<p>I know Wall Street controls gas prices, but I think that the Saudis were too busy drowning in their profits to fix our prices. Now high gas prices will not only cause a permanent drop in demand(Americans are using cars less), but also push us more to make alternative sources of fuel. In Japan they already have a water fueled car that goes like 70 miles on 1.5 liters. </p>
<p>Anyone think that the Saudis should have done something when gas was at $3 a gallon? They're trying to look like they care about our suffering, but in reality they realize that their dominance as an oil country is about to go away in the next few decades and it's too late to change the course.</p>
<p>Saudis were not the ones who caused the oil inflation. If you knew the facts the Saudis have complained about how the oil prices are outrageous and they have been trying to do something about it. I blame OPEC and the entire media and general population. There is no real shortage of oil. </p>
<p>I don’t know all the facts, but now they’re increasing their oil output by like .7 million(9–>9.7) barrels. But anyone else feel like they could have done something about it before, but they were just making too much money to really have any huge concern until they realized these high prices might reduce their nation to nothing after no one wants their oil?</p>
<p>No one wants their oil? It’s a supply-demand economy, the prices rise because people use more oil. Why would Saudi Arabia be obliged to even sell oil to the USA? The USA was the country that placed embargoes on oil export to Japan prior to World War II.</p>
<p>I guess I’ll have to explain. Prices go up when demand increases, but this has another effect once a certain price is reached. When the price becomes too high, demand decreases. As prices continue to go up, Americans will finally realize that it’s time to hang up the keys to the SUV for good. Even what we call “economy cars” are nowhere near as small as ordinary cars in Europe, where astronomical gas taxes fund public transportation. So as the price of oil (and gas) increases, demand will decrease, which is better for the environment. The US is also prime for a gas tax increase, but the politician who introduces that will be torched by the entire staff of the Capitol building.</p>
<p>My explanation was indirect, but I hope that clarified.</p>
<p>Demand won’t decrease, there will be a leftward shift on the demand curve due to a reduction in supply. A subtle difference, but my Econ teacher went nuts when we confused the two.</p>
<p>The world doesn’t revolve around America. The idea of this thread - America brings Saudis to their knees? Even if demand in America decreases (by how much, really, can you live without a refrigerator? Airconditioning in office buildings?) the rest of the world will need more oil.</p>
<p>While demand has increased in places like China and India, it has also decreased in the US, Europe, Japan, Korea, etc.</p>
<p>Oil probably should probably be at somewhere around $80-100 bbl. </p>
<p>The other $40-45 is all the hedge funds and other investment vehicles (which used to be banned from the commodities market) searching for an alternative to a slumping market.</p>