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Gas Prices Jump; California Hardest Hit
New submitter jefery23 writes with this excerpt from an Associated Press article (as carried by the Denver Post): "Californians woke up to a shock Friday as overnight gasoline prices jumped by as much as 20 cents a gallon in some areas, ending a week of soaring costs that saw some stations close and others charge record prices." Friday's jump followed another big one just a day earlier, too. Texas gas prices have gone up, but not quite so dramatically ($3.59 at the station nearest to me); how are they in your neck of the woods? Those Bloom boxes and charging stations can't arrive too soon.
An improving economy demands more gasoline.
Since supplies are already so tight that we are increasingly using extreme sources of oil like very deep sea drilling and oil sands, we should expect to pay more for gasoline.
I hope you've all been buying fuel efficient cars...
The prices have been artificially raised, because of the presidential debate. Just like the unemployment rate has fallen or not fallen.
Now, I can't figure out which candidate thinks he benefits from higher gas prices.
So maybe just like the unemployment rate has fallen or not fallen, maybe the gas prices haven't jumped . . . or jumped.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
It is beyond me how americans can complain about gas prices. In Sweden people pay more than twice as much, and everyone seems to be fine with it. On top of that, americans have even more money to spend than do swedes. So, are americans cheap, or just spoiled?
You're paying for taxes, for your government, you're not paying that much for the gas itself.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
You can thank the Federal Reserve and President. All that quantitative easing (money printing) is doing wonders to the US Dollar, making your imports more expensive, pushing up your energy imports.
Take Nobody's Word For It.
The largest contributers to the republican party represent "Big Oil" and "Big Coal". Could this be a ploy to weaken the economy and increase the chances of their candidate being elected?
The price of Gas is not reacting to a Supply vs Demand price rise. 2005 remains the peak of oil consumption in the U.S.
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MTTUPUS2&f=M
On the other hand, we are producing more oil. Why hasn't the price fallen?
We have embarked on QE3 (after QE2 and QE1). We are printing money and injecting it into the Financial Institutions on Wall Street. Obviously countries who have been producing products for the United States (like oil) for decades and decades know that the value of the dollar is going to slide. Not saying crash necessarily, but there isn't any doubt in the world it is going to slide.
What do you do if you are such a country? You raise your prices. Because the dollar isn't going to be worth as much going forward.
This is the stated goal of Paul Krugman. Get Inflation up to 5 percent or 6 percent even. That is going to increase (he claims) employment. But prices lag the actual inflation, and wages lag the actual inflation even more.
So the result is going to be higher prices and lower real wages, less ability to buy goods (because we increasingly uses foreign components and raw materials even in domestic goods).
We are proudly following Japan into 20 years of dragging economic activity. And I think that is the up side.
Learn to take the bus.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
Other countries tend to have higher gas prices than the USA because of taxes levied to support various social programs. Our high prices go to fill corporate coffers.
That's not really it. It depends on where your generating capacity is coming from. If it's coming from coal plants, you shouldn't buy an electric car—gas is cleaner. If it's coming from wind, you should definitely buy an electric car if it makes economic sense to you personally.
Actually, You're missing the entire point of an electric car. People think you should get one because of environmental concerns. The reasons to get one are entirely economic, and the tipping point is almost here (if not already). Electric cars use far cheaper electricity for their operation. the EPA has an MPGe rating that gives a pretty good comparison of the *cost* of fuel. This means that for the cost of the electricity on average, you could use gas and get that same mileage for you money. There is a reason that Electric cars are rated in the high double digits or low triple digits. I own a Miev, and the cost of my daily commute is so low I haven't noticed the difference on my monthly utility bill. I drive about 30 miles a day 5 Days a week. The vehicle cost me $490 / month for 72 months. The cost of Electricity I have estimated to be about $23-$26 / month. Now comes the good part: Cost of electricity is really very stable, and does not increase very fast. That means that in 5 years when gas is $6 / gallon, and you are spending $250+ / month on gas, I will still be spending $25. Also, Gasoline engines are complex and easily damaged through mishandling and improper maintenance. A gas engine really only has a life expectancy of about 5,000 to 10,000 hours (200 to 400 k miles). Electric motors with MTBF of 50,000+ hours are not uncommon. That means that the motor in your electric car is likely to out-live you. The Motor controllers (if properly designed) have only one part with a low MTBF, and if properly designed, this $10 part should be swappable on the controller. My Miev has coolant, but it doesn't run hot, so there is little likelihood of normal operating resulting in damage to the cooling system. Regenerative braking significantly reduces the wear load on the brakes making them last for 3x or 4x longer. In all, my only real expense in the first 5 years will be tires... I expect that reduction in maintenance costs alone will save a further $40 / month. Now lets add it all up and figure out the ROI. First, We will use three use cases: the first 200,000 miles, 400,000 and 1,000,000. For 200,000 miles, the gas car uses 8,000 gallons of gas at an average of $5 per gallon (remember this has to include reasonable price increases over the next 14 years). That comes to $40,000 for gas. The cost of the vehicle is about $20,000. The cost of maintenance is about $5,500. (oil changes brakes and tires. Total cost is $65,500 for 14 years and the car is basically on its last legs. Many parts on the verge of failure, unreliable. Now take the electric: Base cost $35,000. Cost of fuel is $4,000 ($25 per month for 168 months). Maintenance costs $1,750. Total cost is $40,750, and the car is mostly in running order with one caveat: It needs a new battery. Todays cost: $10,000 (eight years from now this cost is expected to be half what it is today. Total cost for 14 years: $50,750. The electric has a clear advantage.
Now for the 400k miles scenario:
for the second 200,000 miles, the gas vehicle costs an additional $56,000 in gas (gas went up to $7 average for the period, an increase of 28% over 14 years (2% inflation). Costs of maintenance have soared as all the moving parts have worn out and needed to be replaced. $7,300. Total cost for the second 14 years: $64,300. The electric costs have gone up also. Electricity now costs $35 / month (2% across 14 years), so the cost comes to $5,900. Cost of maintenance includes another battery replacement for an additional $10,000 plus the regular $1,800. Lets add in an additional $4000 X-factor just to cover incidentals, like maybe we fried a motor controller, or some other unexpected weakness in this particular cars design. Total: $21,700.
So afte
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
Anyone who votes for Romney is an ignorant cunt.
Anyone who thinks Obama and Romney are actually different is an ignorant cunt. I think that's what you meant.
It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
We hear that all the time, about how high European prices are.
However, across the pond, people there live far closer together, and have a lot more options than a car. You have trains, trams, streetcars, buses, teleport pads out of Larry Niven books, and roads that are in good repair. In Europe, people can live in a city core and not get a 9mm round to the cranium because some 15 year old is needing to take a video of gunning down a tourist for their "blood in" ritual.
In the US, to live within walking distance of a job, you have to be pretty rich. Bicycling distance is different, but if you don't get run over (hit and runs are extremely common, and the local PD doesn't bother with the case unless someone has something obvious like video of it), you are an easy moving target for gangbangers. As soon as you park and lock your bike up, there is a good chance that it either will be completely missing or not all there (wheels, forks, seats, etc.) Buses? It can take 3-4 hours to get just a few miles due to bad routes, and usually homeless people tend to set up their bedrooms, bathrooms, and soliciting centers in them. Of course, people can mention motorcycles, and they are fast, thrifty on gas, and don't take up much space. However, every rider I know has some sort of permanent injury they got from riding, usually courtesy of a car desiring the space the motorcycle was currently taking up.
So, for most Americans who can't afford to live in the high zoot residential townhomes, a car is a necessity. Yes, it sucks, but that is how life is. You won't find any help from the government anytime soon thanks to all the dollars being poured in to prop up political candidates with the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" meme which is turning the country into some Ayn Randish circle of Hell [1].
You live in the wrong city - why would you continue to live in a city where you are constantly in fear of your life and the local police won't help you?
There are lots of nice cities and towns throughout the USA where you can live relatively close to work (or near a usable transit system) without being afraid of getting shot in the head when you go to work.
Some cities that come to mind include San Francisco, Portland OR, Seattle, Santa Cruz.
You may have to adjust your standard of living - instead of a large suburban house, you may be in a small city apartment (which you can do even with kids, you may not have a yard, but will have a park + large playground a short walk away), but that's a tradeoff that millions of people are happy to make.
If you want to save gas, but think a motorcycle is too dangerous, look into a small hybrid car Back when i commuted on an FJ1200, my gas milage was in the low 30's (a new FJR1300 is rated at 39mpg). A Prius will give you over 40mpg. If you don't want a hybrid, a Volkswagon TDI diesel will also give you over 40mpg. Or if you want a more conventional gas powered car, look at Honda Fit (mpg in the 30's), or Mazda3 skyactive (up to 40mpg highway).
I have a 12 mile bike commute, which is close to the upper bound of how far many people are willing to bike (an hour each way is a little farther than many people are wiling to ride), but it lets me live affordably close to SF without paying exhorbitant apartment rates. I live within an easy walk to a train station, so I can choose between commuting by bike or by train. I have a car, but put around 6000 miles/year on it, mostly for out of town trips. I don't even drive to the grocery store since I live within a 2 minute walk to the store.
I'm not wealthy, I just chose where to live based on having a non-car commute.
high gas prices, but you have a social system that won't let people die on the streets.
we have low gas prices, but you better hope that you never run into bad luck.
which is the better system? I think we both know the answer to that.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Well that's what happens when you let your politicians gouge the living hell out of you with taxes. We don't have any VAR taxes bleeding us dry either, but that doesn't mean we are just gonna sit back and let them start piling taxes on. Maybe its time that you in the EU made your own TEA (Taxed Enough Already) party and let the politicians know you're tired of their hands in your wallet?
As for the gas prices here, $3.59 a gallon in north central AR. I'm just glad i don't have to work in the state capital anymore, my Ranger has a Vulcan V6 that only gets around 16 MPG so if this keeps up I'm already gonna have to slap another $15 on my service call fee. I have to wonder though if this isn't big oil's way of trying to give old Mittens a boost, nothing makes people want to "throw the bums out" like high gas prices.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Record profits for oil companies while roads crumble is the America Way (trademarked, copyrighted, guaranteed Communist free, known to cause cancer in California, all rights reserved). Jesus loves profits, hates poor people and drives a big ass Hummer so he doesn't feel the potholes.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Man up. What do you think coal, oil, natural gas etc power plants do now? Do you even remember the massive power outage that affected a large portion of the United States a few years ago? Enough solar energy hits the earth in an hour to fill all our electrical requirements for a year. The only problem would be getting that energy to where people need it. Stop your whining about how hard things are. People could setup individual panels at their homes to reduce load on the grid, and plants can be setup in various locations as well. If one location is cloudy, guess what? Another one probably isn't!
Guess what? That means you need to build twice as many panels/wind generators as you nominally need (at least). That increases the cost 2x, plus of course the cost of a robust power grid to transmit the power. Again, not quite so easy in a part of the world near tornado alley, where power loss is already moderately common... and where loosing power in the winter means people can start dying.
If everyone starts using electric cars, that represents a massive increase in demand. According to this [PDF WARNING] report, ~28% of US energy demand is in transportation, which means our demand for electrical power will go up significantly (30-40% is probably a decent estimation). If you double production costs and increase demand, combined with the vastly increased cost of electric cars (themselves hardly environmentally friendly to make. Side note: the Prius is supposedly worse for the environment than a normal gas-powered car because of the costs of building the batteries and motors) and suddenly you are looking at transport costs 2-3 times greater than they are now. Good luck getting that to happen, considering people already complain about the high costs of gas (which already has significant economical impact).
My point with hydroelectrical was it doesn't scale. If you try to make it scale, you run out of land for people to live and farm, and your entire cost of living goes up considerably. My entire point is that while green energy sounds nice, it is nowhere near practical yet, and won't be for years yet. Electric generation and storage is simply not good enough yet, and that is ignoring the fact that green power sources rarely are as green as they seem (like the Prius mentioned earlier: they always have environmental costs people don't like to talk about). Such as, for example, the fact that magnets used in electric motors requires rare earths, which have massive pollution by-products. I'm speaking realistically here when I say the only green technology we have, right now, that could fill our electric needs not only practically but cost-efficiently is nuclear.
Doesn't matter how much energy is hitting the planet from the sun, we simply cannot collect it effectively. Even an efficient solar panel is only 15% or so efficient. And expensive. And unreliable.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
Except Europeans like their health care and don't seem to view sociopathy as a positive character trait.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
For years oil companies' profit margins have remained about the same, in fact, much lower than most industries. Government makes more off a gallon of gasoline than the oil companies.
Well that's what happens when you let your politicians gouge the living hell out of you with taxes. We don't have any VAR taxes bleeding us dry either, but that doesn't mean we are just gonna sit back and let them start piling taxes on. Maybe its time that you in the EU made your own TEA (Taxed Enough Already) party and let the politicians know you're tired of their hands in your wallet?
You (and many others I'm sure) might find it instructive to actually find out what percentage of the average European's income goes to taxes, vs. what percentage of the average American's income does (hint: it's *much* closer than you think, and do keep in mind that most taxes Americans pay are both hidden and regressive). Then ponder the services Europeans get for giving up all that money, vs. the services Americans get (hint: not even close).
Unlike those socialist Europeans who get things like free medical care and university education, we in America can be smug about the fact most of *our* money goes to waste and lining the pockets of those who are already rich. After all, that's the beauty of a capitalist society, and hey, it'll be my turn to get rich soon, right? Right?
A currency crisis is causing bankruptcy. The welfare state is a useful target for those wishing to remove credit and market excesses from blame.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
But how do you deal with all that smug?
By not whining about how I have no choice to drive my car no matter how expensive gas is?
It takes some lifestyle changes (and maybe relocation) to avoid a car-centric lifestyle, but it's not hard to do.