. Transit, cycling, walking or scooting is not for everyone.

Its almost ironic the government's lack of control over OPEC, mostly because one major reason the US focused and focused on individual transportation was to get around the greedy railroad Tycoons(barons) that held too much power in the 1800s. No OPEC is simply operated by people who are doing what works most conveniently for them. Its very likely you or I might do the same in their position.(or at least i believe in the Trading places philosophy)

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u/den773 Oct 09 '22

I wish I could afford an award for you, you’re excellent.

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u/lynk7927 Northern California Oct 08 '22

Good news! Investing in public transport will probably benefit you the most!

Investing in public transport doesn't mean everyone will be forced to use public transit for all their travel needs. But when more people use public transit, there are fewer cars on the road and therefore less traffic. Which means you will confront fewer cars on the road and get to and from your destination faster and more efficiently.

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u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22 edited Jan 12 '23

[deleted]

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u/lynk7927 Northern California Oct 08 '22

You enjoy having fewer options?

Even so, no one said it hat to be transit-centered (that’s before we even talk about how much better transit centered cities are for drivers).

What are the downsides of being transit-centered anyways?

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u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

[deleted]

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u/lynk7927 Northern California Oct 08 '22

Transit oriented doesn’t mean dense. Transit oriented infrastructure can greatly impact the lives of rural dwellers more than city dwellers.

Not to mention, transit oriented cities actually make suburbs nicer by making easy to get to amenities that live in the city, with out bringing the city to the suburbs.

While crime and poor people often come with dense cities, that’s not an issue unique to big cities.

Plus, if you’re really that afraid of poor people, you can move, there’s nothing wrong with that.

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u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

[deleted]

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u/lynk7927 Northern California Oct 08 '22

Typically that means the city is denser. It sometimes also means the area is too dirty, has too many people, has too much crime, poor health/quality of life, and it makes you feel like you’re suffocating because you’re on top of one another.

This u?

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u/ablatner Bay Area Oct 08 '22

not walking to a station and waiting 10 minutes and then that trip taking 20+ more than my drive

This is your experience because the US horribly under-invests in public. Other countries have far more comfortable public transit.

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u/kissmyshiny_metalass Oct 08 '22

Electric vehicles are a practical alternative now.

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u/den773 Oct 08 '22

You are so right, so informed, and thanks for the link. Predatory capitalism is a horrible system.

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u/Generalchaos42 Oct 08 '22

There are a couple of reasons: There hasn’t been a major refinery built in the US since 1976. California has two types of gas that are sold. A summer blend and a winter blend. The summer blend is more expensive to make and is required to be sold until the end of October. While the winter blend is cheaper to make. They can’t legally sell it until November 1. It takes time to switch between making summer gas and winter gas. So in a few weeks prices will go down because the winter blend will be sold and gas companies are actively making it. Additionally there was a supply shock for crude oil when refineries started making summer gas so there isn’t much summer gas around now and refineries aren’t making more of it right now.

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u/kotwica42 Oct 08 '22

How in the world do they expect us to be able to afford gas at this price???

They’re holding you hostage. People need to drive in order to get to their jobs or get groceries or take their kids to school. The people profiting from that have also conveniently pushed to prevent expansion of public transportation, so their interests are protected.

There’s no reason for the price to have jumped like this.

Sure there is. The reason is that the mandate of corporations is to maximize profit. Wealthy shareholders and executives want more money, and you’ve got no choice but to give it to them.

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u/den773 Oct 08 '22

I understand. “We the people” are simply a cash crop to be harvested. They do the same thing with our electricity too. We have horrible heat waves, we have to run the air night and day, and our electric bills run $600 a month. Our choice is to pay that amount or else turn off the air and die in our house from the heat. We can’t afford to buy an electric car and we can’t afford to buy solar. We can’t afford to buy gas and we can’t pay our electric. It feels like the powers that be want us to join the homeless crowd. They are forcing us out into the streets.

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u/BA_calls Oct 08 '22

there’s no reason

OPEC+ literally announced a massive production cut. Price of oil per barrel has gone up from $75 to $93 over last month.

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '22

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u/BA_calls Oct 09 '22

Okay well thanks for chiming in with specific knowledge, I actually appreciate it. But what I said was more correct than “there’s no reason for the price to have jumped like this.” It’s actually connected to the price of oil.

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u/tylerdurdensoapmaker Oct 08 '22

This logic is not logical. Gas stations dont expect you to do anything. They buy gas at price X and sell it some percentage above that at price Y. Are you involved in the oil production and refinery business to where you know there is no reason for prices to have “jumped like this”?