Gas Prices (Again)

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Our gas is 3.50 as of today.

Dean has to drive a truck or he can't make a living.

I drive a truck because I'm blind as a bat! But, then again I only drive about 50, 60 mile a week!
 
Like brisnat said, I'm sure everyone else from other parts of the world have no sympathy for us Americans and our rising gas prices. Sure gas prices suck... but people in Europe have been paying upwards of four bucks a gallon for years. They just don't drive gas-guzzling cars like Americans do. Americans will adjust, we'll just see how high prices go before they do it.
 
Went up to 3.09 here in CoMO yesterday

after it being 2.99 for regular for about 2 weeks, but diesel has fluctuated between 3.49-3.59 depending on what station you fill up at. Missouri is one of the few states with the cheapest gas, and this is the first time since last summer I've seen gas over 3 bucks. Thank God I got rid of my v8 Cadi Fleetwood 2 months ago for a new Kia Rondo, oh I have a mini orgasm every time I fill up.
 
It is crazy!!!!

I am glad that I drive two cars that get over 30 mpg. I got rid of an Audi A8 that I had because it only got about 19 max on the highway, and compared to most SUV's and large trucks, that is not too bad.
On a humorous note. I remember complaining about 10 years ago when Super Unleaded was about .99 cents. I should have kept my mouth shut!
A friend of mine in London wrote to me and said they are paying over $10 a gallon for regular unleaded.
Brent
 
Drillng ANWR

I'm not so sure that the benefits from doing so would be that great. If ANWR was used to meet 100% of our demand, it would last for 215 days under the low estimates, and 525 days or just 1.4 years under high estimates.

Even if we used ANWR to meet a small percentage of or demand it would only slightly reduce our dependence on imports and would lower oil prices by less than 50 cents a barre. At peak production we would still have to import two-thirds of our oil.
 
I was hoping after 9/11 that gas would rise to over $5/gallon. Not because of shortages but because our president would have asked us to in order fund energy conservation, exploration, development of alternative sources of energy, technology that doesn't require fossil fuels, etc. None of that happened. We weren't asked to do anything except go shopping on a credit card printed in China and secured with the deeds to our primary residence. Most economists will tell you that the latest (bi-partisan) economic stimulus package will do little more than put a band-aid on the problems we are facing. Links to articles from eight years ago do little to explain the rises in prices we face today, that can simply be explained in one word: demand. Until we use less, the price will continue to rise. China, India and other developing nations are putting strain on a finite commodity and the price will never come down until demand decreases. This year at the auto show, I saw only a few Hybrid vehicles and lines of people waiting to get their fat fingers sticky with nacho cheese on the steering wheel of a Hummer, Land Rover, etc. Again, there is so little demand for the hybrids and alternatives to petroleum, the market responds accordingly. This country has never had a comprehensive energy policy or even goals that make it outside of a campaign or state of the union speech. In one of Bush's Final Solution speeches two years ago, he said we were addicted to oil. How true that was, but ask yourself this; what has he done to lead us away from that addiction? What have any of the presidential candidates said about it? Are there any REAL plans out there to resolve this problem once and for all - not just for we in the U.S., but in the world? Give it some thought the next time you're waiting in line to buy war bonds or counting your sugar-ration coupons at the grocery store...
 
"Little Demand For Hybrids" ?

Gansky, most of what you say is spot-on, but certainly there is lots of demand for hybrid cars. A couple of weeks ago an old friend of mine and I discussed the popularity of Toyota's Prius, so I decided to see how many I could count in a certain timeframe while driving around. I did this twice, counting each Prius I saw, whether on the road or parked. I'm sure I missed some due to having to pay attention to my driving or because parked cars were obscured by trucks. The first time, for 5 minutes, I counted 15, the second time, for 15 minutes, I counted 32. It seems like they've become the New Age VW Beetle because I see them everywhere from middle class areas to luxury neighborhoods.

I also see a fair number of Lexus and Honda hybrids, and I occasionally spot one of the Ford SUV hybrids, but none of them seem to generate the enthusiasm the Prius does. It's a real shame that American companies pretty much sat on their tails while Honda and Toyota took the lion's share of this market, as it could have increased the credibility of Detroit among people who normally won't look at an American product because most of them are so uneconomical. Ford's little SUV is progress and I commend them for building it, but an SUV is really a self-defeating place to start building a fuel-efficient car as the extra weights kills town economy and bad aerodynamics do the same for high-speed driving.

Now I wonder who will be first with a diesel hybrid - that has the potential for tremendous economy. Ford could engineer one using the bits from the little SUV hybrid and the European-spec diesel Focus (which they've never sold here), but I doubt they will bother. Honda recently introduced a diesel in Europe, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are the first with a diesel hybrid.
 
Funny thing is, when you read thru old 1940's 50's etc Popular Mechanix mags etc you see ads for potions and gizmos touting ways to increase your gas mileage, if not articles on little imports that get wonderous MPG. King Midget anyone LOL
 
Why is it, anyway, that the prices are and for so long have been so ridiculously high in Europe and other countries? Many of you all are a whole lot closer to the lion's share of the supplies than we are in the US. I do feel for our friends in other countries who have been and continue to pay these prices. Still, right or wrong, most folks' lives and budgets in the US are not set up for this kind of pricing, and it is a shock paticularly for those with many obligations or long commutes.

I'm really not sure why nothing has ever been done about it in other countries or if there is anything to be done about it, but I worry we're going to end up with the same mess if this goes on much longer. We just can't have our basic expenses, whether it's gas, food, housing or anything else, tripling every 5 years unless salary structures change an awful lot.
 
Plethora of Hybrids -

That's good to hear, Hydralique, I wish I could say the same for this part of the country. Perhaps our low air pollution combined with gas prices being traditionally lower than on the coasts make a difference in how people view "economy" and make buying decisions. Despite wartime food shortages, et al, we still have a love affair with giant road-monster SUVs and trucks - I'll never understand why a soccer-mom from the burbs needs to drive an F-350 Super-Duty.

I think the a greater share of the price of petrol in Europe and elsewhere is due to taxes. I'm not sure what they're funding with the income, but I remember that being one reason. I guess if you keep the price artificially high with taxes, there is a good likelihood that people will use less.
 
Its taxes

And the Fact that Our Ecconomy is based against the US.

That's why our Fuel is affordable still, because it is purchased in USD and whereas 3 years ago, the AUD bought $0.55USD, $1.00AUD now buys $0.92USD. Therefore the price of Crude has tripled, but our fuel price has only doubled.

If our ecconomy falters and the Value of the AUD drops against the USD then we will be in big trouble.

We currently pay about $0.50AUD tax and $0.90AUD for the oil per litre of fuel. Technically, this money is supposed to go back into Federally funded roads, whether it does or not, is anyones guess.
 
Price of oil has little to do this time with just demand from the United States, though they still are the largest consumer of the stuff.

China and India are rapidly becoming first world economies, and as such the demand for cars, home heating, electric power and the rest is fast growing. In parts of China the traditional bike has all but been abandoned in favour of the car, just as Americans once abandoned horse buggys for cars.

Right now it is the market that is controlling the price of oil, for even when demand in the United States drops,the price of oil still goes up.

There is only but so much petrol in the world, and the United States is going to have to get used to other countries demanding their share. China for instance is very busy cosying up to oil rich countries in Africa (such as those who are committing genocide in Darfur)and Russia.

L.
 
A voice in the wilderness.

I agree with Gansky1. Add the fact that our highways and roads are paid with gas taxes which havn't risen with inflation, and need to be raised about 30 to 40 cents a gallon just to maintain what we have.

And what I really don't get is why we think that we have to burn all of it up as fast as we can. What about saving some for the future generations? Let's face it, if we drove more economical cars, our expense, per month would be lower.

Here's another thing to ponder. Each and every person in the US uses the equivalent of 8 gallons of gasoline every day, in the form of coal, natural gas, oil or electricity. If we all quit driving today, we would still (assuming each one uses a gallon of gas per day) use 7 gallons of the stuff each day. Our whole way of life is built on extravagant usage of energy. Our large homes, no matter how efficient, use great amounts of energy to heat and cool them. The way most of the homes are built with long drive times to any service such as grocery stores, let alone to commute to work. All of these factors contribute to our energy usage. And as Gansky said, we have never had an energy policy, and that includes all of our administrations for the last 50 years.

With a decent and logical energy policy, we would convert the rust belt factories to photovoltaic panel factories. This would be the start of our independence from the oil dealers, and give people in our country jobs. This concept would need a huge push from the Govt, and our support, and would lead to higher costs for electricity at first. But this is an idea for creating a better future. What has this to do with the price of gas? Cars can be powered by electricity, for those who have short commutes. Electricity can also be used to create Hydrogen from water, which can power cars and other things. And any internal source of energy can help. We now import not only oil, but natural gas. Look for the pirce of those items to rise. We already have $108 oil, some predict $200.

My 2 cents.

Martin
 
"There is only but so much petrol in the world..."

Actually, that statement is not quite true. As a former oil company employee, let me assure you that there is plenty of oil to fulfill our current demands, for many more centuries. And, new reserves are constantly being identified. The more accurate statement is that the amount of oil currently being produced and refined, is limited/controlled. Let me clarify, however, that does not mean that I believe we shouldn't be reducing our consumption and looking to alternate sources, etc...
 
"What about saving some for the future generations?&quo

IMHO, the greater concern is that we need policies, programs and laws that will sharply reduce emissions of CO2, methane and other greenhouse gas pollutants.

While reducing our energy consumption across the board will move us towards that goal, I'm surprised there hasn't been more conversation around the availability and use of alternative sources, such as solar power. IMHO, it IS possible to sustain a comfortable lifestyle through the use of alternative energy sources. There have been tremendous advancements in collecting and storing solar power. It's easy to be an arm chair environmentalist. Without any offense intended, why not put your money (and opinions) where your mouth is and take proactive steps, such as installiing solar panels. In some areas, you can actually sell power to the electric utilities. Just a thought.
 
The Sad part really is the U.s. has more Oil than all of OPEC put together.Canada as Tapped in to it and we import 50% of it to here when in the Utah area there is 2.5+ Trillon Barrles of Oil locked up in Tar sands and Oil shale.Now this would be sweet crude oil in another few million years and easy to pump but now it is locked up in a tar like paste.The U.s. goverment owns 90% of the land this is on now.Canada has been refining these tar sands for years and have been making billions and send it here.This makes no sence to me at all.Now I would prefer Clean energy or better yet the free energy devices that the U.s. gov has locked away these Labs but my uncle who worked of the D.o.D. on his death bed told of some scary things that we have and free energy is one of them but the U.s. gov was worried of economy collapse if these got out.He NEVER would talk of his work that was the only time.Bush when he ran for president was taking jabs at Bill clinton on gas Prices now there higher than ever.The only good thing about this is these big huge SUVs sales terrible and that is fine by me.
 
What really concerns me is the MASSIVE shift of money to energy companies that is sucked out of every other area of the economy. As energy consumes more of a persons income there is less for everything else. When you factor in the rapid increase of consumer products due to increased energy costs both for production and delivery it is very hard for the average person to keep up. Prices are going up at a time when wages are stagnant or dropping, not a good thing.

If you look at food costs, it's triple impacted. The cost to transport if is rapidly increasing, the cost to grow it is increasing due to increase in chemical costs, and with so much more of it being used to produce ethanol there is less for food consumption so once again cost goes up.

I don't think anyone know what the answer is. Part of me would like to cap oil company revenues, their profits are truly obscene at the moment, but I recall price controls in the 70's and what a disaster it was. Some say late the free market decide, but what we have today is anything but a free market. there is no competition for oil companies - if I dislike Exxon's profits I can't go to Joe's Gas because Joe doesn't produce the gas he buys it from one of the 2 or 3 producers who basically fix the price.

The energy companies have NO incentive to create an alternative, they know they have centuries of product out there as an earlier poster mentioned. I've heard for years about the tar sands on the Canadian border and I recall reading that until gas got to $2.50/gal it wouldn't be worth the companies time to bother with it. well, gas if pushing $4.00 and it apparently still isn't worth it.
 
Oh, its the usual count-down to memorial day.Not by co-incidence every single year for years the price of fuel increases for Memorial weekend and Labor Day. But American's are counted on to be too stupid to notice and too brain-dead to raise hell about it, as most American's have lost the will to fight about things. In the mean time the "oil boys" in the White House look the other way . But hey, this is a capitalist economy so what should we expect? I would imagine the Bush/Saud connection will have cemented some pretty good deals for the business elite by now.

I avoid buying fuel from the companies who get their oil from Middle Eastern or South American countries.

Sonoco
Conoco
BP/Phillips
Hess
Arco

Those companies get "0" oil from the Middle East.
 

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