AMERICAblog: Gas hits national average of $4 for the first time
munjoyfan
· 1 year ago
Trying to extend our understanding a bit: people have cut way back on gas use. Very soon, that is going to show up as deficits in state budgets, which count on the gas taxes. And I'm waiting for the IRS to update its business mileage reimbursement rate, which was 48.5 cents per mile last year. This could mean some reduced federal revenues as people deduct much more from the taxes they will owe for 2008. Though there were already a lot of Priuses in my neighborhood, I'm starting to see Yarises (not everyone can afford the Prius, and GM and Ford were just not ready---peak oil? ridiculous, there's plenty of oil--with the small 40 mpg car. I've even seen a few Smart Cars.
InnerBreath
· 1 year ago
Not to worry about state revenues falling off...at least not for long. a pilot program has been implemented in Oregon, I believe...cars are rigged with a computer that keeps track of how many miles you drive...when you goto the pump, then a sensor like easy pass registers how many miles you've driven in that state and charges you a per mile fee + the cost of the gas...It's supposed to be ready for use across the country by 2010...It's this sort of technology development that must be in place first if we ever expect to live long enough to see fuel efficient cars on American roads. "Pay Per Mile: A Good Driving Idea?" @ http://www.thecarconnection.com/Shoppers/Driver...
With the old system, it was never in the State's interest to have fuel efficient cars because the more gas they sold, the more tax revenue they could collect. Soon, that won't be an issue. They can get rid of the gas tax and charge a road tax. Then it won't matter if we have cars that get 100 mpg as far as the state is concerned.
We are cursed with living in exciting times, LOL! It's going to call for WE the People to get very active to prevent the Corporatists and US government & US states from nickel and diming us into the poor house.
Australia is similar to the US in that our price is also nothing like Europe's prices, but the distances we have to cover render that price high in proportion. Of course, the majority of ours and Europe's fuel price is tax driven.
AdrianBrowne
· 1 year ago
You may call it "high gas prices," I call it "looting,"
Captain_America
· 1 year ago
$4.60/gallon or so in Los Angeles...
joshmo
· 1 year ago
Since Im on a roll...
We pay way more than 4+ a gallon... lets figure in the giant subsidies, environmental costs, fuel cost for military use in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (tax payers money), government spending on roadway construction, maintenance, and research (beyond those funded through fuel taxes, tolls, and registration fees)... er lets just say is WAY more than the "fairy tale" $4 a gallon we pay now.
I think in Europe they just pay that up front per liter no?
I don't know crap about this, I have to drive as I cater events etc. it is killing me and my business... I would like the govt to look at how they spend OUR money and how that can change the real price of gas. I just keep on hoping.
Rab
· 1 year ago
Sad to say but these are the good days, by the time these oil pirates are done we'll be looking at $6-7 a gallon.
Ellie
· 1 year ago
Gas prices in Europe have a lot to do with taxes. The American cost of gasoline includes perhaps 46-50 cents per gallon for taxes, versus several dollars (at least) in Europe.
Busboy
· 1 year ago
You have to lay the blame for the crisis mostly on the democrats who have done their best to outlaw power plants, drilling and coal. Some Repubs also to blame. This country has the resources to be completely self sufficient; yet we send half a trillion dollars a year to oil producers overseas who hate our guts, applaud the fall of the dollar and plan our destruction. We subscribe, as a country, to the myth that global climate change is caused by man; one of the most ludicrous theories ever foisted on an uneducated public.
CitizenX
· 1 year ago
Boy you are naive.
PeteWa
· 1 year ago
He's worse than naive, he's a brain dead talking points bulletin.
John Aravosis
· 1 year ago
Well nearly every scientist disagrees with you honey, and while we can debate the idiocy of economists all day long, no one is going to get away saying the overwhelming majority of scientists across the entire globe are wrong and you're right. It doesn't work that way.
Also, I don't see the Republicans doing a lot to push conservation or alternative energies. The only want to drill in ANWR to help their buddies in industry. Pork, in this case black pork, does not an energy policy make.
Busboy
· 1 year ago
It only works that way when you know the history of the earth, and others don't. I'm a geologist, I studied those things; the ice caps melting, reforming, melting again. Climatologists mostly study 100 year cycles. Historically, we are possibly on the cusp of major global cooling. Carbon dioxide cycles are a function of volcanic activity, not combustion engines. One good forest fire puts out more carbon dioxide than all the autos in the world for an entire year.
bunnyjump
· 1 year ago
Busboy says "Back off Jack, I'm a scientist."
Idiot.
wvlinz
· 1 year ago
A few weeks ago in Belgium, gas was 1.4 euros/liter. A rough conversion was about $9.50 per gallon.
debbee
· 1 year ago
We hit $4.00 and over a couple of weeks ago (in the Pacific Northwest).,
w3ski
· 1 year ago
Gas is $ 4 .49 at the bottom of the hill and $ 4 .89 in " town " , closest to me . Gas down the hill is 16 miles away , if I hold it down and don't accelerate much , my pickup gets 16 to the gallon . That's life in the Sierra Foothills ( in Calif. ) they call it the Gold Country ? Maybe for the Refineries ! w3ski
tbhull
· 1 year ago
According to short sided repubs the only answer is to litter our coasts and wildlife reserves to pump more of the same shit that we need to get away from.
Busboy
· 1 year ago
tb, a one square mile wind farm puts out as much electricity in a year as a power plant puts out in 4 days. Our fuel and power shortages are caused by politics, not by lack of innovation and technology.
CNN had some sharp coverage this morning. "Gas prices now average four dollars per gallon nationwide. And some people are paying even more!"
NO REALLY??? Is that what "average" means? I thought everyone was paying exactly $4.
smiling_dog
· 1 year ago
They had an energy policy. They were going to conquer Iraq and probably Iran and control all the Middle East oil, doling out the profits to their cronies and themselves. They didn't really have a plan B, but their cronies are making a fortune off of our losing this war, anyway, and the scumbags who started the war are joining them in the "private sector." The rest of us can just wait until all the oil runs out and hope it doesn't get too much like Mad Max.
Yep. Carter and Jerry Brown warned us all long ago. The was talk in the last few days about 45 Trillion dollars to fix the energy problem. Energy alone won't solve problems. The problem comes down to lifestyle. People living in cities commuting to work. Basics shipped worldwide for our pleasure.
Nothing will be solved until we make radical changes in our lifestyles. Prepare for the worst folks. Become self sufficient. Do it now.
InnerBreath
· 1 year ago
The Republicans are ALREADY blaming the Democrats for high gas fuel prices. “Today marks another dubious day for this Do-Nothing Democratic Congress,” House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) stated. “On their watch, gas prices have soared to new heights, and by refusing to schedule a vote on a plan to increase American-made energy to help lower gas prices, congressional Democrats are complicit in this unprecedented surge in fuel costs.” http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/house-gop-p...
A pretty cheap shot considering it was the Republicans who lied us into an invasion of a sovereign nation that had never attacked us. It was also ultra Conservative Rupert Murdock who told us we'd see $20 dollars a barrel if we invaded Iraq.
Now that the market is out of control, even if we get the tree huggers here to allow drilling in Utah, Wyoming, the price will never go down because it's the price people are willing to pay. If anyone is to blame, it's George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, the House of Saud, Tony Blair,and Rupert Murdock.
How dare Boehner blame the Democrats
InnerBreath
· 1 year ago
Oh yeah, and it's all the people in the world addicted to oil, not, alone, the Democratic Congress.
PeteWa
· 1 year ago
But... but... but... Rupert Murdoch, the Republicans favorite "Amerikkkan" promised us all 20 dollar barrels of oil if we'd only Operation Iraqi Liberation, 'member?
InnerBreath
· 1 year ago
Yup, 'member how the anacronym O.I.L. has d to be changed? It's more like Operation Liberate Iraqi People From Their Oil.
CitizenX
· 1 year ago
It's the end of the world as we know it.... It's the end of the world as we know it.... and I feel fine....
tofubo
· 1 year ago
when did the Galactic Empire take over the Galacitc Republicans and can we have the Old Republic back ?? they at least had this county's best interest at heart, they just wanted to do things a different way, but you could work with them
and innerbreath, you expect bo(eh)ner to do anything other than obstructionism and cheap shots ??
InnerBreath
· 1 year ago
No, tofubo, I don't...and I expect it will get worse...the Democrats will be blamed for EVERYTHING...It's the way Republicans do business these days...never accept responsibility for anything you an pin on someone else...that's why their party is in deep doodoo,
It will take a lot of work for WE the People to reclaim the Republican Party...first we have to admit the party has been hijacked...Republican Rehab ;0)...
doug
· 1 year ago
Prepare for some gasoline shortages this summer.
tofubo
· 1 year ago
drove up and down the illinois tollway twice this past week, there has been (on the overhead trafiic message boards) notices of 1: a tollway oasis not having diesel and 2: a west-bound oasis not having any gas
i guess osama's hope of $200/bbl oil is gonna come true
Mike_G
· 1 year ago
The retail gasoline prices difference between the US and Europe is almost all a result of tax differences. As I understand it, the taxes on gasoline are mostly fixed amounts. So as the market price of gasoline goes up, the tax difference between the US and Europe becomes less of a proportion of the total price. So European gas is now maybe double the US price instead of 4x.
$4.89 in Santa Barbara, CA. We pay some of the highest prices in the US despite hosting major oil platforms right off our beaches.
This is something Florida doesn't have to put up with since the Chimp administration bought out all the Florida offshore oil leases in 2002 at ridiculously over-market prices to help Jeb win re-election while lining the pockets of his oil cronies with taxpayer money.
PeteWa
· 1 year ago
wow, you believe that's the reason why? lol
Mike_G
· 1 year ago
Look it up, dillweed, it happened. Tell me, why do you think the 'Drill Everywhere' Chimp administration exempted his brother's state from offshore drilling when he was up for reelection?
When the Chimp cronies were asked why Florida got a moratorium on offshore drilling, their lame response was, "Because Florida asked for it". California promptly asked for a similar ban and was told to go piss up a rope.
"Davis has asked the Bush administration to buy back the California oil leases as it did in Florida, where the president's brother, Jeb Bush, is governor. Repurchase of the Florida leases, which preserved the land from drilling, cost $235 million; oil companies have evaluated the California leases at $1 billion to $2.6 billion. Interior Secretary Gale Norton appeared to reject the notion of a California buyback in a letter to Davis in June. In the letter, Norton cited the lawsuit, the state's past revenue from drilling in federal waters, and Florida's opposition to offshore drilling, which she said was not matched in California."
Which is a damn joke if you know anything about CA politics. Offshore oil drilling is about as popular as the Ebola virus. Personally I'm not opposed to it when it has stringent safeguards.
But it's an interesting sidenote to the droolers' "We got plenty of oil in Murka but libruls won't allow drilling" propaganda. Bush banned drilling on a substantial slice of the US coast for the political expediency of his brother. Just another way he has turned the US government into his private toy.
PeteWa
· 1 year ago
Oh, I'm sorry cutie, I won't bother to call you "dillweed" back, but I think that the difference in the price of retail gas in America vs. Europe has a lot more to do with the fallout of our imploding dollar.
Why do I think that the Chimp let his brother do whatever the hell his brother wanted to do? Are you for real? Cronyism runs rampant in the Bush administration, and the Bush Crime Family will do ANYTHING for a buck.
Indigo
· 1 year ago
We're being punished by the Republcans for not giving them the respect they believe is theirs by divine right. These new prices are the national policy. The last go-around over the issue of divine right left 20,000 Tories hanging by their necks from light posts. That was in the 1780s. Our Forefathers were a tough crowd. We're not.
Busboy
· 1 year ago
The republicans are pathetic; but at least they have a plan that would work. What's the democrat's plan? I can see Obama siding with the republicans to gain energy independence.
jimfromthefoothills
· 1 year ago
Huh? drill in ANWR? that;s a plan.
moron
InnerBreath
· 1 year ago
What's their plan? Continue the war till the Iraqi's give up?
unrepentant_expat
· 1 year ago
For Cheney it's 'mission accomplished' For him the answer was not offshore oil, but offshore bank accounts.
My favourite source for relative gas prices. Keep in mind, the $ has lost 70% of its value versus the Euro since W became president. In euro, there is no significant increase in petrol prices over the last 7 years. At least not like here in the US with our crappy dollars.
HereinDC
· 1 year ago
Here's a townhall question for John McCain: Mr. McCain, Jimmy Carter put solar panels on top of the White House during the Energy Crisis of the late 1970's. Was is wise of Ronald Reagan to remove those panel?
Jen_S
· 1 year ago
$4.15 in Seattle just a few minutes ago, and that's only because I had the store club card. Otherwise it would have been $4.25. munjoyfan, IRS already raised the reimbursement rate to .505/mile as of January 1.
lafingas
· 1 year ago
The oil companies have impeded any and all alternative energy sources for nearly a hundred years now. I know the man that has a patent on the fuel cell and has had to sign over 80% to attorneys just to try and get it on the market! To allow anyone to monopolize a natural resource is just criminal!
HereinDC
· 1 year ago
Republicans energy plan involves tax breaks for big companies.
Can you imagine if more people had wind or solar on their own homes and SOLD BACK power to the electric companies.
No wonder Republicans don't want to help out the little guy.
Rob Mule
· 1 year ago
What's on the President's schedule? A nap or two? Mebbe a bike ride? Bitch out an intern? Ladeeda and fiddle dee dee...
Ben Dover
· 1 year ago
I just don't get it. There's no reason whatsoever for gas prices to be at $4.00 a gal. None.
We have professional Xtians busily praying that fuel prices will drop.
We have a shiftless, criminal president that is "jawbonin' with his BFF's the Saudi's fighting to keep 'Merican's in the fast lane.
We have a shiftless, criminal vice-president who has developed a national energy plan that is so incredibly ingenious that it must be kept super-duper-double-top-secret so that it's brilliance remains unknown.
We have a bloated, thieving American Oil Cartel that refuses to build new refineries, fund true R&D, invest in energy that will be vital in the next coming decades.
I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why fuel is now costing $4.00 a gal.
Something is just damn wrong with this., Of course if crude rises so will the end product rise BUT for oil companies to be posting historical record profits year after year, sorry this is beyond my comprehension. I don't expect oil companies to be at the same profit level as say, several years ago, but historical record profits in years of rising crude????
In this I blame Dems and Repugs. Since the Dems have been in they have had "chats" with the oil barons. Come on, discussion looks good but doesn't begin to solve the problem of their historical record profits.
chowderSF
· 1 year ago
Gas at the Chevron on the corner of Castro and Market here in San Francisco is $4.60 for the cheapest Regular. The cab driver I had today said that it is really, really hard to make as much money these days and he was thinking about getting out of the cab business. Things are really changing.
Andon
· 1 year ago
Its C$1.30 a litre in rural British Columbia where I live. That would be roughly US$5.25 per US gallon. Most of the higher price is made up of taxes since there is no shortage of feedstock or refined product here and the energy companies are making out like bandits at these prices exporting crude to the US (up to 1 1/4 mbls per day now). The fuel taxes fund full universal medical care insurance and regularly produce huge budgetary surpluses at both federal and provincial levels which in turn pay down the accumulated public debt. Its an excellent bargain as far as I'm concerned. I would actually like the price raised higher through a carbon use tax. I would really put the boots to lavishly well off people who insist on driving mall assault vehicles and recreational boats. I would also pass some subsidy back to essential uses such as public transit, transportation of goods, etc. The airlines can just hike their prices to reflect the price of kerosene as far as I'm concerned. Its been a fool's paradise of fuel prices since the 1950's. Time to get real and soak the rich consumers good and proper.
jr
· 1 year ago
the leisure class president never has a plan for anything but the media pretends he has a plan for everything
calewis
· 1 year ago
Here in Finland it's 1.549 euro a liter ...a little conversion and that's $ 9.286 a gallon. Much less than 4x like it use to be. Glad I don't live in Los Angeles or drive that SUV any more. I take the train to work.
TomJoad
· 1 year ago
We're paying more like 11 dollars a gallon here in Norway. I am not sure but I think part of the reason may be because of the falling dollar. Our currency, the kroner, is holding very steady (or....growing in comparison with the dollar) so maybe that is why it is holding "relative" steady, but fact is it is rising here as well. Used to pay 12 kroner per liter, now it is up over 13. Also, just to mention, over half of that is taxes. Also, I believe Norway is the highest gas prices in the world for the last few years, but when it is calculated as percentage of average income, it is not as high as many other countries. We make more money, so it isn't as much a hardship...
boytokyo
· 1 year ago
almost 6.50USD / gallon here in japan for high octane regular is just a bit less.
it's gone up over 30cents to the liter in the last week and a half
got rid of the car just in time it seems
munjoyfan
· 1 year ago
And I must add that $4 per gallon for gas means heating oil is not far behind. People are panicking. A ridiculous $200 tax credit for weatherization is not going to meet the need. When people pay this much for fuel, there is no disposable income to fuel the "consumer economy". And unemployment is rising where I live. Naturally. Fuel costs are hitting small businesses of all kinds very hard.
All Comments
"Pay Per Mile: A Good Driving Idea?" @
http://www.thecarconnection.com/Shoppers/Driver...
With the old system, it was never in the State's interest to have fuel efficient cars because the more gas they sold, the more tax revenue they could collect. Soon, that won't be an issue. They can get rid of the gas tax and charge a road tax. Then it won't matter if we have cars that get 100 mpg as far as the state is concerned.
We are cursed with living in exciting times, LOL! It's going to call for WE the People to get very active to prevent the Corporatists and US government & US states from nickel and diming us into the poor house.
O/T McCain can forget the women vote......
The wife U.S. Republican John McCain callously left behind
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10249...
New Abramoff Plea is Trouble for McCain & the GOP
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/8/32530/31...
We pay way more than 4+ a gallon... lets figure in the giant subsidies, environmental costs, fuel cost for military use in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (tax payers money), government spending on roadway construction, maintenance, and research (beyond those funded through fuel taxes, tolls, and registration fees)... er lets just say is WAY more than the "fairy tale" $4 a gallon we pay now.
I think in Europe they just pay that up front per liter no?
I don't know crap about this, I have to drive as I cater events etc. it is killing me and my business... I would like the govt to look at how they spend OUR money and how that can change the real price of gas. I just keep on hoping.
Also, I don't see the Republicans doing a lot to push conservation or alternative energies. The only want to drill in ANWR to help their buddies in industry. Pork, in this case black pork, does not an energy policy make.
Idiot.
Gas down the hill is 16 miles away , if I hold it down and don't accelerate much , my pickup gets 16 to the gallon . That's life in the Sierra Foothills ( in Calif. ) they call it the Gold Country ? Maybe for the Refineries !
w3ski
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/08/senato...
NO REALLY??? Is that what "average" means? I thought everyone was paying exactly $4.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Iraq_G...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_task_force
Carter Tried To Stop Bush's Energy Disasters - 28 Years Ago
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0503-22.htm
So Busboy, blow that out your tailpipe!
Nothing will be solved until we make radical changes in our lifestyles. Prepare for the worst folks. Become self sufficient. Do it now.
“Today marks another dubious day for this Do-Nothing Democratic Congress,” House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) stated. “On their watch, gas prices have soared to new heights, and by refusing to schedule a vote on a plan to increase American-made energy to help lower gas prices, congressional Democrats are complicit in this unprecedented surge in fuel costs.” http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/house-gop-p...
A pretty cheap shot considering it was the Republicans who lied us into an invasion of a sovereign nation that had never attacked us. It was also ultra Conservative Rupert Murdock who told us we'd see $20 dollars a barrel if we invaded Iraq.
Now that the market is out of control, even if we get the tree huggers here to allow drilling in Utah, Wyoming, the price will never go down because it's the price people are willing to pay. If anyone is to blame, it's George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, the House of Saud, Tony Blair,and Rupert Murdock.
How dare Boehner blame the Democrats
It's the end of the world as we know it....
and I feel fine....
and innerbreath, you expect bo(eh)ner to do anything other than obstructionism and cheap shots ??
It will take a lot of work for WE the People to reclaim the Republican Party...first we have to admit the party has been hijacked...Republican Rehab ;0)...
i guess osama's hope of $200/bbl oil is gonna come true
$4.89 in Santa Barbara, CA. We pay some of the highest prices in the US despite hosting major oil platforms right off our beaches.
This is something Florida doesn't have to put up with since the Chimp administration bought out all the Florida offshore oil leases in 2002 at ridiculously over-market prices to help Jeb win re-election while lining the pockets of his oil cronies with taxpayer money.
When the Chimp cronies were asked why Florida got a moratorium on offshore drilling, their lame response was, "Because Florida asked for it". California promptly asked for a similar ban and was told to go piss up a rope.
"Davis has asked the Bush administration to buy back the California oil leases as it did in Florida, where the president's brother, Jeb Bush, is governor.
Repurchase of the Florida leases, which preserved the land from drilling, cost $235 million; oil companies have evaluated the California leases at $1 billion to $2.6 billion.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton appeared to reject the notion of a California buyback in a letter to Davis in June. In the letter, Norton cited the lawsuit, the state's past revenue from drilling in federal waters, and Florida's opposition to offshore drilling, which she said was not matched in California."
Which is a damn joke if you know anything about CA politics. Offshore oil drilling is about as popular as the Ebola virus. Personally I'm not opposed to it when it has stringent safeguards.
But it's an interesting sidenote to the droolers' "We got plenty of oil in Murka but libruls won't allow drilling" propaganda. Bush banned drilling on a substantial slice of the US coast for the political expediency of his brother. Just another way he has turned the US government into his private toy.
Why do I think that the Chimp let his brother do whatever the hell his brother wanted to do?
Are you for real?
Cronyism runs rampant in the Bush administration, and the Bush Crime Family will do ANYTHING for a buck.
moron
My favourite source for relative gas prices. Keep in mind, the $ has lost 70% of its value versus the Euro since W became president. In euro, there is no significant increase in petrol prices over the last 7 years. At least not like here in the US with our crappy dollars.
Mr. McCain, Jimmy Carter put solar panels on top of the White House during the Energy Crisis of the late 1970's.
Was is wise of Ronald Reagan to remove those panel?
Can you imagine if more people had wind or solar on their own homes and SOLD BACK power to the electric companies.
No wonder Republicans don't want to help out the little guy.
Ladeeda and fiddle dee dee...
We have professional Xtians busily praying that fuel prices will drop.
We have a shiftless, criminal president that is "jawbonin' with his BFF's the Saudi's fighting to keep 'Merican's in the fast lane.
We have a shiftless, criminal vice-president who has developed a national energy plan that is so incredibly ingenious that it must be kept super-duper-double-top-secret so that it's brilliance remains unknown.
We have a bloated, thieving American Oil Cartel that refuses to build new refineries, fund true R&D, invest in energy that will be vital in the next coming decades.
I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why fuel is now costing $4.00 a gal.
http://netoilexports.blogspot.com/2008/05/net-o...
You can argue and debate for days about oil supplies, but this is all you really need to know.
Petrol is currently 116.4 p/l in the UK (average, according to http://www.whatprice.co.uk/petrol-prices/). Given an exchange rate of $1.9695 (http://www.x-rates.com/), that is $8.678/gallon. So it's a bit more than 2x.
In this I blame Dems and Repugs. Since the Dems have been in they have had "chats" with the oil barons. Come on, discussion looks good but doesn't begin to solve the problem of their historical record profits.
regular is just a bit less.
it's gone up over 30cents to the liter in the last week and a half
got rid of the car just in time it seems