Well, the gas stations were empty today.

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quote:
Originally posted by wavinwayne:
"We want the cleanest gasoline in the world and we have it: the cleanest and most costly gas in the world."
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I'm not sure that this is correct. I don't think that the North American gas is cleanest in the world because manufacturers are reluctant to bring GDI engines here. The diesel fuel is obviously not the best either.
As for most costly- in what terms? And to who? The end user here still pays a fraction of what others pay around the world. I agree though, there are many more costs to the gas, including people's lives.
 
I know the answer....we need a gas price moderator/administrator, like Tony. When the price gets ignorant or out-of-hand, he just steps in and "locks it"..
itschy.gif

P.B.
 
It's the global market. Nothing "we" can do about it unless we make our own and just sell it here in the US. Still wonder why we just can't write a contract with say Canada, whom we get most of our imports from anyway, and lock it in at 50 bucks a barrel and that be that. Yes, I know it won't work, but why couldn't it? Then the Arabs can go find another cash cow to crap on. Then, we can get the he!! out of there and let them figure things out on there own and eventually kill themselves off.
 
We as consumers cause a lot of the shortages. I have seen it first hand. Every time the media predicts a major gas price increase, folks come out of the woodwork to fill up every vehicle and gas can they own. This hoarding causes shortages, and shortages lead to price increases. Sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Oh, and please do not gripe at the service station operators, they are not the folks making the really big bucks. That is just plain cowardly.
 
But yet people pay $1.50 for 16-20oz of bottled water....

I took a 1700 mi trip last Sept (right after/during Katrina -- Labor Day). Gas was at it's highest in the "great plains". I do have to say that those $70 fill-ups in my van did hurt the wallet.
 
At least you can still get gas without having to wait in line for hours. I guess the oil embargo of the 70s is long forgotten.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Hirev:
At least you can still get gas without having to wait in line for hours. I guess the oil embargo of the 70s is long forgotten.
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I lived through the embargo, but since my Dad ran a service station, there was never a gas shortage for our family.
 
How many soccer mom SUVs were bought during the 90s? How many millions of those SUVs and trucks are getting less than 20mpg and have been for years?

Europe has always had higher gas prices. They have small cars with small engines and many are diesels. They make the most of it. We have gas guzzlers and complain about the cost of gas.

Why should the rest of the world cater to our society of conspicuous consumption? Have you seen the new Escalade with 22s?

"The USA alone, with only 6%
of the world's population,
consumes 30% of its
resources."
 
I look at how much gas costs in comparison to the total cost of vehicle ownership.

Gas at $3/gallon or $5/gallon is still the cheapest thing you buy for a vehicle.

My $2500 Geo Prizm, after driving over 75000 miles in the past three years, fuel is still only at 43.6% of total ownership costs.

Now if you own a $25000 vehicle instead of a $2500 vehicle then that 43.6% for fuel becomes only 13.75% of the total operating costs, holding Insurance and License, Fuel Economy, Maintenance the same.

Unless you are driving a beater, the biggest cost of driving is the purchase of your vehicle.

Looking at everything else for the Geo, save fuel economy, the cost/mile is $0.08. At 31.8 avg MPG over my 75K miles, the cost/mile of fuel is:

Fuel fuel/mile
$2.00 $0.06
$2.25 $0.07
$2.50 $0.08
$2.75 $0.09
$3.00 $0.09
$3.50 $0.11
$4.00 $0.13
$5.00 $0.16
$7.50 $0.24
$10.00 $0.31

For those of you driving something significantly newer than a '94 Geo Prizm, your non-fuel costs are from $0.25 - $0.35/mile.

So for a $25K car that gets 32 MPG, your fuel costs become approx 1/3rd of your total operating costs at $5.00/gallon and approx 1/2 of your total operating costs at $7.50 to $10/gallon.

So quit griping. If you want to save money, start where the real savings are located, in the hardware.
 
I paid $3.19/gal yesterday filling up my car. That was the most expensive gas I paid as of yet. I thank *** I bought a 37MPG Pontiac Sunfire instead of a GMC Sierra Pickup like most of my college buddies did. Most of those guys have sold their pickups for Honda Civics btw...
grin.gif


I agree, Americans who complain about gas yet go to Starbucks and buy $6 coffee everyday are just asking for punishment... I stopped going to Subway and Starbucks along time ago... Amazing how much money you save by not doing that everyday. Almost pays for gas!
tongue.gif
 
The US dollar is being devalued by excessive government borrowing. This is why things are getting more expensive. Gold is $600 an ounce as of right now. The borrowing creates artificial "capital gains" and the resulting higher interest rates create artificial "income" which is then taxed. You are all being robbed.
 
Papa Bear, I agree with you that the oil execs are getting filthy rich at our expense. No one can dispute that after they released their profits following Katrina. But we as American consumers are not helping our situation by panic buying and purchasing large pickup trucks and SUV's as passenger vehicles. If more Americans drove fuel efficient vehicles they would not have us in such a choke hold. There is plenty of blame to go around.
 
I don't see that Papa Bear gets it at all.

This seems to be well plowed ground, that folks choose to ignore the facts of increased demand, more difficult to reach oil, no new US refineries built in three decades, importing finished fuels, different regional fuel requirements, the fact that oil companies do not set the prices, commodity traders do, XOM's profit margins are very small compared to most companies. (Sure the number is big, but then, so was the investment to make that money.)

It's easier to complain than it is to think about the problem.

I for one, refuse to be a victim. If I felt someone was taking advantage of me, and ripping me off, I sure wouldn't keep going back to them.

So if you think the oil companies are ripping you off, stop being a victim, stop buying oil and oil derived products.
 
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