Gas Prices (Again)

[nmaineman36]

To me its not just the gas the prices but the ripple effect it has on almost everything that we use. Groceries have gone up and some stores gouge people. Take Shaw's/Star Market here in the Boston area...my partner who works for them tells me that they jack up the prices to make the chain look profitable. They have a 50% markup. Market Basket has only a 33% markup..Stop & Shop more than 65% and thats just for the overhead like labor and energy. Americans are certainly getting squeezed and money doesnt seem to go as far as it used to.
I paid and I am not bitchin either about $3.01 a gallon for gas here in Lynn but in Maine I have seen gas as high as $3.75 a gallon on the Turnpike. Also here in the Northeast we are Tolled to death with our highways. I pay $1.50 to go thru the Hampton toll in New Hampshire and $1.75 to get on the Maine Turnpike. If you want to get into Boston thu the Ted Williams Tunnel by the airport is a cool $3.00 and the same for the Tobin Bridge on rt 1. And they want to go up on the tolls. I know for myself I am not a bank and I get paid once a month so I have been really good at making my pennies stretch but there is going to come a time when people are going to say ENOUGH!
Oh and as far as people thinking that Canadians have it good with "free" healthcare...think again. They get nailed with GST Government Sales Tax and they also get nailed with PST Provincial Sales Tax and I think in some parts a TVT. When I go to Ontario the combined sales tax is a nice 15%..ouch. But Canadians are on the right track I think.
And as much as I hate to say it this is just the tip of the iceburg and its going to get worse.

 

[Cybrvanr]

The problem with our fuel consumption is not so much the vehicles that we have, but the way we must use them. Yes, there may be more automobiles a the driveway than people that live in the house, but if they are not being used, they are not burning fuel! I am not sure why this keeps being a topic to people complaining about reckless consumption. I know quite a few people that have kept their large bus-sized SUV for trips to the hardware store, or when they need to carry the entire neighborhood of kids, but for the average commute, they went out and bought a little Corolla, Civic or some other thrifty car...It's called the right tool for the job!

In order to seriously cut our consumption on fuel however, there will need to be drastic changes to the way we plan and zone our cities, and even re-vamping of older neighborhoods too. The problem with almost all American cities is that they are "car bound" The automobile is the ONLY way to travel to destinations, like schools, grocery stores, and to commute to jobs. Simply no or very poor mass transit systems exist, and commercial districts are located way too far away from residental districts to walk or ride a bike. Prior to automobiles arriving on the scene, there were commercial districts right in the neighborhoods with peoples' homes.

For some reason, people think it's their "god given right" to live on one side of town, and work on the opposite side. Well, I have noticed this mentality is finally starting to fade, as city neighborhoods have benefitted from the fuel prices. I have seen slummy neighborhoods in DC "wake up" and become vibrant, as people just simply don't want to deal with the 1 hour commutes, and spending hundreds of dollars a month to drive to work. The problem is that there are only but so many inner city neighborhoods that can be revitalized.

lastly, most of the alternative energy technologies that have been coming into use over the past few decades are there to produce electricity. We have plenty of that, and we have plenty of fuel to make it (coal, which is in plenty here in the USA) The biggest problem is that even if you were to put solar panels and wind turbines on every single house to the point that all our electricity needs are met, gasoline will still cost $3.50 or more a gallon simply because oil only meets a mere 6% of our electricity needs. The only way to take care of this is to build electric cars. For some reason, people shy away from electric cars because of their range of only around 100 miles or so, despite the fact they only travel maybe 30-50 miles per trip!

 

[seamusuk]

And you think you have it bad........

Regular Unleaded is currently around £1.05 a litre- so at 3.785L to a US Gallon thats just under £4 per gallon so thats about $7.80 per gallon.

I dont drive so although it dosent directly affect me obviously anything that needs to be transported keeps going up .

So over there ya really dont have that much to compain about in comparison lol!

Seamus

 

[panthera]

Steven,

You hit the nail on the head. Here in Munich, I don't need to use a car; hell - I can get from anywhere to anywhere in the city faster, cheaper and more conveniently without. On the rare occasions when I do need a car, I either take a taxi or use the Stadtauto service; a pool of privately owned cars (several thousand people own a few hundred cars, you pay a relatively high price per kilometer, but still enormously cheaper than having to pay for a car 24x7x365 which you need maybe every three months, once.

In the US, when I take public transport, the people are scary, the buses filthy, the terminals even scarier and dirtier.

The interesting thing is, we live in a capitalist society in Germany. Our ROI - the ultimate index of capitalism is higher (and over time, too, not just right now) than in the US. When I took economics in school, capitalism was defined as the most pragmatic of economic systems - you looked reality in the eye and adjusted to it.
Today, I have the feeling that Washington would rather do anything but help the American people cope with their energy needs. Why, again, *why* put money in the pockets of a culture and a people who hate you (and us, too, by the by. The US is not the only country suffering from islamist terroisim). Over here, any private company which contributes to energy independence is given tax relief and the government gets out of their way. In the US, they get saddled with every nasty rule, regulation and tax provision possible.

Things will continue to get worse, I fear - the dollar is devalued (I sure would like to know what is so capitalist about the Republican policies which led to that...) and OPEC has the US by the short hairs. You have no other options. Instead of investing in energy independence - real patriotism - the last seven years were wasted.

OK, end of rant. I spend half my year in the US, have to drive a lot and have seen my gas bills more than double...so I guess that entitles me to bitch along with everybody else.

 

[petek]

Matt.. the oil sands in Alberta Canada are up and running and making humongous profits...here's a link.

Mike; regarding the taxes in Canada, the GST ( Federal goods and services tax similar to the UK VAT) and the PST (provincial sales tax). You have to keep in mind that some things aren't taxed like food and some others are taxed one but not the other. Along with that there are also income tax refunds geared to income levels to offset it. It's unpopular though because it is an "in your face" tax everytime you ring something up at the register. Alberta is the only province that doesn't have a provincial sales tax. The GST has lately dropped from 7% to 5%

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www.energy.gov.ab.ca

 

[petek]

US Oil imports link:

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www.eia.doe.gov

 

[hydralique]

Zoning and such . . .

Living near one's work is a great idea, but unfortunately it doesn't work out like it did several generations ago for the following reasons:

1) People change jobs frequently now, I think on the average of once every five years or so here in the US. In many industries there is almost no money or effort put into employee training - if expertise is needed someone new is hired who has already learned the required skills elsewhere. Likewise, for many people the only way to really rise in their profession is to change jobs as otherwise they are viewed as having stagnated.
Remember too that companies are now viewed favorably if they are seen as "lean and mean", and part of this is instant layoffs if the economy so much as burps.

2) Most households require two incomes, so even if a couple can live near one job what are the chances of being able to live near both? Then add in the complication of frequent job changes.

3) In many areas housing is very expensive. Most of my work as an architect is in West LA. A 50-70 year old 1100-1300 sq. ft. single story stucco house in a mediocre part of the westside is going to start at around $600,000, and rentals aren't cheap either. I live in a very similar house in the San Fernando Valley simply because I can't afford the westside. Right now I have two projects under construction, a residential remodel in Brentwood and an office buidling remodel in Mid-Wilshire, plus other projects in the design phase in Los Feliz, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades and Hollywood. The result is I drive a lot. When I can I'll pick up a project in my neighborhood, but basically I have to go where the money is - this is true for most people regardless of whether they are self-employed like me or not.

4) Nobody ever talks about the decline of smokestack industries relative to transportation, but I think it makes a difference. Factories need lots of cheap land and tend to be located on the outskirts of cities. Once a few are built, developers will come in and buy cheap land and build housing. That's how much of the growth in the US in the postwar years happened. Now we have a service economy, with lots of smaller companies that take much less space. The result is that these companies tend to be located in more expensive areas because it's convenient for the company owners. Lots of the employees can't afford those areas.

There is no easy solution to these problems, but the best start is better mass transit AND better roads for those of us who can't use the mass transit for logistic reasons. And, as Cybrvanr suggests, using economical cars for regular tasks and saving oversized SUVs for skiing trips and such. Personally, I'd like to see cities re-configure lots of parking spaces for really small cars (i.e. Smart size) and motorcycles. That way you could still drive a big car, but those with smaller vehicles would have the perk of easier parking.

I am tired of planners and politicians who tirelessly say "we should all live near where we work" without understanding that most people are smart enough to want this, it's just that they often can't do so.

 

[foraloysius]

$$$$

Overhere a gallon costs $$$$$ 8.54 today.

 

[mulls]

PeterH770 makes the valid point

that we have huge reserves of oil here,and are not allowed to access it.It is like having steak on hand you bought on sale for $7 per pound but going to the store today-after the sale is over-and paying $12 for it.Absurd.Lets face it,capitalistic economies are based on consumption.On a lighter note,here is a pic of my wife with our 50 MPG hybrid.Maybe not.
Tom
PS-if the pic is too big I am sorry-I am learning!

 

[hydralique]

Interesting . . . I've been seeing some of those big Lexus LS460h hybrids around. They look just like the regular TOL LS460 except for the badge, so they're kind of hard to spot. Nice to see GM beat M-B, BMW and Audi to a luxury hybrid, if not Toyota.

 

[mulls]

Apology to Hydralique

Hydralique,I'm sorry-I meant that as a joke.That is a DTS Performance,and is anything but a hybrid.I was making fun of myself.
Thanks
Tom

 

[tolivac]

Now I have a Lexus RX400H Hybrid car-its similar to a Toyota Highlander Hybrid and gets the same gas mileage-This car has so many features its hard to list them here--including a GPS system so you can't get lost.Love the HID headlights-its amazing how many deer lurk to the side of the roads!And the headlights "steer" into turns!This started out when I brought my Highlander in for yearly safety checkup-Goerge comes and and says"I have a car out on the lot you have to see"-he gets the keys and we go for a test ride and then-----I rode home in the Lexus-wasn't much more expensive than the Highlander.

 

[panthera]

The problem is not

so easy to solve. Sure, we can open up the last of America's natural areas and even do it without too much damage (in geological time, at least). But there points which, speaking as a capitalist, I feel need mentioning:
1) Even if we assume that everything could be ramped up and refined tomorrow, there is no way in hell that the production would even begin to meed the demand. Not even close. Of course, when this proven oil is gone, that's it forever.
2) The price of oil is determined by a free market. That means, these very small reserves (small in global market terms) would have nil impact on the prices. Unless, of course, the US government steps in, seizes private industry and using price controls artificially sets a price? Gosh, that sounds a lot like what the communist bastards did back in the 20th century. Somehow, that just doesn't seem like the way to go to me - of course, there would be one shortcut: Chavez is just down the block, I am sure he could explain how it is done.
3) Some resources are capital, some are income or consumables, if I may very loosely use the terminology of Economics. The best way to get into trouble is to use the capital resources as consumables. The old story of the starving farmers who eat their seed over the winter and then have nothing to sow in the spring comes to mind. Oil reserves are of enormous value, they are useful for many things, not just making gasoline.
4) Nobody questions that gasoline is just about the most perfect transportable energy source imaginable. But it can be made, using today's technology, from raw materials which are otherwise of far less utility than oil.

 

[DADoES]

Diesel is now $3.959 at the store here that I tend to use as the local price-marker. Low-grade gasoline has bounced in the last two weeks from $3.029 to $3.099, to $3.199, and down to $3.149 last night.

 

[sdlee]

why not here

I have to say that too. Why arent we produceing our own energy?

(90 miles west of me is the Coal capitol of the world Gillette, wy. Most of that energy comes out of the grounds and goes to any country that just happens to not be the US . Fairly cheaply too from what Ive been informed.

Hybrids out here? Two things...our stores cant even get them and when they do the waiting list is useaully longer than the time one has to wait for a new car. Electrical sources? its 70 miles between towns out here..

and speaking of that....how silly to compare our country to those in Europe.. If you cross the distance of one state out here... you have crossed through three seperate countries in Europe.Ofcorse thier gas is higher, they dont use what we use.
they dont make great jaunts to get from one end of thier country to the other.

Just a note about politicians haveing on blinders.....good ols Hillary said just months after being on tour here and I quote "I had no Idea the Dakotas and Wyoming were sooo rural"
Get real Lady, who do you think youre kidding?

The best thing Ive heard from any politician so far is from Huckabee.....lets start teaching kids about economy and finances begingin in the fifth grade and continuing to the 12th. I dont mean just the stuff we do now, a simple chapter on how to write a check and balance a check book in some ninth grade scocail studies class
but all out, if you dont grow up and learn the art of finances and what happens in the world when you spend money you do not have this is whats gonna happen............to you ,to your world and the world that youre leaving to your kids.".....

I dont know, sounds drastic, wish I had had it in school.I had to learn it all by trial and error with devestating circumstances.

Ponder this too. What happens to big bussiness if we develop a generation that wouldnt work at walmart for close to minmum wages,what happens if we send people out there not dumb enough to say its ok that you dont pay me enough to feed my offspring.What happens to politics if we send out a generation that has the audacity to demand satisfying answers that everyone understands? on and on and on.

One last thing...what is the beef with what people choose to drive. Everyone out here pretty much drives what they can afford to drive. Our highways arent crowded with Suvs and Hummers. Theres a few but they arent out numbering anything else by any means. Im the last year Ive been in Denver and Dallas and I didnt notice any difference there either. Am I missing something?

 

[foraloysius]

"they dont make great jaunts to get from one end of thi

The European Union is very comparable with the USA. And we Dutch are real travelers, you can find us and our cars in every country of the European Union. Actually it wouldn't surprise me at all that we travel more long distance by car than is done in the USA.

 

[rickr]

I went to Indy this week and paid $3.65 per gallon. (premium grade)