What's the fucking deal with gas prices?

slightofjeff

Kel Varnsen wrote:

If you want some of that cash, why not just buy some shares of Exxon Mobile? To a degree I can't really fault the oil companies for making a bunch of money. I mean they never told people to live an hour away from from their job so that they can have the 5 bedroom house. They are not the ones who told millions of people to buy giant gas guzzlers that they don't really need. Maybe people should take a bit more responsibility for the amount of money they are spending on fuel.

I agree with you to a point ... but, I think a large portion of the problem is that gas prices went up so far, so quickly.

When you decide to buy a house, you factor in all sorts of things to your budget ... one of which, is how much you are going to spend on gas to get to and from work. So you figure gas costing X amount, and then two years later, it's double that. Everybody knows gas prices rise steadily, but I don't think many consumers could have predicted such an exponential jump in such a short time period.

So it's not as easy as saying, "You should have planned better." It's like going to a restaurant, ordering a $10 steak, and then when the bill comes, they say, "Actually, the price hs gone up to $50 while you were cooking it." Don't have the money? Well, you should have planned better.

Likewise, the answer to the gas crisis isn't "sell your house and move closer to work." It's a great plan ... except guess what? The housing market is in the crapper, too. Most people who own homes are stuck in them, unless they are, ahem, lucky enough to be foreclosed upon.

So, while I'll agree that we all could take a little bit more responsibility when it comes to conserving gas, some of us have little to no choice.

slightofjeff

bootlegger10 wrote:

Europe can handle it. The US doesn't have the infrastructure for high gas prices.

All major cities need to invest in some sort of mass transit system. I'd imagine most of the folks in New York City could give two shits about high gas prices, because they can take the subway everywhere.

If I had the option, I'd ride a train to work every day. I don't have that option, because my city has no mass transit system.

If more cities did, it would lessen the demand for gas, and bring prices down.

Flannel Shirt

NOCODE#1 wrote:

What the fuck is up with people?!! i mean for fucks sake 20 extra dollars? seriously. I'm sorry if you made bad choices in your life and therefore cant afford gas. Im sorry if you chose not to educate yourself and get a high paying job. i wish people would blame themselves before passing the blame onto someone else!!!!!!! Going through life expecting gas to be a certain price is laughable.

when did everyone become a snob?

seriouisly? people get upset at fuel prices, which are ridiculously high, and people say its stupid to bitch about it and that we should just accept it.

Fuck that. I am not accepting it. I will be writing my senator, representative, city council, and just about anyone else I can think of. its absurd.

"sorry if you chose not to educate yourself"??????

going through life an ignorant prick is laughable and will not make you friends.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

Just paid $75 to fill my tank from empty on mid grade. (56 liters)

thats fucking crazy...

you guys driving suv's are mad out of your heads... If I had an SUV I'd be selling it tomorrow.

electronblue

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

Just paid $75 to fill my tank from empty on mid grade. (56 liters)

thats fucking crazy...

you guys driving suv's are mad out of your heads... If I had an SUV I'd be selling it tomorrow.

a think tank of aloof multiplication...~

RolandTD20Kdrummer

well....I'm selling my Seadoo 185HP GTX 4tec supercharged... to the highest bidder...

eddie's Tone rocks wrote:

a think tank of aloof multiplication...~

Character Zero

zircona1 wrote:

Also, would drilling in Alaska and off-shore really solve the problem? I mean, some of this current gas price increase is based on the weakness of the dollar, correct?

Just curious.

The problem with drilling in Alaska is that we don't have enough refineries to process the oil that we drill since none have been built in decades here as mentioned earlier. Therefore we have to send the oil somewhere else to be processed and then have to pay to have it shipped back. That all costs money and keeps the price of gas right where it is. We're fucked either way.

I think there will come a time where you will see a government mandate for the oil companies to release that patents on extremely fuel efficient and alternative energy vehicles that they offerd the inventors millions of dollars to gobble up.

wwfairfield

Kel Varnsen wrote:

You do realize that those little stations probably buy their gas from Exxon/Mobil or one of the other big gas companies. There was a story here a couple of years ago about how one of the east coast provinces put a cap on gas prices and the only ones it hurt were the little small time gas stations, because they had to buy their gas from the major companies and couldn't sell it for high enough to make a profit. The major company stations had no problem since they could supply gas to themselves for cheaper than they would to the independent stations.

And I don't see why people in the US complain so much about gas prices. You do realize that you pay some of the lowest gas prices in the industrialized world. A lot of places in Canada have prices that are approaching $5 a gallon.

yeah but it's caNADA.... where the fuck you gonna go?

RolandTD20Kdrummer

wwfairfield wrote:

yeah but it's caNADA.... where the fuck you gonna go?

ever been?

cheeseandrice

writersu wrote:

I met this guy who was a vietnam vet and currently an uncle of a guy who is in the war now.....

and I asked him what he thought about the war........being a man I highly respect who went where I would never ---both of them I guess.....

and he said he asked his nephew who was home and his nephew said that yeah, but this is about gas prices.......

so we turned the talk into gas prices and the supply and demand thing and he said that if we were to end the war like many people would like to see (and about 3/4 or better of any board I have seen here it seems), then we should take our soldiers, "beef up the borders" and use our own gas that we have in Texas and Alaska that he said would sustain us for like 20-25 years he said, (I know nothing of statistics so those who sound like they do are automatically right inb my book).

Do you think that gas would go down?

We're all complaining, but we're still buying. So, even if we drill, the gas companies can still get $3.80 gal. They have no incentive to lower their prices.

g under p

In Palm Beach, Florida in January I happliy pulled up in a local station with their gas selling for $2.02 regular.

Only to realize the station was closed and closed for some time. i continued on down to Military Trail rd where it was $2.96.

Peace