Gas Prices

[LayinLo]

I think that maybe we are trying to be the last ones with oil left.

[rogerthat]

Originally Posted by B_Wayne

1.95 in northern VA/Washington DC!

I hate this damn gas price war. If I had it my way, the price of gas would be back under a buck like when I was in high school. From what I hear, we make enough oil in the US to be completely self sufficient, but its our dependency on foreign oil that makes the prices so bad. Then does anyone else NOT see that if we just supplied ourselves we could have the gas prices at whatever we wanted?

Perhaps my mind works to logically to understand their reasoning.

we tried that when we drilled in alaska, environmentalists said no. they would rather have over 2 dollar a gallon gas prices than to see an elk die that will be dead in a couple years anyways.

[themeatmanlandry]

Maybe it's just me, but . . .

We're buying all this oil from those folks, but someday they'll be out and we'll still have some. Will they come up with an alternative energy source before then? Not likely. THey blow their money on crap.

When they run out (assuming they're not all turned to glass and ashes by then), the tables will be turned.

[Trapper]

Originally Posted by themeatmanlandry

Will they come up with an alternative energy source before then? Not likely. THey blow their money on crap.

.

As if they couldn't, or haven't already. But the powers that be (Bush et al.) make a lot of money on oil and if we all started driving on hydrogen fuel those people would lose a lot of income.

BTW. Bush et al. includes all oil barons not just the Bush's. Not meant to be political(maybe a little), as we've been down that road.

[themeatmanlandry]

Hydrogen fuel ain't all that. Trust me.

. . . and as for the middle-easterners, I don't think they are very interested in coming up with alternative fuel sources. My point being, they'll be paying us when they run out. Supply and demand dictates that htey'll pay more than us by then. Hehehe!!

[c50tiger]

not to detract from the discourse on alternative fuels (hijack, anyone?) but:
Muscle Shoals, AL - 97 Octane as $1.94 when I got there Wednesday, $1.96 when I left this morning.

Selma, AL - 97 Octane $1.99 when I left Wednesday, $1.97 when I got back this evening.

Go figure.

[advr4]

87 octane - 2.13/gal.
93 octane - 2.41/gal.

[PerrydaSavage]

St. John's, Newfoundland Canada ... Regular Unleaded (87 octane) is selling for $0.985Cdn per litre = $3.02USD per US Gallon ... ouch!
On the topic of alternative fuel ... oil (and hence gasoline) will become unaffordably expensive, long before the last drop is pumped ... it is imperative that the Western Economies develop a viable, affordable energy source within the next decade, otherwise our whole way of life will be jeopardized ... too continue to rely on expensive oil from an unstable source (Middle East) to run our economy is to court economic disaster ...

[inspiron]

Oil is just like tobacco.

On one hand, the government wants people to stop smoking, since it is causing health-care costs to skyrocket. At the same time, they are taking in billions of tax dollars every year thanks to cigarettes. So any claim that they are trying to fight smoking is to be taken with some skepticism.

This was very obvious in Germany recently ... they raised the taxes on cigarettes so that a pack now costs more than $3.00. The result ... many people have quit smoking, and others are importing/smuggling cigarettes from eastern europe, where they cost only half as much.

Now, the German government is considering reversing the new tobacco tax, since they have lost millions in tax revinue, and won't be able to meet the european stability requirements again this year.

I'm sure that the mineral-oil situation is the same - on one hand, they know that there is a need forf alternative fuels, but on the other hand, they can't start heavily taxing the alternatives until people are depending upon them. And there is the dilemma - as long as people are depending upon oil, the government will continue to earn money with it. They aren't really keen to slaughter their cash-cow.

[Trapper]

Originally Posted by inspiron

Oil is just like tobacco.



This was very obvious in Germany recently ... they raised the taxes on cigarettes so that a pack now costs more than $3.00. The result ... many people have quit smoking, and others are importing/smuggling cigarettes from eastern europe, where they cost only half as much.

.

Smokes are $10 in Canada

[inspiron]

I think that they cost around $13 in the UK or Sweden. As far as I'm concerned, they could be $100 per pack ... since I don't smoke

One place where the USA is far ahead of Europe is in non-smokers rights. In North America, you almost always have a non-smoking area in a restaurant (ignoring for the moment states like California, where smoking anywhere in public is punishable by death).

Here, smoking is widely accepted, and it is rare to find a non-smoking restaurant, or separate non-smoking areas.

BTW, gas prices have dropped about 10 cents per gallon! Today, "normal" gas (95 octane) costs only US$4.585 per gallon (CHF 1.445 per liter).

[LayinLo]

Did you say 95 octane? Here the highest octane you can get is 93.5.

[inspiron]

I think that the octane ratings here are calculated differently ... in Germany, Normal is 92 octane, "Super" is 95 and "Super Plus" is 98. Now they are starting to market "Optima" or "V-Power" with 100 octane.

In Switzerland, on the other hand, "normal" is 95 and "super" is 98. They don't sell 92 here, and haven't introduced the more expensive "V-Power" either. It could be because most filling stations here only have 3 tanks ... 95, 98 and Diesel. The small station near my house only sells 95 and Diesel, they don't even bother with the 98. (I like this station - it's fully automated, open 24 hours a day, and about 2 Rappen per liter cheaper than other stations).

[sonofdob]

Vancouver, B.C. 89 octane .69 cents