there is gonna be NOTHING left

[Guest]

In the vast majority of cases, if you want the best quality product/service at the lowest price, supply and demand is your solution. However, if you distort those forces with artificial means (price fixing, restricting supply, hindering competition,etc.,) the process fails, and the "remedies" that follow often make the situation worse. Let competition work its magic.

[randomq]

Open-d, it's apparently not working, because our gas is outrageously expensive compared to most of the mainland, and stays high even as mainland prices drop.

[Guest]

Just did a check.

Lowest HI gas price $2.49
Lowest CA gas price $2.35

Difference .14 or .14/2.35 or 6%. Not what I would call outrageous!!!

[Rob Tucker]

I was in Colorado a few weeks ago. Gas was about $1.80.

[Guest]

Trying to compare Hawaii gasoline prices, being as isolated as it is,with virtually-all resources being "imported" over 2,000 miles of ocean, with a land-locked petroleum-producer like Colorado is invalid in the extreme.

[terracore]

"Considering how far out of vogue petroleum is falling I suspect you're not going to have to worry about that very much longer."

Wait until the environmentalists realize how much strip mining is destroying the planet to feed an ever-growing appetite of lithium and cobalt for vehicle batteries, and copper for upgrading the power grids for powering vehicle battery chargers. All to power electric vehicles that are being charged with fossil fuels burned at power plants just to lose energy from resistance. Strip mines are big, ugly, and permanent (millions of years permanent) whereas oil fields are relatively invisible once you take the rigs away.

Electric vehicles are "probably" the future, but not in a form that current exist anywhere. UK houses are wired for 80 amps, and people can't run a car charger and their stove at the same time. Their grid would need to be re-done from the power generators all the way to the end user if electric vehicles were the only choice with current technology.

Petroleum will be in vogue until technology matures, otherwise I'm not sure the Earth can handle it. Hawaii might be one of the first places where petroleum isn't in vogue, but it won't be in my lifetime. But I do have more days behind me than I do ahead of me.

[Rob Tucker]

quote:

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Originally posted by Open-d

Trying to compare Hawaii gasoline prices, being as isolated as it is,with virtually-all resources being "imported" over 2,000 miles of ocean, with a land-locked petroleum-producer like Colorado is invalid in the extreme.

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It is not invalid in the extreme. Petroleum is shipped around the world to all corners. The cost of shipping to Hawaii is not substantially different than anywhere else on the planet. The main difference, in U.S. terms, for Hawaii and California, are the taxes.

[Frank]

couldn't have stated the situation better Rob...mahalo

[ProjectDomecile]

The lithium/cobalt/copper problem shouldn't be an issue for much longer. We're making some really crazy strides in nanochemistry; I expect within 5 years most batteries will be made out of much cheaper stuff, and most power systems will be off-grid solar.

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Rob Tucker

[quote]Originally posted by Open-d

The main difference, in U.S. terms, for Hawaii and California, are the taxes.

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OK, I'll accept that at face value for discussion purposes, although personally, I still think tranportation is a significant factor. It seems to be a significant factor when anything else that is shipped in, is shipped in, but lets set that aside for now.

Taxes imposed by corrupt gov't. Taxes, not market forces. Taxes, not competition...