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Much Ado About Gas Prices
markmcb writes "It seems that a week cannot pass without finding big news about gas prices. They're up, they're down ... but why do we care so much? OmniNerd posted an article that aims to put gas prices in perspective. The author takes a look at other commodities and their price variances and applies some simple math in order to make the claim that best-gas-price-hunting is an effort that could be better used on other products. From the article, 'Why the disproportionate emphasis on gas prices in our culture, then? Although some cite a failure of politicians or media populists to account for inflation and purchasing power changes, I think it is simply because gas prices are in your face.'" IMO, the other side to the price of gas is that, especially in developed countries, it has a pervasive effect throughout all layers of the economy — food prices (because of the trucking), schools (busing), etc., etc.
Perhaps the size of the price sign is what matters. Gas prices are shown in large high contrast fonts on every street corner. The price sticker on a bottle of shampoo is less noticeable or sometimes not noticeable at all. You just pick it up and put it in your cart.
In mathmatical terms, figuring that the price sign at a gas station is about 6 feet by 4 feet, and the price sticker on a shelf for a bottle of shampoo is 2 inches by 1 inch, the gas station sign is about 1,728 times larger and thus more emphasis is placed on the price of gas.
The average price for a gallon of gas in that article was about $2.90, give or take a few cents.
Here in Finland a litre of 95 octane gas costs about 1.263e (1.295 for 98 octane and 1.008 for diesel).
1.263e / litre = 4.7809751e / gallon = $6.04697 / gallon
And you are complaining that gas prices are high? Well, at least these prices are a good incentive for me to use public transport..
Follow your Euro bills at EBT
This article is just a very vigorous proof that you're an idiot if you spend any time at all searching for the cheapest gas. We all know that some gas stations don't follow the unspoken price rule where you don't undercut your competitors and they won't undercut you. Some people must feel very smart finding those gas stations. How much gas they waste getting to them might be interesting to compute also. Oh well, as long as it makes you feel good inside.
I remember when Exxon Mobile reported the largest profits ever received by a company in a single quarter. While they were raking in that dough, they were telling me that hurricane Katrina and the war had left them with no oil at all. They warned me gas prices were going to go up. Then why the hell did they make record profits?
What I would like to read an article about what the hell happened with the congressional hearing that was supposed to investigate Exxon Mobile? And we're subsidizing gasoline companies through preferential tax codes? Am I the only person wondering what is going on here?
My work here is dung.
The point that wasn't put forward so well in the article is that the Gas price can change everything.
Your shopping for example will go up in price as it costs more to transport it. Your electricity/gas at home can go up in price too.
Gas prices is one of those easily understood metrics that happens to affect everything we do (in developed countries).
--Rob
Towards the Singularity.
The reason we care so much is that many of us spend more on gas than any other commodity. We consider it as essential as food. And its price varies wildly from season to season. I spend roughly $300 US each month on gas currently, and when it was higher you bet your ass I cared that I was spending an extra $50 a month.
Expect gas prices to continue to decline up to the November elections. Oil companies will forgo the profits short-term in order to give oil-friendly Republicans a better shot at the polls.
After the election, look for a price spike, probably blamed on increased heating demand and Middle East instability.
And no, you can't have my tinfoil hat.
As Americans, we are spoiled!
We are accustomed to cheap gas and all its by-products (heating oil, propane, electricity, etc.) for some time now. So much so, that we take it for granted. On top of that we extend ourselves to the max, getting credit cards and running up debt like crazy. So, when all of sudden this cheap energy source doubles in price and now stresses everyones budget, we scream foul. That is why gas prices are so closely watched and such a hot topic. We can afford the spike. Other countries have dealt with high energy prices by promoting mass transit, build more efficient cars, etc. But we just can't relate.
The same ridiculous politicians who whine about gas prices are the same ones who allow it to be priced in tenths of a cent. I just find that rather humorous. Maybe because it is also the same politicians who are crying to get the penny taken out of currency circulation.
Anyway, all the space on those gas station billboards being take up by "9/10s" could be put to much better use advertising cigarettes.
To sort of answer the question, though, rising gasoline prices act like a tax in the economy, not inflation. Inflation is defined as an increase in available cash in the economy, usually as the result of the govermnet putting more of it there to cover rising prices. Gas is a rare economic beast because it is involved in the price of EVERYTHING you pay for due to transportation costs. And also it is non-elastic in a major way.
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
Gas prices are driven because of the spot market on oil, and the way it's basically a "futures market".
American consumers don't have to deal with the extreme volatility that is involved with such a rampantly speculative market on a day to day basis, EXCEPT when it comes to gas prices. This makes them a lot more visible than other speculative swings.
I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
Some years ago, I remember a widely quoted congressman who was arguing against raising the US postage rate from $.25 to $.30 (they ended up raising it to $.29.) My belief was that it would be sensible to have $.30 postage, with $.25/additional ounce, to make the computations easy, and that it was ridiculous to have a $.29 postage rate with a $.23 marginal rate beyond the first ounce (how many people know their multiples of 23 and want to add them to 29?) The argument was the congressman made, which apparently resonated well, was that "people will drive halfway across town to save a penny on a gallon of gas (it was the late 80s or so) so we should do the same with postage." This pointed out several things vividly to a young me:
It's election season, dumbasses, they're lowering prices to help out their buddies in Washington.
l ications/wrgp/mogas_home_page.html In fact, gas prices peaked in November of 2004, having risen over 20% from March to November of that year.
Nice theory, but what happened in 2004? Remember all those rumors that Bush had a secret arrangement with the Saudis and they were going to lower gas prices around the election to make Bush look good. Well, it never happened. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_pub
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
Would you pay the taxes to subsidize the petroleum indestry, so they only have to charge you $3/gallon at the pump?
TFA: According to the Energy Information Administration, the average cost of gas in the U.S. that year was $1.85 per gallon of regular grade4 and the average gas mileage of a new, light-duty vehicle was 21 mpg
Okay, forget the rest of the damn article. Amercia, your problem is right there: MPG.
Whilst American cars struggle to reach 25MPG, the average MPG of a European car is over 40MPG (source).
How can the country that has MIT have such crappy MPG? I mean, aren't you chaps utterly ashamed of your engineers? Forget saving money, just bring it down to technical prowess. Why aren't American engineering nerds hanging their head in shame?
I have a 4x4 SUV that does better than 25MPG, not just on the motorway and country lanes, but on crowded higgledy-piggledy British towns. And it's a stupid 4x4 that I only really need in the winter! My mother's sporty saloon car does 45MPG. My wife's Volvo (read: APC with upholstery) does 35MPG. What the hell are you Yanks driving to need that much fuel per mile? Do you just grab a fire truck and bolt a couch to it, or what?
(Even given 1 Imperial gallon = 1.2 US Gallons, your MPG still sucks, Amercia)
Andrew Oakley - www.aoakley.com
Oil still costs about $12:bbl to extract from the ground, and deliver to the refinery as it did in 2001. It still costs the same to refine it to gas and deliver it to your pump. But oil costs about $75 now, not $25. That means that we're not looking at just a tripling of price in 5 years, but rather almost five times the profit. While the rest of the country's economy, except for these energy corporations and banks, is stagnant or shrinking.
You're also paying for artificially tight refining capacity and the risk that something disrupts the supply chain. From what I hear, the cost of extraction may still be the same, but the quality of oil has declined especially in Saudi Arabia. That means higher refining costs before low quality oil meets the standards of oil traded at index price.
The way to avoid price gouging at the gas pump is to lower the barrier to entry for refineries. The US government can contribute by cutting back on the regulation burden. Breaking up OPEC would also be nice, but I don't see anything with the power to make that happen.
Finally, I don't see the point with the automobile layoffs. This was going to happen. The US auto makers aren't competitive in quality of product or labor costs. This is particularly true of GM which is most of the current run of layoffs. They've been bleeding market share for decades. Blame transference to oil might result in bad economic decisions by the federal government but it's not going to recover those jobs.
The only incompatibily is natural rubber fuel hoses (phased out 20 years ago for economic, not green reasons), which biodiesel tends to eat away.
In hot climates, B100 is pretty much a drop-in replacement, with one catch: it'll eat away built up corrosion from years of petrodiesel, causing your fuel filter to clog up initially.
Straight vegetable oil (SVO) works as a fuel, but needs to be at high temperature to have the necessary viscosity, and engines need to be modified with heaters. We fix that by transesterifying it with methanol and turning it into biodiesel. This still doesn't have the cold weather ease of use of petrodiesel, though.
The only major issue with pure biodiesel is that its gel point is in the neighborhood of 25-30F, resulting in fuel lines that clog. For people who will be operating in subfreezing weather for significant amounts of time, various additives are available, including basic petrodiesel (this is why B20 is so much more prevalent in the US than B100). For subfreezing weather over an entire season, an electric heater system is highly recommended - there are already products available tailored to extreme low temperature petrodiesel use.
People in Soviet Russia, however, appear to be afflicted with amusing juxtapositions of the aforementioned situation