Talk Back!
Yesterday gas was $1.89 here. I thought -Man I better get some gas, it's cheap!-. The gas prices are horrible. I'm wondering if they will ever go back down.
I hate seeing people driving Hummers ... why on earth do they need a tank in the middle of the Silicon Valley here? I absolutely agree on the taxes on gas ...
Its refreshing to hear your opinion. Your claim about the highest base prices surprised me though. I feel like fuel prices in the US are inexpensive, but I also took note of your qualifying word: "base" prices. The lead me to do a little googling and I found this rather insightful set of figures: http://www.caltex.com.au/
pricing...cing_pla_06.htm. It seems that the US taxes its fuel the least, but the overall gas price in the US is the lowest of the two dozen or so countries plotted there. Higher gas prices will cripple N. America if more isn't done for public transportation. Damn car companies buying up the public transportation systems decades ago.... Being a new comer to the O.C. all those Hummer driving Bush loving people here really get to me!
In Norway a lot of people are demanding cheaper gas. Not so strange when they are bying bigger and bigger cars.
Unfortunatly these people don't understand how lucky we are haveing a very good public transportation.
We pay about $1.63 per LITRE of fuel, that's Diesel though, I don't know how much unleaded is anymore since we got our diesel car. So, looking up conversions there are 3.785 litres in a US Gallon which means that we are paying $6.25 per Gallon of fuel. To make matters worse it costs THE SAME for my DH to take the train to work as it does to drive and it would take him about 2 hours to get from one side of the city to the other by bus, not because of distance but because of lack of buses and long winding routes, so we're not putting enough of that money back into public transport in the UK...
I just want to say though that we drive 'greener' by using diesel for green and financial reasons. We fill our car every other month and it costs us about $82 to do so, from that 1 tank of diesel we drive about 500 miles and it lasts that long as we only use it for domestic and social reasons, the car can sit there a week and never be driven.
I always laugh when I read that the US is upset about 'high' gas prices! But I do agree with you that gas guzzling cars and trucks are stupid and higher taxes on gas would mean that less people could afford to drive them and I agree about where that taxation should go.
Anna
shudder...peoples priorities these days makes me sick to my stomach sometimes.
I had to pause for a moment, reading your post. ALL gas stations in New Jersey are full service; I tend to forget that other states have to pay extra. (I didn't learn to pump my own gas until about 4 years ago.) What a huge difference in price, though! But yes, those huge gas-guzzlers are an abomination. I really can see needing a vehicle that has room for kids and "stuff"--but there are reasonable station wagons, minivans, and SUVs, and then the absurd-what-were-they-thinking kind where nobody needs that much space! I used to drive a Honda CR-V (and loved it), and as SUVs go, it was pretty fuel efficient, but my Volvo S60 is so much better . . . if only the trunk were bigger!!
your rant was very civilized. when i see a hummer or some other sort of obsene gas guzzling piece of crap all i want to do is spit. my husband drives a chevy silverado and i hate that thing. but at least he uses it to haul stuff with. and his commute is 10 minutes. you can be sure that if he needs to go anywhere outside of town, he asks to borrow my car.
I like to think my time and effort is worth something, but not 50 cents per gallon! I wonder if all gas is more expensive in those states where they aren't allowed to pump their own gas. That'd really stink.
i have to say, i almost puked when i linked to that truck. i live in the area outside l.a. where people, male and female, think lifted heavy trucks are a sign of progress, which sucks because we are in the foothills, so close to some of the only preserved nature in socal. i dread seeing those charging up the hill behind our house and i wish we could just make the decision to stop. i take the train to work so the gas has less impact on my life, but i urge all that can to seek out your options on public transport, etc. it gives a semblance of peace of mind in the madness/mindlessness we are challenged with on the roads of l.a.
Oh, good gawd, don't get me started.
There are a few things I think of when I see a hummer:
"Now where did I put my 'ask me how I'm changing the enviornment' bumper stickers??"
"Hmmmm.. overcompensating?" [if a guy is driving it]
"Hi. Stupid - glutunous -selfish -low esteem person, how are you today?"
And there are so many more thoughts... but overall, it really makes me sad.
I totally agree. I drive a Mini and get very dirty looks from SUV drivers. Or just weird questions. I like zipping around them when they're on their cell phones!!!
This economy is all about consumption and pillaging the earth. Very sad!
Gas prices here have gone through the roof, but at least living in the MIdwest they aren't as high as what your seeing.
I think that's a very important thing to remember though, I don't have any public transportation available to me from where I live to where I go to work. To get to any form of public transportation I have to drive at least 12 miles, and then it's such a bus service that goes around the metro area.
St. Louis now has a train, but it only goes East and West, one track, one train. They are expanding it but it will be yars before you can actually and effectiveyl travel the city by using it.
To get to my parents or my husband's parents I travel as far as some people do to cross their eintire country.
The fact is gas prices are going to be different in other countries, but you have to consider all the other factors such as public transportation.
I see those guys trundling down the 91, taking up 2 lanes all the time, and all I can think of is "Hey dude.....sorry about your penis!" (I CAN say penis here, right?)
I was sitting next to a hummer at a stop light once and noticed edges of the bumper vibrating from the engine like they were glued on pieces of plastic. So they are huge, ridiculous looking and not even built all that great.
Those Pepsi commercials where people are driving the Pepsi trucks to be stylish don't look all that far out anymore, do they? That truck is just a modified 18 wheel tractor trailer.
At least they are getting so big I'll be able to see the rest of the traffic UNDER them now.
Ugh, that truck. Apparantly, Ashton Kutcher was on TV bragging about his recently. ::shudder::
You're right to point out that the gas prices in the US are way lower than in most other countries and that's because our government subsidizes a large percentage of fuel costs. Which means that it's built into our economy and policy to encourage people to drive as much as possible, buy cars, increase traffic, pollute up a storm, and use up our limited resources. This has not and will not change, no matter what party is in power, probably because of ties between the auto industry and perhaps even auto workers' unions (which I hate to say because I'm generally a big union supporter). Fixing that would take a huge systemic change that I don't really see in the cards anytime soon.
Wow. There just aren't any words for how wasteful and stupid that is.
While I object to SUVs in general, I try not to make too many generalizations. I know a couple people who go to the mountains in New Hampshire frequently with kids, dogs, skis, etc., so there is a valid use for SUVs. (Namely: too many people / too much stuff for a truck, and a van wouldn't handle well enough on the mountain roads.) Plus, it came in handy once when they helped me lug lumber home from the store. Then again, my friends bike or take the subway to work most of the time, so the SUV doesn't do too much traveling anyway.
What bothers me about SUVs is:
- seeing one person drive them, alone, on city streets
- the fact that they could get better gas mileage. They don't because they aren't required to by law, and most people who drive them care more about how they look than their gas-guzzling. (Wait, that was a generalization...)
Eeek, I'm not going to be complaining about the price of gas in Connecticut any longer! Luckily I use the train for my commute to work, and my little (gas efficent) car is used only for around town. I think the vast majority of people in the gas guzzling SUV's drive them only as "status" cars.
I hadn't seen that monstrosity. And scarily enough I wouldn't be surprised seeing it on the roads in the Silicon Valley where I assume people can't afford a house so they buy the most expensive car they can find. SUVs are bad enough but I really hate pickups which only carry the minimum number of people and many people around here use as their main mode of transportation [to the mall]. Things are really going downhill in the States these days.
Commenting by HaloScan
