Gas prices too high? Don’t pump on May 15
Business, Politics, Shopping | Sandra | May 15, 2007 at 02:23
There’s an internet action in the works to boycott gas pumps on May 15 in protest over high gas prices. The claim is a national “gas out” in April 1997 in protest of those gas prices (look cheap today) caused gasoline prices to drop 30 cents/gallon overnight.
The program goes like this: There are 73,000,000 American users on the internet. It takes $30-$50 to fill up the average car. If everyone abstained on the 15th, it would take $292,000,000 (that’s almost $300 mil) out of the oil companies’ pockets for just one day. That does assume that every internet user drives his own car. Probably a fair assessment in the USA. A blip might even be felt in the Middle Eastern oil industry.
I could avoid the gas station on May 15th. It certainly is an easy way to protest. Might be fun to try and see what happens.
Related Speaking of Dependency on Oil, Drilling for Oil in ANWR, Energy Conservation Ideas, Electric Car is Not Dead
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Has anyone really thought about the economics of this?
To those of you in the arts, this protest will eventually provide less funding to your programs. Philanthropists, such as oil companies in Las Vegas, provide on occasion, thousands of dollars to organizations. Sometimes, that amount is in the neighborhood of $50,000 – $75,000 to ONE organization. Why? Because they like to give back to the community.
As a staunch supporter of the arts and economic well-being, I cannot control the price of gas. The marketplace determines this based on trading of stocks.
Though it is a good idea to protest prices, our robust marketplace is what has contributed to the upward hike in prices.
Needless to say, that same hike is part of a cyclical pattern in which every peak is followed for a short period by a valley.
The person who originated the circulating letter on not pumping gas on May 15 could be a stock trader, hoping that we will ALL not pump gas, which would lower demand and temporarily drop the price.
At that time, any day trader can buy stock and know that the price will rise again, creating a favorable situation for this person and eventually driving the price higher.
As an educated person with a business background in finance, this creates a winning situation for that stock person. It also contributes to wealth for those people calling options before June, rather than having a put. Yes, these are all technical stock terms, but for those of you savvy in finance, you will understand.
The effect on our volatile marketplace is short-term. Inevitably, the prices will rise.
Many corporate fiscal years end in June. Showing a loss is easy to carry forward to the new year. In addition, knowing that the marketplace is volatile, many companies will incorporate hedge funds to offset the temporary, downward stock movement.
Thus, the option comes into play. Downward movement on a straddled option creates an income for the option if it has a call date near that time. ANY movement on an option that is straddled will override the protest. If a loss is held, then less philanthropy occurs if the company did not hedge the fund.
Feel free to circulate this letter.
Sincerely,
Renato