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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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 Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:06 pm Post subject: Gas 5$ a gallon in the US (Where else? Everyone else uses L) |
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...and George Bush's friends continue laughing all the way to the bank. At least, it looks like this will lead most Americans to finally stop driving vehicules with oversized engines. Is it really necessary for a soccer mom to drive a minivan with a 4.2L engine?
So, is it official? The high petrol prices is leading American's to become environmentally conscious. I'm getting goosebumps. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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If Gas is 5 dollars a gallon it will still be less expensive than it is in other nations.
The US needs a 3.00 a gallon gas tax, and the money can be used to get the US away from oil |
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Wangja
Joined: 17 May 2004
Location: Seoul, Yongsan
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| Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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In Korea petrol is around 1550 KRW per litre, 7,037 KRW per Imperial gallon, around 7 USD.
In UK, the equivalent is around 0.90 GBP per litre, 4.09 GBP per (Imp) gallon, or 7.35 USD. Of this, some 70% is duty and VAT.
I can't speak for Canada, but in most of Europe, the price is a whisker below that UK benchmark.
When I was in Houston a few months ago petrol was around 2.19 USD a (US) gallon, some might say obscenely low: but maybe to this one ought to add the cost of "policing" the Middle East considering that cost to be a consumption tax. 
5 USD a gallon sounds absurdly cheap to me and probably does to the rest of the developed world. |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Wangja wrote: |
In Korea petrol is around 1550 KRW per litre, 7,037 KRW per Imperial gallon, around 7 USD.
In UK, the equivalent is around 0.90 GBP per litre, 4.09 GBP per (Imp) gallon, or 7.35 USD. Of this, some 70% is duty and VAT.
I can't speak for Canada, but in most of Europe, the price is a whisker below that UK benchmark.
When I was in Houston a few months ago petrol was around 2.19 USD a (US) gallon, some might say obscenely low: but maybe to this one ought to add the cost of "policing" the Middle East considering that cost to be a consumption tax.
5 USD a gallon sounds absurdly cheap to me and probably does to the rest of the developed world. |
Yes, but the economies of poor and working families have not been constructed around this expense. Wages and life styles have not been developed around this. I know of no city in the U.S with public transportation that comes near that of Daegu.
Los Angeles used to have a great public transport system that was undone early last century by the oil and auto industry, and it is the standard for cities in the U.S. I don't like the cost of gas here, but I can always take a bus or a relatively cheap taxi, and, starting in a few weeks, the subway. I now have a car, but I am starting it once a week to keep the battery up. I don't really need it, and I will only use it a few times a month and for occasional road trips. It is just not necessary.
My daughter lives in the midwest, and from her house you can either walk 3/4 of a mile to the nearest store, or take the car. The doctor, library, supermarket, movies, you name it, all require a car. This is life in the United States. The rise in gas prices will force some pretty uncomfortable choices on her family. And her husband's business requires him to drive many miles in a large, heavily loaded van. Thier lifestyle will go from basic to difficult, especially when the harsh winter heating season arrives. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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In Canada, this is being reported:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2005/09/01/gas_prices_20050901.html
Gas prices, $1.26 Can. /litre some places as high as 1.29.
I was never much on exchange rates, but I know it's expensive.
and Double Ditto to what Desultude wrote. If these prices continue, I think there will be some very severe times in Canada this winter. |
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Wangja
Joined: 17 May 2004
Location: Seoul, Yongsan
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| Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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Nice to know that someone in US cares about poor working class families.
Of course, the fuel price problem affects such people elsewhere too, and they have accommodated it.
I agree that wherever you are in US (except maybe NY, I have never visisted) is that almost wherever you want or need to go, you have to go by car. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 12:16 am Post subject: |
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| desultude wrote: |
| Wangja wrote: |
In Korea petrol is around 1550 KRW per litre, 7,037 KRW per Imperial gallon, around 7 USD.
In UK, the equivalent is around 0.90 GBP per litre, 4.09 GBP per (Imp) gallon, or 7.35 USD. Of this, some 70% is duty and VAT.
I can't speak for Canada, but in most of Europe, the price is a whisker below that UK benchmark.
When I was in Houston a few months ago petrol was around 2.19 USD a (US) gallon, some might say obscenely low: but maybe to this one ought to add the cost of "policing" the Middle East considering that cost to be a consumption tax.
5 USD a gallon sounds absurdly cheap to me and probably does to the rest of the developed world. |
Yes, but the economies of poor and working families have not been constructed around this expense. Wages and life styles have not been developed around this. I know of no city in the U.S with public transportation that comes near that of Daegu.
Los Angeles used to have a great public transport system that was undone early last century by the oil and auto industry, and it is the standard for cities in the U.S. I don't like the cost of gas here, but I can always take a bus or a relatively cheap taxi, and, starting in a few weeks, the subway. I now have a car, but I am starting it once a week to keep the battery up. I don't really need it, and I will only use it a few times a month and for occasional road trips. It is just not necessary.
My daughter lives in the midwest, and from her house you can either walk 3/4 of a mile to the nearest store, or take the car. The doctor, library, supermarket, movies, you name it, all require a car. This is life in the United States. The rise in gas prices will force some pretty uncomfortable choices on her family. And her husband's business requires him to drive many miles in a large, heavily loaded van. Thier lifestyle will go from basic to difficult, especially when the harsh winter heating season arrives. |
They can get mini cars, or get a hybird van when one comes out.
Cheap gas is not a right.
People have to adjust. |
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Wangja
Joined: 17 May 2004
Location: Seoul, Yongsan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 12:41 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Cheap gas is not a right.
People have to adjust.
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This is one thing where I agree with you Joo .... mark the diary! |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 12:55 am Post subject: |
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| Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee wrote: |
| desultude wrote: |
| Wangja wrote: |
In Korea petrol is around 1550 KRW per litre, 7,037 KRW per Imperial gallon, around 7 USD.
In UK, the equivalent is around 0.90 GBP per litre, 4.09 GBP per (Imp) gallon, or 7.35 USD. Of this, some 70% is duty and VAT.
I can't speak for Canada, but in most of Europe, the price is a whisker below that UK benchmark.
When I was in Houston a few months ago petrol was around 2.19 USD a (US) gallon, some might say obscenely low: but maybe to this one ought to add the cost of "policing" the Middle East considering that cost to be a consumption tax.
5 USD a gallon sounds absurdly cheap to me and probably does to the rest of the developed world. |
Yes, but the economies of poor and working families have not been constructed around this expense. Wages and life styles have not been developed around this. I know of no city in the U.S with public transportation that comes near that of Daegu.
Los Angeles used to have a great public transport system that was undone early last century by the oil and auto industry, and it is the standard for cities in the U.S. I don't like the cost of gas here, but I can always take a bus or a relatively cheap taxi, and, starting in a few weeks, the subway. I now have a car, but I am starting it once a week to keep the battery up. I don't really need it, and I will only use it a few times a month and for occasional road trips. It is just not necessary.
My daughter lives in the midwest, and from her house you can either walk 3/4 of a mile to the nearest store, or take the car. The doctor, library, supermarket, movies, you name it, all require a car. This is life in the United States. The rise in gas prices will force some pretty uncomfortable choices on her family. And her husband's business requires him to drive many miles in a large, heavily loaded van. Thier lifestyle will go from basic to difficult, especially when the harsh winter heating season arrives. |
They can get mini cars, or get a hybird van when one comes out.
Cheap gas is not a right.
People have to adjust. |
Yes, my son in law, whose makes his living installing ceramic tile floors and bathrooms, will carry all of his equipment and materials in a mini-hybrid.
Of course, he would have to sell the only vehicle they have, a ten year old van that is patched together, and come up with the bucks for a new hybrid.
Pardon me, but this needs to be said. Short of subsidized transportation, the poor and working classes are at the mercy of oil prices. It's all too easy for comfortable middle class people to say what poor and working people "ought" to do.
I think they could afford a new hybrid- if they give up health insurance for themselves and their children, and maybe a couple of meals a day.  |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:28 am Post subject: |
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| The hole in your logic is that there is a working poor class in countries besides the US, and not all of them have phenomenal public transportation. Gas prices in my hometown have gone up 125% in the last few years- and for the most part, people have survived. |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 2:19 am Post subject: |
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| peppermint wrote: |
| The hole in your logic is that there is a working poor class in countries besides the US, and not all of them have phenomenal public transportation. Gas prices in my hometown have gone up 125% in the last few years- and for the most part, people have survived. |
No, it is not a hole in the logic. it is a difference in economies and cultures- how things are done, what people depend on. My family won't go hungry, but things will get very difficult. My very old father will need more help to pay for his air conditioning and heating (85 in central Florida, you can't really turn off the AC in the summer or the heat in the winter).
By the way, the price of gas has gone up, as of now, way more than 125%. There are reports now of gas at $5 U.S. a gallon in Georgia, up from about $2 a week ago. and a little over $1 a couple of years ago.
Also, Indonesia is facing a huge crisis because of oil prices, and a lot of other poor countries also.
A farmer from, I believe, Indonesia, was on CNN the other day saying that he can't continue if gas prices go up further. It is tragically ironic that he said that his water buffalo that could help him now died due to the pesticides and fertilizers he had been using on his plants.
I believe in high taxes on gasoline, but I also believe that we should have public transportation and we should have the research and development of alternative fuels and means of transportation. And the onus cannot be put on poor and working people who are already struggling. But it is hard to do this when huge tax cuts are given to the wealthy, the war drains all of the resources, and, as a pitiful consequence, the oil companies gain unconscienable profits. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 4:45 am Post subject: |
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| desultude wrote: |
| Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee wrote: |
| desultude wrote: |
| Wangja wrote: |
In Korea petrol is around 1550 KRW per litre, 7,037 KRW per Imperial gallon, around 7 USD.
In UK, the equivalent is around 0.90 GBP per litre, 4.09 GBP per (Imp) gallon, or 7.35 USD. Of this, some 70% is duty and VAT.
I can't speak for Canada, but in most of Europe, the price is a whisker below that UK benchmark.
When I was in Houston a few months ago petrol was around 2.19 USD a (US) gallon, some might say obscenely low: but maybe to this one ought to add the cost of "policing" the Middle East considering that cost to be a consumption tax.
5 USD a gallon sounds absurdly cheap to me and probably does to the rest of the developed world. |
Yes, but the economies of poor and working families have not been constructed around this expense. Wages and life styles have not been developed around this. I know of no city in the U.S with public transportation that comes near that of Daegu.
Los Angeles used to have a great public transport system that was undone early last century by the oil and auto industry, and it is the standard for cities in the U.S. I don't like the cost of gas here, but I can always take a bus or a relatively cheap taxi, and, starting in a few weeks, the subway. I now have a car, but I am starting it once a week to keep the battery up. I don't really need it, and I will only use it a few times a month and for occasional road trips. It is just not necessary.
My daughter lives in the midwest, and from her house you can either walk 3/4 of a mile to the nearest store, or take the car. The doctor, library, supermarket, movies, you name it, all require a car. This is life in the United States. The rise in gas prices will force some pretty uncomfortable choices on her family. And her husband's business requires him to drive many miles in a large, heavily loaded van. Thier lifestyle will go from basic to difficult, especially when the harsh winter heating season arrives. |
They can get mini cars, or get a hybird van when one comes out.
Cheap gas is not a right.
People have to adjust. |
Yes, my son in law, whose makes his living installing ceramic tile floors and bathrooms, will carry all of his equipment and materials in a mini-hybrid.
Of course, he would have to sell the only vehicle they have, a ten year old van that is patched together, and come up with the bucks for a new hybrid.
Pardon me, but this needs to be said. Short of subsidized transportation, the poor and working classes are at the mercy of oil prices. It's all too easy for comfortable middle class people to say what poor and working people "ought" to do.
I think they could afford a new hybrid- if they give up health insurance for themselves and their children, and maybe a couple of meals a day. |
so the US needs to be held hostage because people have to have in expensive gas?
I do feel for your son in law, but imported oil is related to the biggest national security risk the US faces.
He has to find a way to adjust. There is no other way. What should the US be at the mercy of the most cruel and violenct regimes and groups in the world today cause Americans need cheap oil.
People made bigger sacrifices that just expensive gas during world war II.
The war on terror is like world war II. It has to be done and the US would have a much much better chance and winning if the US were to stop funding the enemy.
This is a war . |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 4:49 am Post subject: |
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| believe in high taxes on gasoline, but I also believe that we should have public transportation and we should have the research and development of alternative fuels and means of transportation. And the onus cannot be put on poor and working people who are already struggling. But it is hard to do this when huge tax cuts are given to the wealthy, the war drains all of the resources, and, as a pitiful consequence, the oil companies gain unconscienable profits. |
I didn't support huge tax cuts but there are so understandable reasons for them.
IF people have more money maybe they will have more incentive to work and that will lead to more tax revenue . If people have more money maybe they will invest it and that way companies will have more money for R&D.
It is not as simple as you say. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 10:21 am Post subject: |
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This thread is missing the fact that it's not just personal/family use/small business vehicles being affected.
Budgets for police forces and other emergency and municipal services are totally blown- police cruisers can't respond to calls without fuel in their tanks. Road crews can't repair roads without fuel in the trucks. How will municpal and state govts. recoup these losses? Raise taxes.
Transportation infrastructure in North America isn't train or boat driven- it's truck driven. Supermarket chains will have to spend more on fuel to get produce to market and will have to increase prices to recoup losses. Everything from dept stores to corner stores to bus and subway fares will be affected.
So even if you can afford to ditch your Chevy Suburban and start driving a Smart Car today, you're still going to be hit one way or another. And if you're too poor to own a car you'
re still screwed- as usual.
I'm not saying it's wrong to go out and buy a hybrid, but that alone isn't going to solve problems, it was to be more systemic, more far reaching.
If- as Joo says- the US cannot be held hostage by oil prices, this will mean more than promoting Toyota Priuses to soccer Moms. It means the US will have to make a break from some of the most powerful companies in the country- the oil companies.
It's going to be pretty hard to do.
With a president who is practically the poster-boy for the oil industry, and whose family are a bunch of oil billionaires who also happen to be famously close to another family of oil barons- the Sauds- it's virtually impossible. |
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bignate
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Location: Hell's Ditch
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 11:18 am Post subject: |
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| Up to $1.36 a litre in Ontario Today, won't be doing anything this Labour Day Weekend I am afraid... |
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