I paid $48 to fill my gas tank today. When I first bought a car — which makes me sound old, but it was only SEVEN YEARS AGO — it cost $20 to fill the tank. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE? This is almost 150% inflation, over a span of time where it should only be 21% (if you figure 3% per year). It’s even worse when you consider the $48 is actually lower than average for this area.
When I was paying $20 to fill my old Cavalier, it was at “normal” gas stations. These days, I live close to an Indian-owned gas station, where the prices are usually about a dime or so cheaper, because the Indians don’t pay taxes. In addition, it’s 7¢/gallon cheaper when you pay in cash (I always do) and another 5¢/gallon off because I filled up on the day of their weekly gas sale.
Tonight I paid $3.98/gallon. If I had gone to the Mobil across the street, you could erase those discounts, and add another 10¢/gallon, to reach a price of $4.20/gallon, coming to a total of $50.40 for my 12-gallon tank (which was practically on fumes when I pulled up to the pump).
I usually have to fill up once a week. That means I’m now paying $200/month for gas, and it’ll just keep going up!! Unfortunately, there’s no mass transit here, and I live too far away from work to reasonably bike it. (I could — but it would take me at least 2 hours, and be really sweaty and gross by the time I got there. Also consider, I get out of work at 11:45pm. I’m not riding 20 miles in the middle of the night so I can risk being hit by a drunk driver or eaten alive by mosquitoes.)
We’re being held hostage here. It’s time for the government to step up and do something about it.
There’s talk about the “Windfall Profits Tax” against the oil companies. But that’s not going to benefit me. That’s going to benefit the government. And the oil companies aren’t just gonna hand over their billions of dollars in profits and write it off! They’re going to raise prices EVEN MORE to make back that money! This plan just doesn’t make sense.
The more I hear it talked about, the more I think it’s time we get off our butts and start drilling for oil on our own soil. I know a lot of people don’t want to “ruin” the beauty of Alaska, but it’s time to recall the old Star Trek quote: “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” The latest census says Alaska has 636,000 people. America has 300 million.
Sorry, but it’s time for you folks up there in Seward’s Folly to take one for the team. Heck, if they discovered a big deposit of oil underneath MY state, and drilling for it could lower gas prices by $2.00/gallon, I’d be all for it. Arms wide open. We need relief, and we need it now. We can’t sit back and watch gas hit 5 and 6 bucks a gallon. Diesel’s already there, and look what it’s doing to the truckers.
Look at all the other ways higher gas prices are impacting our lives. It’s costing more for basic staples to be delivered to the supermarket. Who pays for that? We do. We’re paying for the gas to get ourselves to the supermarket, and we’re paying for the gas to get the stuff we buy to the supermarket.
I don’t know what else to say. I just hope something changes soon.
Agreed, Pete.
The debate in Washington seems to center around whether we should drill in Alaska, and the off-limits areas of the Rockies and gulf of Mexico OR invest money into renewable/alternative energy sources OR go the conservation/change our awful American habits.
What I never undersatnd is why we can’t promote all of these since the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that no one strategy will solve out problems
1) Drilling- The conservatives are right that we are the only country with vast natural resources (and also the largest consumer of those resources) that puts up so many barriers to getting to those resources. I understand the environmental arguments, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Granted, any supplies would take time to get to the market, but generally the price of oil jumps everytime a news story comes out stating that there may be a shortage or price spike in the oil market, so maybe new of increased future supply will have the opposite effect.
Conservation: I purposefully rented an apartment with a Grocery Store, Target, and Bank within walking distance which happens to be 10 miles from my job. It used to be that people lived in the communities that they worked, but the paradigm has shifted. I know plenty of folks who live over an hour away from the office because they could by a bigger house further away. Well, that is admirable, but did they ever think of what would happen if fuel spiked. Any simple changes that save fuel can help, but lots of people (and corporations that use gas or diesel) need to change)
Alternative/Renewable energy sources- Hey, go for it. I had a Prius as a loaner once and loved it.
Pete- I think you are right on the Windfall tax thing as well. It isn’t Exxon’s fault that prices are high- they still make the same margin whether the price of gas is low or high. The percentage stays the same, but it is a constance percentage of a greater amount. Americans suck at math so we get all pissy when the reports of Record profits come out. Fact is, if the oil companies reduced their margins (and thus their profits) they would probably be in violation of some SEC regulation since they are public companies and have to act in the best interest of their shareholders.
I might also add that since I have to watch the commodities markets for my job (Disclaimor: I work for an energy company although not a big bad oil company). It seems that every few days Oil starts to come back to earth and then some bank analyst comes out with a report predicting the price of oild will go way up—and then surprise surprise- it does. I really think that there should be investigations into whether these Banks stand to benefit from these reports as a lot of investors (and I am sure many are banks) are pouring money into commodities as a hedge against inflation- simply put- if your dollar is worth less, have your dollar invested in something concrete (Gold, Oil, Corn) that is traded on an international market and whoseprice will appreciate accordingly. Oil goes up, and their investment is protected. Sucks, but people benefit from out pain
OK, sorry for the Book
Jamie, no need to apologize… it’s actually kinda nice to see someone actually reading my rant, and continuing it with some remarks of substance.
And you’re absolutely right: everyone complains about gas, but few people actually DO make the effort to cut back. Anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock has probably read, watched or heard at least one news article about ways to save gas. The number one thing you can do is avoid flooring the gas pedal, and avoid speeding. Yet every day on my way to or from work, I still see people zooming along well above the speed limit — including truckers, who you’d expect to be doing everything they can to conserve their precious diesel. Apparently their time is still more valuable than their diesel expenses. That irks me, to know we’re paying more for goods because it’s costing more to ship those goods, but the truckers who do the shipping don’t seem to be doing their part to help keep those increases down.
Thanks, too, for the explainer on the commodity investors. I’ve heard talk about that stuff here and there, but haven’t yet had a chance to read up on how that all works. I bet I probably wouldn’t be able to find any article where it’s all summed up as quickly and simply as the final paragraph of your comment.
hi peter.
actually I attribute the affect of high gas prices to the devaluation of our currency. thank the federal reserve for continuing to print money and cut interest rates… also thank the politicians who send us to a war we can no longer afford. right now our government has approx $53 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities… and we continue to service over 700 bases in 130 countries… the stats are overwhelming…
and politicians who get it right like ron paul are chastised for telling the truth…
*sigh* my wonderful country oh well have a wonderful day…
Mike