Before You Complain About Gas Prices…

All good points except for the comparison to the rest of the world. We have always paid less than the rest of the world, mostly due to large scale economics.

I don’t think most people are complaining quite as loudly becuase of the prices, as they are about the rates of increase - any person of above cretin intelligence can see that factors outside the usual supply and demand are at work here (starting with ‘W’ and his little war in Iraq)

I’m not sure everyone is just angry about gas prices, Though I do agree that people don’t try and compensate for the gas prices that are rapidly arising. My anger is directed toward the gas companies that refuses to let go. Every time a new fuel technology makes a blip on the map, to save time, money and resources, the gas companies through huge amounts of money at them to never speak of there great find ever again. Another flaw of the America mind set, making money and not to help the world.

All problems can be answered with dollars. Once people stop buying SUV’s and huge pickups that guzzle gas things will change. If we refuse to stop spending money on these things, how will the greedy oil tycoons make money?

We all need to start making better choices as consumers. GM made the electric car a few years ago. It went away because nobody bought it.

We also need to choose to live closer to work where there is public transportation. Bike to where we need to go. I’ve seen many people here in South Dakota invest in electric scooters to get them places.

One other flaw in your argument, is that the other countries that pay so much for gasoline has a major cut of that going to pay taxes. These countries have much more government support. Think if you could quit paying for health insurance, and then increase the price of gas.

You yuppy liberals asked for change in the last election, you got it. Look at what “change” the dem congress has done with that change.

Election 2006
- Consumer confidence stood at a 2.5 year high
- regular gas sold for 2.19 a gallon
- unemployment rate was 4.5%

After the election when the dems were voted in
- Consumer confidence plummeted
- Cost of regular gas over $3.50 a gallon
- Unemployment up to 5% (10% increase)
- American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate (stock/mutual fund loses)
- American households have seen there $1.2 trillion drop in their home equity
- 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.

You asked for change and we got it. So lets go get more change with Barack “Hussein ” Obama

This is a supply and demand problem. We consume X amount of barrels of oil a day and OPEC produces less then we (world) need(s).

The liberal government won’t let any new energy technology be developed. No nuclear, no clean coal, no refineries.
We have oil in our own country, in an area so small that it won’t make any impact on the land. Yet we want to put in wind farms that would take up many sq miles to produce enough energy that one clean coal plant could. Same with solar.

This green push by the communist left is absurd. We don’t have an energy crisis, we have a political crisis. It is called the democrats.

The U.S. is awash with oil under the ground, offshore, and in Alaska. We could build more refineries and nuclear plants because this country has the best people in the world, if they are allowed to perform at their full potential. Problem is we are not allowed to build or access it by the environmentalist-wackos or the liberal vote-panderers trying to ruin the progress of this country by their socialist dogma.
Drill for the oil wherever it is found with no restriction, build refineries and power-plants and you will see this country rise to prominance in the world. Global-Warming is a farce, Don’t accept it as truth - Don’t drink the Kool-aid.

I don’t know where you get your information, but most of Europe pays less for gas than we do. Oil is traded for with American Dollars, French and Swiss stations will not accept dollars, only Euros(they lose on the exchange market if they take dollars) the actual price of Gas factors to about two thirds of our price when you factor in the exchange, and the fact that you buy by the liter.

Can’t speak re: the world, but people in southern California complain because it just a shock to suddenly see the prices triple over the past few years.

Its easy to say “work close to home”, “ride a bike”, and “don’t drive an SUV”, but those are exactly opposite of the way life in a lot of So Cal.

The cities and demographics are not laid out for that. A large business might be in the center of a low income area, and employees commute from a far distance because they want to live in a nicer area. If the business workforce was limited to the local talent, the quality of the business would suffer. They know that, so they don’t even want to hire locally.

In many of the areas there is no public transportation that can help with the commute.

People have picked their colleges, bought their houses, and raised their families in these areas because they wanted exactly that particular lifestyle. They have to commute in order to make enough money so that they can afford to buy an SUV, to pull the boat that they want, or haul the quads or the trailer/toybox, etc.

Much of the entire economy in the region is built around those type of people, and their goals for their future and family include lots of toys and trips, etc. which run on gasoline.

Sure, the lifestyle I’m describing produces a lot of “greenhouse gases”, but its THE reason that people want to live here. Of course oil and gas companies can just keep raising prices, and politicians can say “you were getting it too cheap to begin with”, but if you’re telling these regions or population segments that their chosen lifestyle is going to become so expensive that they can’t possibly afford it any more, and its all going to be out of reach before the truck loan they took out 3 years ago is paid off, then they’re gonna be mad, and complain, and vote for whichever political candidate that promises to lower gas prices the most.

I think they have a right to complain.

Please don’t use political arguments excessively (words like liberals, Bush’s war, etc.). The truth is the last time we were in oil trouble was in the late 70’s. OPEC finally relented because the US was making good progress in developing alternatives. So why not now? OPEC no longer worries about the US market force they have two excellent customers - India and China, both with lots of US dollars to spend.

Lets hope oil continues to climb in price. When the price really hurts, the US will adopt strategies to counter the hurt. We will use smaller cars (that’s beginning to happen now), we will make loud noises about more drilling & get results because the capital markets will demand it, and we will become way more serious about alternatives, particularly solar & nuclear.

The incentives to invest in your own solar electric power are minimal in the US. In Germany an entire solar industry has arrived because of incentives. Just compare solar irradiance in Germany to that of California, Arizona, Florida or most southern states. We all should have solar power on our roofs feeding power into the grid during the day. And fully electric cars are quite feasible for most metro areas, recharged from our own house. And if those personal incentives were passed quickly, in five years the price of oil would tumble.

There is a lot that can and should be done by the US but we have lacked the political will to do it. The economic incentive hasn’t been there. And, by-the-way, none of the current political candidates are really addressing the issues in a pragmatic way. Collectively, we in the US need to start asking a lot of questions of our representatives and not accept the usual platitudes.

This is the sort of knee-jerk anti-Americanism that only an American is able to afford. Step back and look at what you are comparing. Many European countries are smaller than American states. The distances traveled daily in Europe are no where near as far as most of the American working poor have to travel. I cannot buy groceries within ten miles of my home. Is it my fault that I cannot afford a home closer to where I work or shop? The American model for cities, urban developments and commerce areas are optimized for the developer to make the most money, not the home owner or renter to save money on gas. America decided to focus on gasoline and private transportation instead of mass transport many, many years ago. To think that can be changed now with a few well meaning dictates from the liberals among us is short sighted and, frankly, shows a failure of insight into this problem as a whole..

I’m a guy that moved from Chicago to Sioux Falls, SD because I was tired of the commute, taxes and gas prices. It was an easy decision. I can’t think of going back to the hour commutes to and from work.

It is your fault where you live. Who else’s would it be? You can live anywhere you want. You can also find a new job there too if you try hard enough.

Look at Sweden and what they are doing to get off oil. They have started a new infrastructure to switch to mass transportation and get off oil by 2020. The result has been that their economy is soaring. There’s no reason why we can’t do that here in every city.

I just don’t think that Americans will accept the idea that they have to completely change their way of life because they can no longer afford to buy gasoline.

The expectation that people will just “move” to a different house, or city, or whatever is ridiculous. People won’t sell their cars or houses unless they come to the point where they must do so in order to eat.

And by that point, they are angry that it has come to that.

Telling Americans to give up heavy gasoline usage is exactly like telling the omnivorous people that they have to become vegetarians.

Some people willingly become vegetarians, but no one can be forced into it, they would sooner punch you in the mouth than let you dictate that to them.

So it is with gasoline usage. People have built their entire way of life with assumptions about gasoline usage levels. They won’t change their way of life….instead they’ll eventually exert political pressure until they get the result that they want.

What planet is this oztech loon from? I don’t use starbucks in my Toyota Corolla. And if other countries wish to tax people to death, is that a great reason for us to become Maxine Waters socialist? And if there was an affordable 7 passenger vehicle for my extended family that got 40 mpg or better, I would be driving it rather than a Caravan.
“Gladly pay the price for the precious fuel we rely on” is such a funny quote! Perhaps oztech would be even happier if he _personally_ could pay $20 per gallon? Of course he would! And the 5% Mao quote is a corker! Which is why millions of people are trying to sneak OUT of the USA to other countries like Sweden since their lifestyle is so much better? (Sine anyone can live anywhere, right?) Oh…

Sadly for oztech, Hyperion Energy is building a new refinery (first since Jimmy Carter banned construction) right in his back yard. Why? The Baaken Oil formation in North Dakota has *LOTS* of oil, and the North American Transportation Corridor is under construction from Mexico up thru Sioux Falls. If we can hang on and suffer thru four years of socialism, the USA might turn around and become both an energy exporter and hyper-efficiency energy user.

johndoe, ken, and harryh make good points, and oztech needs to grow up because his reality check is blank.

2 key words in one of the author’s responses to comments: South Dakota! You obviously are not aware of the cost of living outside the $500/acre state that you live in. This is not a put-down of SD or any other midwestern state where real estate is cheaper. Though everything these days, for the most part, is relative. In those states the land is cheap, but the jobs don’t pay anything either.

I work in Redmond, WA…yes, home of Microsoft..etc. to make BARELY enough to live 40 miles away from my job, I have to work here. Does that even make any sense? Is there somehow a vicious cycle there? Duh! F-this…now I’m getting depressed just writing that.

I agree with mhz and Carol

I live in Northern California, where gas is $4.75 a gallon for regular and have to commute 40 miles round trip to school each day. I haven’t paid $4 for a cup of coffee since Mothers Day, when I treated my sister as a gift, and I drive a little 4 cylinder sedan that gets a good 33 MPG on the highway.

How much things cost in other countries does not make it hurt any less that in only 4 years the cost to fill my gas tank went from $28 to $50.

I’m a full time student living in a very hippy community; everyone recycles - my apartment complex even has a seperate dumpster for cardboard.

It is cause for alarm that I’m now paying the same amount in gas each month as I did to purchase my car! ($200/Mo.)

It’s even more alarming when no one can say “Work more/get a better job/go to college” because I am doing all of those things; I am a drafting major and a car rental agent - I go to school full time, and drive directly to work after class four days a week and you know what? $200 a month for gas still really, really hurts. That’s 1/3 of my expendable income if you count groceries as expendable also - otherwise it’s half.

I agree with The Oracle about the US paying less because of our volume. Either way, the USA, most powerful country in the world, held hostage to Middle East for gas is ludicrous.

This country cannot continue to operate on even $2.00+ gas. Brazil in the 70’s turned over to ethanol via sugarcane, and we stood still with our head up our —, all because big business controlled any conversion.

I for one am fed up with getting it tucked up my tush by big business. I believe there are millions like me. When I wrote my congressman he sent me back about 4 pages of details on bills they are reviewing. Well enough review, get something done to reduce the price! Quit screwing around. Maybe if their paychecks were cut in proportion to rising prices, they would do something!

When people have to decide to drive or eat, something is wrong. This country is going in the wrong frick’n direction, because the masses are too passive.

go to http://www.nationalinitiative.org the only way to get on the right track.