On Apr 27, 4:02�am, Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Thu, 26 Apr 2007 20:07:38 -0700, "Danlw"
wrote:







"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .
On 26 Apr 2007 18:08:12 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

Means that folks of ordinary or upper middle class
means aren't buying boats, and that volume is pretty crucial to
pricing of a lot of goods and services that even those of us who
aren't going to be trading boats any time soon consume on a regular
basis.

I've been saying that for over a year now just based on observation
and intuition.

I'm not exactly destitute, but it cost me $204 today to fill the truck
with diesel (30 gallons - $83) and fill the boat (42 gallons - $121)
after burning off the old fuel this afternoon.

Do that every weekend, plus all the other expenses of going to work
(which I don't do), increasing food and home energy costs, something
has to give and that's going to be the boat.

While the economy is stable, this notion of the FED that only core CPI
is a valid indicator of inflation and living costs is ridiculous. *The
real rate of inflation is around 13% from the first of the year and
the FED is pretending it's only around 2.3% because they discount
energy and food. *Last year, real inflation was something like 9%.

Add increasing income taxes, increasing fees (my registrations went up
this year by $5 across the board), insurance, etc., boating is the
first to go.

WOW. Only 42 gallons in the boat! *Count your blessings--I put in 110
gallons today--ouch! *Did get away with only 18 gallons of Diesel in the
truck though. .

I only have a 50 gallon tank in the Ranger. :)

But speaking of which and somewhat related to Chuck's post, I know a
lot of the tourny fishermen around here are cutting back on their
weekend tournaments because of fuel prices - they can't afford to
travel anymore - it would cost them more to go than they could
potentially win.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Wandering off a bit, but I heard a fascinating analysis of the fuel
price situation the other day.

The speaker postulated that when there is no realistic threat or
opportunity for a new supplier to enter the market and increase
supply, it becomes more profitable to short the market and sell to the
highest bidders than to ramp up production to meet demand. He said
that in my state, supply is managed down to the point where there is
only a 1-2% reserve on hand most of the time and when the reserve
begins shrinking prices are raised to raise profits as well as curtail
demand.

We have been exporting tanker loads of *refined* petroleum products
from WA to Canada and Japan; yet we are constantly hearing that a lack
of refinery capacity is to blame for high fuel prices.

The oil companies are entitled to make a decent return on their
product. Nothing says that we are entitled to cheap fuel; but each
year that prices get this ridiculously out of sight another group of
people decide to give up boating, flying, RVing, or etc. As people get
out of the sport, many of the suppliers of goods and services that are
part of the infrastructure begin to fail. Boat companies go OOB,
resort marinas close down, fuel docks have to shut, bait shacks don't
make it, etc. It's sad that the next generation won't have some of the
same recreational opportunities that we have enjoyed---- but then
again why should we assume the next generation even wants the same
recreational opportunities? The 20-somethings today are a pretty
different breed, (but that's probably always been the perspective of
old farts like me).