gas prices...

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Originally Posted By: pottymouth
Originally Posted By: grampi
How about making them comparibly priced to fossil fuel powered vehicles?


Why should they be? If they use significantly less or cheaper fuel, why would you expect them to cost the same? If the car will save money on energy consumption the the savings can be added to the price of the vehicle and your affordability has remained the same. A few years ago I had to replace my boiler. I paid more for a model with higher efficiency than the standard. Why would the better model sell for the same price as the standard? You need to look at total cost of ownership. Even if it did cost me a premium in the long run to have the more efficient boiler I would still have paid it. I will make that sacrifice to have less dependence on oil and to reduce pollution/improve air quality.

New technology costs money to develop. Do you expect the car makers to do it for free?


Who pays them to develop new technology for vehicles they're currently building?
 
I just checked gasbuddy.com, my local Marathon is up again today, $3.72. 7-11 is up by 2 cents at $3.65. Even the Hess station further down the road is at $3.69. I sure am glad I work at home.

Incidentally, just for fun I checked the price of a Nissan Leaf on a local Nissan dealer's web site today too. They only show one Leaf in stock and its price is over $35,000.00. No thanks. I did not spend that much for my last 3 pickup trucks combined. If they had a Leaf or similar vehicle in a more moderate price range that I could afford, I would buy one. I also looked at Nissan Frontiers, which are similar to my Dodge Dakota, they only rate them at 20 MPG. I already get about the same MPG, maybe a little less in city driving and my truck is paid for.
 
Oil prices are up because the US $ is being turned into toilet paper thanks to the federal reserve.

Are basic principles like inflation even taught in economics class anymore?
 
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Originally Posted By: GMFan
Oil prices are up because the US $ is being turned into toilet paper thanks to the federal reserve.

Are basic principles like inflation even taught in economics class anymore?

I learned a little about it in Economics in high school, but the #1 place I heard of it was in History and it was what happened in Germany after WWI.
 
Originally Posted By: pottymouth

I disagree. People are unwilling to do anything about it. If the average driver would reduce his consumption by even 10% it would be a huge hit to the oil industry. The opposite is what is happening. The majority of new car buyers still gravitate toward bigger and more powerful vehicles. I have a coworker who drives a Yukon XL every day, mostly alone in the car. He will tell you he "needs" this vehicle because he takes the family camping once a year and he used the truck to pull a camper. So, instead of renting a truck one week a year and driving a more sensible vehicle the other 51 weeks he sucks down fuel all year long. That's his business, but when he whines about the cost of gas I can't help but laugh inside.

Many people who could use public transportation or carpooling refuse to do so. Look at the average speeds on the highway. When was the last time you saw traffic moving at less than 10mph over the speed limit? Around here it is regularly 15 to 20mph.

I work from home a couple days a week and can't help but observe my neighbors' behavior. Some will leave the house 5 or 6 times in a day, each time coming back with a different small bag from a store. How about just a little bit of planning to consolidate trips? I would love to know what kind of useless, imported garbage is actually in those bags. Let's not forget how much energy is used in the production and transportation of all these consumer goods.

One neighbor in particular told me she joined a gym 20 miles from the house because her friend goes there and they like to work out together. That's 120 extra miles a week in a Toyota Highlander just so she can [censored] with her pal while she does the stairmaster.

How much fuel is used to heat and cool the 3,500+ sq. ft. McMansions that have sprung up all over the place? Some of these houses are lit up like a department store.

So what's the point? People want the government or someone else to "do something about this" because the refuse to make sacrifices or just simply better choices. If everyone would do even some of the things they could do to reduce demand, the prices would come down. Of course, even if this happened gluttonous consumption would just a squickly increase when the prices came down. Conservation is an old idea and a good one. There is no reason that the average person couldn't reduce his/her energy consumption by 10% with minor sacrifices. It just doesn't seem that Americans have the belly for it.


People have too much money. I would love to drive on the street and see nothing but medium sized sedans. But as long as gas prices are under $10 per gallon, I'm gonna have to put up with the giant SUVs and the jacked up pickup trucks.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
I just checked gasbuddy.com, my local Marathon is up again today, $3.72. 7-11 is up by 2 cents at $3.65. Even the Hess station further down the road is at $3.69. I sure am glad I work at home.

Incidentally, just for fun I checked the price of a Nissan Leaf on a local Nissan dealer's web site today too. They only show one Leaf in stock and its price is over $35,000.00. No thanks. I did not spend that much for my last 3 pickup trucks combined. If they had a Leaf or similar vehicle in a more moderate price range that I could afford, I would buy one. I also looked at Nissan Frontiers, which are similar to my Dodge Dakota, they only rate them at 20 MPG. I already get about the same MPG, maybe a little less in city driving and my truck is paid for.
Again, go to to BJ's, WM or Racetrac(on 50 at 27) they are at least $.10 cheaper, why are you buying gas a the highest priced places in our area?
P.S. Sounds like you could walk to Donut King! Nice!!
 
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Why don't we get the ethanol garbage out of our fuel. 10% economy boost alone.
 
Originally Posted By: 3311
Why don't we get the ethanol garbage out of our fuel. 10% economy boost alone.


Good idea. It also makes gas more expensive. Government will say there's nothing they can do. Here in NC gas tax went up last month again.
 
Gas prices have jumped anywhere from $.45 to $.60 in just the last 5 days...the dollar hasn't lost that much value in 5 days, it's nothing but pure greed on the part of the oil industry and specualtors...
 
Originally Posted By: 3311
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
I just checked gasbuddy.com, my local Marathon is up again today, $3.72. 7-11 is up by 2 cents at $3.65. Even the Hess station further down the road is at $3.69. I sure am glad I work at home.

Incidentally, just for fun I checked the price of a Nissan Leaf on a local Nissan dealer's web site today too. They only show one Leaf in stock and its price is over $35,000.00. No thanks. I did not spend that much for my last 3 pickup trucks combined. If they had a Leaf or similar vehicle in a more moderate price range that I could afford, I would buy one. I also looked at Nissan Frontiers, which are similar to my Dodge Dakota, they only rate them at 20 MPG. I already get about the same MPG, maybe a little less in city driving and my truck is paid for.
Again, go to to BJ's, WM or Racetrac(on 50 at 27) they are at least $.10 cheaper, why are you buying gas a the highest priced places in our area?
P.S. Sounds like you could walk to Donut King! Nice!!


Yes, I can easily walk or ride my bike over to Donut King, or 7-11. Minneola is a nice place and it is quiet where I live. I do not have a BJ's membership. I have never used Murphy USA gas, the few pennies saved per gallon and the aggravation of going to Walmart are not worth it to me. I have a little over $6.00 left on a Shell gift card I bought during the Publix $10.00 coopin sale, so the next time I fill up I will probably go to the Shell station over in Oakland. I will be going over that way next week sometime to return books at the library anyway. I try to combine my driving trips whenever possible so I can save as much gas as I can.

Gasbuddy says Race Trac gas is $3.69 a gallon today. So are 7-11 and Hess. Marathon is $3.73 right now. I have been using the Marathon gas lately because I like supporting an American owned gas company and I also like how my truck runs with Marathon gas. That may be placebo effect but it seems a little better on Marathon. Another reason I like Marathon is they are a gasoline company, not an oil company. Marathon Petroleum broke away from Marathon Oil last year and became their own company. All they do is refine oil into gas and sell it. I have other reasons that I like Marathon, but I won't get into that here.

Here is an interesting article I saw on Yahoo this morning. Probably some of us here have already seen it, but it is about the gas price at a Shell station in Los Angeles jumping 10 cents during a two-minute filming of a TV news report about gas prices:

http://news.yahoo.com/price-shock-watch-cost-gas-jump-10-cents-014014447--abc-news.html

I remember back in 2008 whan gas was so expensive, some of the talking heads on TV were saying how there is a "psychological breaking point" that when gas went to $4.00 a gallon then the people would be upset enough to start trying to get the local, state and national leaders to do something about it, and people would stop buying gas when it hit $4.00 a gallon, partly in protest and partly because they could not afford it. They also said $4.00 gas would make the oil companies reduce prices because of lower sales figures. I guess $5.00 is the new $4.00 now, given the way things are going.

I wish someone somewhere would or even could do something about the gas prices. I do everything I can to save gas. I drive intelligently and keep my truck tuned up and in good running condition, I plan my driving and combine trips whenever I can, and now I work at home so I burn a lot less gas than I did a year ago.

Most of all I wish the speculators, oil companies, Wall Street traders, banksters, CEO's, middle east nut jobs and fanatics would all just back off...But we all know what they say about wishing.
 
See my consumption has gone down, I only drive to and from work 5 days a week. I don't even take nice drives out, or hit up stores anymore unless its on my way to work or home. No more joy rides etc. Its a bummer really.

Same for my wife, goes to and from school and thats it. Gas tank lasts about 2 weeks for both of us(300-320 miles).

I don't blame the prices on supply and demand. I blame it on the global market. It is widely known(many news articles) that they are exporting the excess, rather than lowering the prices domestically. We could be at $2/2.50 but..I won't go there for obvious reasons.
 
http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/05/25/cftc-charges-oil-traders-in-2008-speculation-scheme/

That possibly couldn't be why we have high gas prices right?...

Especially when demand for gasoline in the United States is at a 10 year low and we're exporting record amounts of refined gasoline.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02...nventories.html

http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/U-S-refiners-send-gas-overseas-2342509.php

Gas prices are rising as a result of traders speculating on prices because of tensions with Iran. Nothing more, nothing less. Well that and Saudi Arabia tightening supply (another excuse for traders to speculate).
 
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Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Gas prices are rising as a result of traders speculating on prices because of tensions with Iran. Nothing more, nothing less. Well that and Saudi Arabia tightening supply (another excuse for traders to speculate).

That's good to know, Drew, for a while I thought I was just getting Sc#@%$d.
 
Saudi's tightening supply ?

That must be the middle eastern whackjobs mentioned earlier in the thread hey ?

I'm getting over paying $110 US to fill up my vehicles.
 
Originally Posted By: LTVibe

Gas Price Jumps 10 Cents During ABC’s ‘World News’ Broadcast

Quote:
As ABC News’ Cecilia Vega introduced her piece on high gas prices, the sign at the downtown Los Angeles gas station behind her showed the price of regular gas at $4.99 a gallon. However when the piece concluded nearly two minutes later the price of regular gas had jumped 10 cents to $5.09 a gallon.





I saw that. They also showed where the money goes in I think for every $5/gas. Over 70% went to the oil companies. The remaining 30% went to refiners, taxes, and a small amount to the stations. It's the people manipulating the oil futures price profiting the most. They drive up the price of everything they can get their hands on.
 
Time to tap into the oil reserves, that should start the prices to drop. BTW filled up at a Smiths yesterday for $3.05.
 
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Supply & demand! If we allow drilling and production for our own plentiful fossil fuel we will drive the world price down. I believe this happened with a previous administration.

Whimsey
 
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