I could talk about this all day....I am in the retail Home heating oil business....
Joes assesment of the price breakdown is accurate....
The government earns more money on every gallon of dieselfuel than I do....they do not drill, refine, truck, store, deliver, insure or even touch the product yet make more on the fuel than me....
Now before we even get THAT far we need to take a look at how oil is bought and sold....
Prior to 1980 something oil was never traded on the open market, only those that dealt with it bought and or sold it....then they put it onto the open market where day traders and speculators drive the bus....and then they buy huge amounts on margin...
I heard a story where one trader was holding something like 46,000,000 gallons of paper...on margin...these guys are UNREGULATED....and completly manipulate the market....
If you look at the volume of paper trades everyday...then someone says ok thats enough....everyone take delivery of product...there would be like a physcial shortage of fuel to the tune of something like 80,000,000 BARRELS short....(most people think a barrel is 55 gallons...thats a drum...a barrel is 42 gallons)
So there is more oil on paper traded everyday than there is liquid product available for pickup....
Its a game that the US government refuses to police as the lobbyist's put hundreds of millions into the campagin funds of douche bags.