General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAbout 23 days ago my price
for diesel with my discount fuel card was $3.16 per gallon. Now today at the same location my price would be $4.159 per gallon. Many of the fuel stops within 20 miles of that location are pricing at $4.25+ per gallon after the discount. One was $4.69.
At my preferred stop that means an increase of over 30% in less than a month. All thanks to a needless war. Some of the freight brokers are starting to offer substantially higher rates to try to move loads which indicates they're having a harder time getting anybody to take it at the lower rates. Even loads at the higher rate are sitting on the load boards for a much, much longer time. Normally a high rate load is taken by someone within a few minutes at most. Now I'm seeing hours go by and the load is still available.
The price translation at the grocery level will be felt and when the next inflation report comes out, if the numbers are honest, even the core numbers that exclude energy and food will be higher as manufactured goods etc. will be priced up in anticipation of more costly restocking down the road.
So when this is combined with the hit to the consumer generally from tariffs, higher health insurance premiums, slower hiring/layoffs, increased automotive maintenance costs due to tariffs on parts, higher prices for vehicles due to tariffs and you add back in the high fuel prices and food price increases it is one huge whack to the American consumer in barely over a year of the fascists being in total control. Failing to curtail the greed investing that's driving up housing prices and rents is seeing those costs escalate through the roof and become the icing on a very crappy cake.
For the segment of the population that receives benefits from things like SNAP, Medicaid, AFDC etc. the cuts to those programs combined with the price increases for things they need to sustain life are a monstrous problem and going to get worse. Especially in rural areas where wages are lower and jobs more scarce anyway.
The pullback from consumers on spending will accelerate and combined with the recent massive pumping of dollars from the Fed to the banks this is looking very bad for the financial markets as well. Even the AI and Crapcoin delirium won't be able to withstand sudden huge hits to the bond market for example combined with way over-leveraged banks.
Remember how things were OK in 2007/2008 on a day to day basis until suddenly within a few consecutive days the crap hit the fan and everything was very much into the meltdown phase. Here we are heading for the brick wall again thanks to the fascists. The only thing to be sure of is the billionaires will profit from the misery and get even wealthier.
walkingman
(10,700 posts)and then raise the prices. I think it cost less to refine diesel than gas? Of course fossil fuels are the most corrupt of the corrupt businesses. Collusion is the norm - and some of the most disgusting humans on the planet...
Sorry for the rant ☮
flashman13
(2,303 posts)Arthur_Frain
(2,304 posts)Whenever the U.S. military is doing major operations, they are the no 1 consumer of diesel fuel.
I remember this from back shortly after diesel became a consumer option. Yes it was sold as a less expensive option from the operating perspective, but every time there was a military dust up it spiked.
Here we are in forever war! My price for unleaded locally has gone from $3.19 to $3.79 in a week. Diesel was cheaper than unleaded here last week, Afghanistan being over for awhile and all, then some fool went and poked the hornets nest that is Iran and now its gone up over a dollar to $4.24.
My only solace is seeing all the dump paraphernalia on most of those big diesel tiny penis compensators I see filling up so painfully.
ProfessorGAC
(76,470 posts)The vast majority of refineries are fully continuous.
Crude goes in, cracking/hydrocracking, removal of undesired elements (mostly sulfur & other salts), reforming, distillation.
Diesel just comes off its fractionator stage after the -anes, gasoline, & kerosene are gone. After that there are heavier fuel oil, some lubricant oils & waxes (very little, but things like quartoventane), the tars, then asphalt.
So, the cost is distributed across all the cuts.
All that said, there is reason to be suspicious of diesel pricing. I think it's mostly because the overall yield as a % of crude is lower, but the demand is high. So, the price doesn't directly correlate to a smoothed out cost of production.
sweetapogee
(1,216 posts)Five years ago I started buying fractional shares, DCA in our taxable brokerage account of Exxon Mobil (XOM) and more recently Chevron (CVX). Some weeks as little as $5.00 other times a bit more, but always something. Sometimes it causes us financial discomfort and at times we do without a want, but we strive to maintain our discipline. This has somewhat changed my perspective on energy commodity prices. We are lower middle class wage earners. Ten years ago, we didn't own a single share of any stock although we had a modest 401K.
James48
(5,164 posts)Last edited Fri Mar 6, 2026, 05:32 PM - Edit history (1)
Its going to be another two weeks before the first salvos of this war actually hit the pump. The Strait of Hormuz is going to be closed for a long time. Every day it is reduces the amount of oil available to sell. China has stopped exporting refined gasoline and diesel. They means all of Asia is going to be having price shocks, and trying to buy elsewhere. Which means our oil and gasoline will be more expensive soon- by a lot.
I give it two weeks before gasoline goes up fifty cents to a dollar.
If the war continues more than a month (it will) we will see serious shortages and price shocks.
Ol Janx Spirit
(968 posts)...to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.
It was the most predictable economic impact of action against Iran, and it wasn't part of your planning?
It also seems like something the mighty U.S. military with all of its intelligence data and bomby things would be able to do.
But no.... And now the plan is insurance? Great. I feel reassured.....
paleotn
(22,032 posts)5th fleet based in Bahrain only has 5 DDG destroyers. Even if they surged more into the Gulf region, stripping other formations, it wouldn't be enough to physically defend the strait. Seems we learned nothing from the merry band of Houthis in Yemen back in 2024. And they're back at it too in the Red Sea. Got to defend that once again. So far, the French and British are escorting only THEIR flagged ships. No one elses.
And the regime isn't going to insure ships and cargo. Donnie's blathering bullshit again. And with the number of tankers and bulkers swinging at anchor in the Gulf of Oman or redirected, ship owners aren't buying the bullshit. Figuratively or literally.
Oh, and roughly 45% of the bulk nitrogen used to produce fertilizer the world over comes from the Gulf. Persian Gulf state nat. gas is the source and it's processed in Gulf states. That ain't flowing and fertilizer stocks will begin to diminish and become more and more expensive. Hey, Midwest farmers! Not only did he blow up your soybean markets, he's now making your fertilizer more expensive. Good job voting for this mess, you fucking idiots!
Hope22
(4,651 posts)something that wasnt removed since the last fuel crisis! And on down the line airfares, deliveries all will pinch harder and harder! This is the Republican story over and over and over .
paleotn
(22,032 posts)Both seemed kind of calm early on. Not what I expected. I think now traders are getting it and pricing in a long slog.
Nigrum Cattus
(1,278 posts)Remember the russians make mst of their $$ from oil.
So, tsf's best friend is loving the price spike.
SergeStorms
(20,415 posts)for his war on Ukraine.
Fil1957
(664 posts)Almost everything he does is ugly and destructive.
I'm not religious, but if I were a Christian, I'd believe this man is the Antichrist. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/president-donald-trump-looks-devil-021829952.html
GiqueCee
(3,888 posts)... we're one day closer to reading the obituary of the evil sonofabitch that's responsible for all this!
Have a nice day!
SergeStorms
(20,415 posts)this country stops.
I wonder if all the right-wing truckers are going to stage a massive "truck jam" in the U.S. and Canada like they did during Biden's administration? 🤔 Probably not, because tRump has their backs.
timms139
(531 posts)much higher. At this moment oil is at 89 dollars a barrel, gas is at 2.70 a gallon wholesale and add the jump in ethanol summer gas prices will be even higher. Going to be a rough ride for consumers when this causes needed everyday things off the shelf to get even higher .
BobTheSubgenius
(12,198 posts)A lot of uncertainty - and we know how the markets hate uncertainty - can be laid at the feet of Mark Carney. Drumpf thought he'd backed a timorous Canadian mouse into a corner, but the mouse came back, feral and snarling. Metaphorically. In actuality, he has been nothing but measured and calm...which I'm sure the Marmalade Mussolini hates much, much more.