$3.25 gas/gallon now, where is the outrage?

reply to post by facchino


I have to say to you folks over in Europe, you guys do protest a lot. How has that worked out for you?

I am not deriding you. The Tea Partiers over here did a lot of protesting, but I believe that was not their power. Their power was shown on what they did in the voting booths and in the selection of the people that they put forth as candidates. Yes, a lot of the candidates were out there, but hey, if you do not want the status quo, you do not put in a centrist. They went to work in the political arena instead of protesting.

As I had shown earlier in the thread in the UK at least, if the price of your petrol is 81% taxes, how is blaming the oil corporations going to do anything about your fuel costs. This is why I am on the Libertarian type side of the political spectrum. The government is who the corporations get their power from. They are the ones that institute the regulations that favor the big corps, without the government, others could actually compete. Also the limitation of liability of those that are negligent is another form of the government control.

Anyway, if I missed your comment folks, I probably agreed with your comment or some such thing.

Excellent discussion I think. Good job. I was surprised no one went all partisan on me. Thanks.

it is obvious that once a government implement a rise in the duty/price, all the players along the chain of custody to the forecourt pump are going to want their cut as well. if i remember correctly the duty rise began 1st jan. i think it was a penny a litre (could have been more). it has risen at least 5p of 6p so it seems the supplier chain is needing an increase in revenues as well.
if the proportion of this tax gleaned from fuel contributes to free health care/ social improvement i really don't have a problem with that. however, what is of concern is those depending on manageable prices that don't pull them under. many people are already struggling without the fuel increases.
f

reply to post by saltheart foamfollower


I wander what I am supposed to do when I only have $8 right now for gas. boy thats going to go far! I am SICK of it!

reply to post by dreamseeker


What are you going to be saying when it's 8 dollars for two slices of bread? Will you still care so much about gas?

Originally posted by ArcAngel
Outrage?

That's pretty ignorant considering it is 8 bucks a gallon in Korea and 6 bucks a gallon in the UK.

Too far for you? Canadiens pay 5 bucks a gallon. Some predict it will be 8 bucks a gallon by 2013. As a matter of fact, most likely your grandiose won't know what gasoline is, they'll be talking of miles per kilowatt.

Wow, I hate to stomp on your backhanded, "quit your whining rant", but people like you are frankly clueless when you make the absurd assertions that "everyone else is paying it". Yes, they are, however, they have solid mass transit systems and do far LESS commuting.

Next time you point out this factoid, put it in perspective.

Ah, relax. We Canadians pay $1.30/litre.

Gas here in Minnesota is 305 a gallon. It was just 365 a gallon then dropped alot in price. Still 3 bucks is alot for a gallon. I remember when gas was 99 cents. I miss those days alot.

I always get the image of some guys walking around shopping, buying cars, jets, companies....and they check their back accounts, and they 'only' have a few hundred million left, so they make that call.. "Time to raise oil prices".....

Notice it always happens right before vacation times? July 4th, Memorial day... etc.

OPEC is the largest scam on the planet.. They need to be investigated by 100's of independent firms... (and not be willing to be bought)...

Originally posted by mirageofdeceit
You think $3.25 a GALLON is something to cry about - we nearly pay that per LITRE! (1 litre is 1/4.545th of a gallon). It is $9.60 per gallon!

They think at this rate, it will be $15 per gallon by the end of the year.

Try living in the UK if you think you got it bad. Fuel economy means nothing when gas prices are astronomical.

edit on 15-1-2011 by mirageofdeceit because: (no reason given)

Yes, that's awful, but just curious, how many miles per year per vehicle is considered average for a citizen in the UK? I think in America 7,000 miles per year is average. I'm pretty sure we travel further distances than you all do in the United Kingdom.

Sorry, I'm misinformed, the average is 12,000 miles per year, just looked it up to be sure. I think if you are 7,000 and under you get some special breaks on your car insurance or something, depending on your insurer...

Ok, and by the same source, apparently 10,000 per year is considered average in the UK, so not a huge difference although we are higher.

reply to post by saltheart foamfollower


Some protests are more successful than others.
The fuel protest in 2000 had a measure of success.
As you rightly say over here the issue we face is not the oil companies it's the government ramping tax on fuel and showing no signs of stopping.
Voting will not work - the PM promised a price leveller whereby when fuel costs went up tax went down. However that has not materialised like many things they promise before getting elected - then they just do whatever they like for 5 years.
This shower won't get back in next time - but all we'll end up with is a labour govt that nearly bankrupted the country so what hope have we got?

Outrage at $3.25? You're kidding, right?

In Canada, we've been paying over $5 a gallon for over two years now. In Europe, it's more like $8 - $9 a gallon.

Outrage at $3.25 in the USA? Only from the rest of the world.

The USA uses about a quarter of the entire gas production of the planet, but has some of the cheapest gas prices in the Western World.

You have absolutely no right to be outraged at such cheap gasoline.

Originally posted by faryjay
... That's nothing! Here in UK it's £1.23 A LITRE!!!

People are just so numb nowadays that they don't protest about anything as long as they are comfortable in their own houses!!!

1.23? You're getting it cheap. I was in the Southern UK over Christmas/New Years, and it was 1.31 in some areas near London.

Originally posted by mike_trivisonno
One of the President's campaign promises was that "energy prices would necessarily skyrocket".

Promise kept!

This is exactly true...

Also, Barck Obama has radically reduced pumping and drilling within and on U. S. territories. His ideologically-driven reduction in oil/gas production is the direct cause of the spike in gas prices.

The price will go higher. Barack promised it that it would.

Originally posted by saltheart foamfollower
reply to post by schuyler

 

Actually, Isreal is going to be sitting pretty by next year. They just found a deposit of petrol off their coast that is HUGE!

Isn't it weird. Every time you think we are beginning to run out of energy sources A HUGE find is made.

By the way, how big do you think that one is that was involved in the Gulf Oil spill.

Have not heard much about THAT lately.

Nope,
www.oilinisrael.net...
1.5 billion barrels is not big. The world uses about 86 million barrels of oil per day. That gives you a roughly 17.44 day supply of oil. Pathetic.
As for Deepwater, the best estimate is 4.5 million gallons. That would be roughly 5% of our daily oil usage.\

You can go dig all the new holes you want. It will not meet world demand. Production peaked in the U.S. years ago and the oil that has not been accessed yet is expensive to get to. You will pay more for that than what you are getting now. Even the mega-fields of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have gone into decline. It's is axiomatic that if those fields are in decline then all oil production is in decline. Peak Oil ya'll. Get used to it.

While it is tempting to blame the Democrats for not only the rise in prices but also the media apathy towards it, I do think there are several other issues at play here that have drawn attention away from the increasing cost of gas. The last time this happened (and as others have pointed out, prices were even higher, so the shock really won't set in until prices eclipse the last record highs) the economy wasn't as bad off and unemployment wasn't so high. It is these things IMO that distract from a focus on high fuel prices; many people who are out of work aren't driving as much and have more pressing problems to worry about.

But, I have been seeing some news coverage (albeit on Fox News, not so much on "regular" local stations) about the rising gas prices. I saw a story today predicting over $4 a gallon this summer.

I agree that it would truly suck to have to pay as much as some other countries do for gas; though I suppose I am less sympathetic for very tiny countries that would fit inside some of the smaller US states - while your prices may be double or more what ours here in the US are, you drive far, far shorter distances + being that you live in tiny countries you have good mass transit because there's a lot less distance to cover all together. Australia is a huge country, so I do feel bad for you guys, but part of your problem is also that you are an island country with little fuel resources of your own. Therefore you must buy oil and have it shipped long distances to supply your energy needs. I suppose the same might go for Ireland and the UK, though you are a much smaller country and are close to the mainland so the same logistical issues don't really apply. Agreed with other posters that a very large part of your problem is fuel taxes.

As for causes, I have heard that some of the oil shortages (meaning shortage of what is currently being tapped; not what is still available to be pumped out of the ground) are due to up and coming industrial powers like China. They are becoming a huge industrial power and are consuming vast quantities of oil and coal. In other words - same amount of oil being recovered, but more people who are using it. A pox on the Obama administration for doing everything it can to obfuscate and obstruct the continued and potential expanding uses of oil and gas reserves right here in the US. You can't close one door without opening another - there are better energy sources out there but realistically it takes time to implement them + it will take time for prices to come down to a point where these alternatives are available to all, as fossil fuel powered systems are today. In the mean time there's no point in trying to artificially strangle off one resource when the replacement is far from ready.
It can take up to 20 years to get a nuclear power plant built and online, + it will take years for the prices of electric cars (not to mention the utility and reliability being comparable with traditional gas powered cars) to come down to match those of similar gas-powered models.

Rising fuel prices might spur some people to move away from fossil sources, but they could also further crush the poor person who can only afford an old gas-powered beater (rather than a Nissan Leaf) and has fuel oil or natural gas as the only option to heat his house. You might be able to ride a bike when the weather permits, but how do you heat your house? I heat with firewood (actually I got my heating oil bill last fall and promptly turned my furnace off completely; 325 bucks for 100 gallons of oil is b.s.!) and work from home so thankfully I am insulated from some of these price increases, but still I have to eat and if I don't leave home I have to pay delivery services to get business products to me and finished pieces to my customers.

In the mean time I think we here in the US (and maybe if we have more of our own oil we might be able to sell some cheaply to those countries that are only getting it from the middle east oil cartels) should do what we can to increase recovery of the oil and gas resources we already have while working to build more nuke plants and making alternative fuel products that are affordable, reliable and can directly compete with those powered by fossil fuels.

reply to post by ArcAngel


Then where is your outrage, the main point being made is not who is paying more but that we are all being ripped off and no one is saying or doing anything about it. Not that anyone really can do anything about it, if we all elected to ride a bike in protest, they would just raise the price even more to offset the defficiancy. Also how many of us can really say that we would trek across a metro area to our works on a bike,/ What if there is no bike trail? What if there is 3 feet of snow, there are so many variables that prevent people from going green that it is sometimes impossible. The root cause of the problem is not demand, it is greed by OPEC and other elements with deep pockets. So lets just stop blaming each other and keep our focus and those who cause this whole thing in the first place.

I personally think that resistance is futile. We protest, we get dispersed with tear gas, we write letters that are signed by everyone they are dismissed We complain, it falls on def ears. We are forced controled.

I haven't really had any outrage because I've been snowed in for over a week, and since a week or two before Christmas I've been too broke to go anywhere, so I haven't really experienced it so much.

reply to post by saltheart foamfollower
try living in the good old united kingdom then you will know about high fuel prices

Originally posted by Hypntick
We don't pay nearly the cheapest in the world, check your facts next time.

edit on 1/15/11 by Hypntick because: (no reason given)

Get a sense of humor before you go around telling others what to do Hypntick.

Originally posted by saltheart foamfollower

Just because you other countries love to pay 526% tax rates, does not mean we should.

Oh, yeah I love paying heaps in tax, in fact I'd be willing to pay more!!!!!