How short our memory is

[Snagglefoot]

I thought I’d post something about gasoline prices that goes in the opposite direction to whining about the high price of gas. We just exited an amazing period where gasoline prices were less than $3.00 per gallon for 6 freaking years. The amazing success of the US and Canadian oil industry was responsible for crashing the world price of oil in 2015 I keep an older 3/4 ton running and I’m not planning on over-reacting to this price bump. Anyone else have any words of appreciation ?

 

[HankHill]

I'm not sure if sarcastic, or serious

 

[Snagglefoot]

Serious, how many other things are priced barely above what they were 10 years ago?

 

[RamFan]

I completely agree. While I don't believe those $3/gal prices are sustainable for eternity, I also didn't believe the $5+/gal prices we were seeing were here to stay for eternity (like so many were trying to argue).

Nobody seems to be talking about the $0.70-0.90/gal DECREASES we've seen in the past 4ish weeks either. How convenient.

 

[incognito_2u]

……The amazing success of the US and Canadian oil industry was responsible for crashing the world price of oil…….

^There is your answer right there…….once that was “altered”, we lost that option!

 

[JohnnyG]

Gas is cheap, Cranberry juice is expensive! Try $8.00 a quart!

 

[Malo83]

Just go with the flow.

 

[Kestas]

If you factor in inflation, the pre-pandemic gas prices were on par or lower than the pre-embargo prices of the 60s and 70s. And if you couple that with the excellent gas mileage of modern vehicles, we had it pretty good.

 

[RedSpider]

Zero percent chance this thread is going to get shut down anytime soon.....

 

[carviewsonic]

We may have had it good, but it's still a bit disconcerting though to see $80 CAN fill-ups for my Honda at the current gas price.

 

[Kira]

For decades my gas joke has been, "What's your gas mileage?" The answer is always, "I don't know".

Then I say, "You see right there, gas is too cheap. Servicemen have been put in harms way and have been killed and wounded to secure petroleum and you don't even know how much of the stuff you use. What kind of detached consumeristic American are you?".

Nobody gets it!

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Gas prices are like ammo prices. Everyone remembers when it was dirt cheap, even if it was for an extended period of time, and they want to believe those prices were 'normal' and use them for current comparison.

Regular gas around here is like $4.10/gal. Is it more expensive than in was in the recent past? Yes. Does it matter? No.

Products and services cost money. The car-crazy American public is not entitled to cheap gas.

 

[reemoeMO]

I remember vacationing in Hawaii in 1998 and having to fill up the rental car with $1.78 gas. Thought it was so crazy high that I took a picture (with an old-school camera, of course) of the sign showing the price!

 

[odie]

Just go with the flow.

. Drink organic cranberry juice .

 

[odie]

Large vehicles , large consumption , large cost .

 

[Rand]

I completely agree. While I don't believe those $3/gal prices are sustainable for eternity, I also didn't believe the $5+/gal prices we were seeing were here to stay for eternity (like so many were trying to argue).

Nobody seems to be talking about the $0.70-0.90/gal DECREASES we've seen in the past 4ish weeks either. How convenient.

not seeing any decreases here still pegged at $4.19

 

[RamFan]

not seeing any decreases here still pegged at $4.19

So prices peaked and stayed at $4.19 in your area?

 

[Vercingetorix]

Water that falls from the sky, flows over the ground and covers 70% of our planet is $1.00 a gallon at the store. Gas is still dirt cheap.

 

[odie]

Not to those teetering on economic edge . Many do .

 

[CharlesInCharge]

Water that falls from the sky, flows over the ground and covers 70% of our planet is $1.00 a gallon at the store. Gas is still dirt cheap.

Poor analogy. Water is life sustaining, and so cheap to purchase (from a homeowner tap at pennies per gallons) it's almost free. At a store you're not paying for the water, you're paying for the convenience of it and for someone to capture, bottle, transport it, store it, and sell it to you.

Gasoline is probably still relatively inexpensive for what it provides, as it's among the highest returns on investment for input vs. output known to man. But it's still painful to fill the tank...

I suspect most of us are in for a dark painful economic decade of cutting back on our lifestyles and expectations, given soaring inflationary and goods shortages and higher costs across the spectrum.