It's the End of the World as We Know It

[RedneckDyke]

We have about 10 gas stations in our little town. They are all out of regular unleaded and about half of them are out of gasoline altogether. There are 15 car lines and the stuff is $4.50 a gallon. That's for GASOLINE not even deisel. Is it just me or does anyone else think this is scary?

[paul]

Hey Red,

Time to shoot some more bottles? As I recall, same thing happened during Katrina, and believe this to shall pass. Just some very opportunistic business people milking the system... futures speculation drives petroleum prices these days, usually has little to do with current supply and demand. :)

[Zerbie]

Hey Red,

Time to shoot some more bottles? As I recall, same thing happened during Katrina, and believe this to shall pass. Just some very opportunistic business people milking the system... futures speculation drives petroleum prices these days, usually has little to do with current supply and demand. :)

Possibly not this time. I hear the major refineries in that area are in the direct path of the storm. Those could be a long time rebuilding if they are hit.

Has anyone seen the visual coverage of Galveston? The beach is gone, and waves are over the sea wall and onto the street.

[BrianB]

Possibly not this time. I hear the major refineries in that area are in the direct path of the storm. Those could be a long time rebuilding if they are hit.

Has anyone seen the visual coverage of Galveston? The beach is gone, and waves are over the sea wall and onto the street.

I saw a live cam from a hotel in Galveston about an hour ago. About every third wave was sending spray over the sea wall. The waves could be over the sea wall by now. www.galveston.com/webcams

[Rick336]

We have about 10 gas stations in our little town. They are all out of regular unleaded and about half of them are out of gasoline altogether. There are 15 car lines and the stuff is $4.50 a gallon. That's for GASOLINE not even deisel. Is it just me or does anyone else think this is scary?

There were terrible gas lines here in western North Carolina today. Some were so long they were blocking traffic and causing traffic jams. Everybody was in a panic to get gas. It was bad.

However, a friend of mine in Ohio says that there were no gas lines there.

Rick

[paul]

Possibly not this time. I hear the major refineries in that area are in the direct path of the storm. Those could be a long time rebuilding if they are hit.
Hiya Zerb,

I agree this could indeed happen, but what we witnessed yesterday, before the storm even hit, was reaction to speculation ("futures"). Which is precisely what happened during Katrinia. After the water settled, the fact is oil production and supply had not been effected any where in synch with the prices being charged.

Meanwhile... Yesterday when I left town our prices were still at $3.50 a gallon at our Sheetz and WAWA gas stations (these are huge discount stations that typically sell gas at a loss and make profit on selling donuts and beer after drawing people in). Just like in NC, the lines were long. Today, there is no gas available, but there is diesel. That never happened during Katrina, so this is definitely different. Still, I maintain that there is a great deal of opportunistic activity that takes place in any crises and that it is often not a reflection of reality.

Being from California, I can use earthquakes as an example. After a major earthquake, I think it was the Northridge earthquake, a large over pass on the Santa Monica freeway collapsed. This is a section of a major artery of the L.A. freeway system. At the time projections were it would take a year and a half to fix. It was fixed in a couple of months.

Even if the refining system is devastated by this storm, this country has the technology, resources and people power to fix it, and fix it in record time. That's a given. I believe what remains to be seen is whether this situation will be responded to appropriately by the powers that be or whether it will be exploited to further the power of the unscrupulous.

[Emproph]

We have about 10 gas stations in our little town. They are all out of regular unleaded and about half of them are out of gasoline altogether. There are 15 car lines and the stuff is $4.50 a gallon. That's for GASOLINE not even deisel. Is it just me or does anyone else think this is scary?No problems here (South FL), as far as I can tell anyway. I was going to make a joke that maybe the gas trucks can’t afford the gas for the trip until Rick chimed in and confirmed your point. And $4.50? I thought the price was going down!

I enjoy the idea of it being the end of the world as we know it (http://video.google.com/videosearch?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=REM%20%22end%20of%20the%20world%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#), but I don’t feel fine. It’s scary - just hearing about it. (but obviously not as scary).

I don’t know what to tell you guys, but I feel for you. Honestly, I’m kind of just waiting for that to happen here.

I don't drive that much so it doesn't really affect me, but I worry about other people.

Keep us updated. :) :tup: