We are in an oil bust, folks....

[dismayed]

If they are 4 8 15 16 23 42 then I don't want to know about it.

[Kerry]

Number 1 reason why this isn't an oil bust - everyone saw the decline coming. Nobody thought $147/bbl was the correct price. When the oil bust hit Oklahoma City in the 80s oil went to around $33 and a lot of the drilling was taking place in Oklahoma. However, everyone thought the price was going to $100 and they spent like it was. This time everyone saw the top coming and few thought the price would go to $200 (everyone except a few dolts on Wall Street working for Goldman Sachs that is). Now if people in and out of the oil industry spent like they though price would go to $200 then it would have been much worse.

Here is a little part of a 2001 story in the Houston Chronical.

In the early 1980s, oil was selling for about $33 a barrel, and most forecasts said it would reach $60. A few even predicted $100. The industry was booming and exploration soared.

Houston was attracting much attention from job-seekers, making the Chronicle classified employment-ad section a big seller out of state. Sunday Chronicles were shipped every week to Michigan, where the unemployment rate stood at 17.2 percent in December of 1982.

One Detroit newsstand owner reported that for six months in 1982 the Chronicle constituted about 80 percent of his business, about 900 papers a day.

But in early '82 oil prices began falling, stagnating at about $27 in '85. Then the bottom dropped out, and prices fell precipitously, finally reaching $10 a barrel in January 1986.

With 70 percent of jobs in the Houston area depending directly or indirectly on the oil industry, the bust was in full flower. Construction all but came to a standstill, and some financial institutions failed, while others tightened credit.

Thousands were thrown out of work. In January 1983, unemployment in the six- county Houston metropolitan area rose to 9.1 percent, the highest among the state's largest metropolitan areas. Beaumont-Port Arthur was hit even harder, with a rate of 14.9 percent. The overall rate for Texas was 8.5 percent.

But the national economy wasn't doing well, either, with unemployment hovering at 11.4 percent. In Texas, by the end of 1983 the rate had dropped to 8.3 percent.

[MadMonk]

I was working for a petroleum reporting company in January '86 and remember that $10/barrel oil...yeah, my timing wasn't very good then.

[redcup]

Try to figure out a woman? They are all crazy. You just have to find your kind of crazy.

Hey, woman here!

[Kerry]

Hey, woman here!

Then your crazy.

Actually a friend of mine says that all the time and I thought it was kind of funny. He also tells people to "go sell crazy somewhere else, we're all full here."

[bornhere]

That's Jack Nicholson in "As Good As It Gets," although I think the actual line is, "You want to sell crazy? Go sell it somewhere else. We're all stocked up here."

[Kerry]

So my friend is a phrase thief. Figures. He probably got it from a pawn shop.

[Curt]

Try to figure you a liberal? You can't use logic and reason to try and explain the illogical.

Try to figure out a woman? They are all crazy. You just have to find your kind of crazy.

Agreed

[Curt]

Oil was overvalued to begin with. $45/barrel ain't bad really...

$45 a barrel is sweet, they should however keep the price around $1.70 a gallon nationwide. When ya go to a Applebees and get the same meal in Michigan for the same price you get it in Oklahoma or go to McDonalds and get a cheeseburger for a set price and go two miles away and get it for the same price why cant gas stations keep their prices the same in the chain. Why is gas sometimes .20 cents a gallon higher from one Mobil station to the next Mobil at the next corner.

[OKCMallen]

$45 a barrel is sweet, they should however keep the price around $1.70 a gallon nationwide. When ya go to a Applebees and get the same meal in Michigan for the same price you get it in Oklahoma or go to McDonalds and get a cheeseburger for a set price and go two miles away and get it for the same price why cant gas stations keep their prices the same in the chain. Why is gas sometimes .20 cents a gallon higher from one Mobil station to the next Mobil at the next corner.

I don't know about Applebee's, but McD's prices certainly do vary from place to place.

[Jesseda]

in flagstaff arizona the happy meals are 90 cents more than here in oklahoma, but the dollar menu in branson has a lot more of selection then here

[Curt]

I don't know about Applebee's, but McD's prices certainly do vary from place to place.

I'll have to take your word for that but at least let me narrow it down to this, their prices dont change from corner to corner...I guess from state to state they do.

[bluedogok]

Most stations price for the immediate area, also many of them may be owned by different companies/individuals even though they have a "brand name" on them. Very few retail gas stations are owned by the corporate name on the sign.

We paid $1.36 in OKC on Saturday and $1.29 in Midland, Texas on Monday, yesterday on the way back to Austin we paid $1.69 in Sonora and I saw $1.84 in Junction. It is holding around $1.45 here in Austin and is always about 10 cents cheaper heading towards San Antonio. The pricing is all based on what the local market area will bear.

[CuatrodeMayo]

I can speak from experience that a BigMac at the Mcdonald's in Times Square cost substantially more than at any other McD's in Manhattan.

[Kerry]

Curt - the flaw in your thinking has to go back to business ownership and location. Most McDonalds and gas stations are owned by a franchiesee. However, the McDonalds owners own muliple McDonalds in the same trade area. This is why there is a price consistency on a local or even regional scale. However, gas stations owners usually just own one or two and someone else owns the one across the street.

To stay with the hamburger analogy, at a single gas station the price of gas is the same at each pump (just like at each McDonalds). However, a burger at Burger King, Whataburger, Jack in the Box, McDonalds, and Johnnies Charcol Broiler are all different even if they might be located in the same area.

[redcup]

And the McDonald's in Honolulu is probably the most expensive!

[bluedogok]

The McDonald's In Tokyo are pretty expensive as well....

[Kerry]

And the McDonald's in Honolulu is probably the most expensive!

Travel tip - the McDonalds on Waikiki Beach has the dollar menu, it just isn't advertised.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

You should see what a Big Mac costs in downtown Tokyo...And the "meal" comes with rice instead fries.

[OKCMallen]

I'll have to take your word for that but at least let me narrow it down to this, their prices dont change from corner to corner...I guess from state to state they do.

Ever stop at the McD's on the turnpike between OKC and Tulsa?


They vary more than you think.