A beef with some retail vendors.......

[Janderso]

The price of gas multiplies as each process has to pay for their costs.
manufacturing, shipping, buying raw materials (shipping again)..
Look at the price of diesel that's worse.
Both are a commodity but the real winners in this are the oil companies. The real losers are the consumers.

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We pay almost $5 here in California (gas)
Lots of taxes

 

[Janderso]

Last month, I was looking to replenish my supply of Eagle Claw #8 Aberdeen fish hooks. I went on line to find a supplier and found that they were running around around $7 for ten hooks. These hooks weigh in at 52 mg each which brings the cost to $383/oz. Some high priced steel! I had previously purchased the hooks for around $3/ hundred. The equipment which is used to make these hooks has more than likely been written off decades ago and the although imported steel products took a big jump in 2017 is certainly wouldn't account for a 2300% increase.

It has been my experience over the years, that when retailers are given an excuse to increase prices, they will do so in spades and they never seem to want to reduce prices when the initial reason disappears. I see this happening across virtually all business sectors, much to my dismay.

It seems like Covid started an epidemic of price gouging.
3-5% inflation? I don’t think so. I’m not buying it anyway.

 

[Larry$]

Today in Lincoln, NE Gas prices. Unleaded. 3.13. Premium. 3.74. Diesel. 3.38

 

[woodchucker]

It seems a course in economics may benefit some members to help them understand "Why".
Using GAAP & government figures: $100 in the year I was born (1942) and using average inflation rates, by 2024 that $100 would now be $1921 with an average inflation rate of 3.71%. In real $s gasoline is cheaper now than when I was in high school.

yes, over the long haul, that's true. But it is a driver currently / Partly.
Other factors do weigh in. Greed has always been a big factor.

Currently inflation is GLOBAL. We are not the only country experiencing it. Almost every single country in the world is.

 

[woodchucker]

Most of us are really affected by Diesel (shipping, rail, etc).

 

[Larry$]

Anyone can make a fortune buying and selling fuels or lose their a$$. Just do commodities trading.

 

[GeneT45]

yes, over the long haul, that's true. But it is a driver currently / Partly.
Other factors do weigh in. Greed has always been a big factor.

Currently inflation is GLOBAL. We are not the only country experiencing it. Almost every single country in the world is.

Much international commerce is conducted in USD - that always makes our inflation global - even when the causes are uniquely domestic to the U.S.. There have been moves (primarily by OPEC countries, afaik) to move away from the USD, but so far it has not happened.l

GsT