View Poll Results: will gas be 5 bucks a gallon by end of june?
yes gas will be 5+
69
69.70%
no thats impossible
30
30.30%
Voters: 99. You may not vote on this poll
Will gas be 5 dollars by the end of june?
I don't need more cowbell dammit!
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The scenario for now is that we are ****ed and there isnt much we can do about it since we have worked ourselves into a nice little hole over the past century and a half with our oil dependency.
I don't need more cowbell dammit!
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From: Equally as important as Walter
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"The single most effective measure" that has brought down motorists' fuel use in Europe, however, is taxation, says Dings.
On average, 60 percent of the price European drivers pay at the pump goes to their governments in taxes.
In Britain, the government takes 75 percent, and raises taxes by 5 percent above inflation every year (though it has forgone this year's rise in view of rocketing oil prices, and the French government has promised tax rebates this year to taxi drivers, truckers, fishermen, and others who depend heavily on gasoline.) On August 8, for example, the price of gas in the US, without taxes, would be $2.17, instead of $2.56; in Britain, it would be $1.97, instead of $6.06.
"There is really good evidence that higher prices reduce traffic," says Stephen Glaister, a professor of transportation at London's Imperial College. "If fuel prices go up 10 percent ... fuel consumed goes down by about 7 percent, as people start to use fuel more efficiently, not accelerating so aggressively and switching to more fuel-efficient cars. It does change people's behavior."
The US authorities, however, "are unwilling to use resource price as part of their strategy" to conserve oil, says Lee Schipper, head of transportation research at the Washington-based World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank.
"The biggest hole in our policy today is fuel taxation," he adds. "Tax increases are something Americans should do but don't know how to do, and I wonder if they will ever be able to.
"Consumers want muscle cars, manufacturers say they make what the consumer wants, and the government panders to both constituencies," Mr. Schipper continues. "It's a vicious cycle."
On average, 60 percent of the price European drivers pay at the pump goes to their governments in taxes.
In Britain, the government takes 75 percent, and raises taxes by 5 percent above inflation every year (though it has forgone this year's rise in view of rocketing oil prices, and the French government has promised tax rebates this year to taxi drivers, truckers, fishermen, and others who depend heavily on gasoline.) On August 8, for example, the price of gas in the US, without taxes, would be $2.17, instead of $2.56; in Britain, it would be $1.97, instead of $6.06.
"There is really good evidence that higher prices reduce traffic," says Stephen Glaister, a professor of transportation at London's Imperial College. "If fuel prices go up 10 percent ... fuel consumed goes down by about 7 percent, as people start to use fuel more efficiently, not accelerating so aggressively and switching to more fuel-efficient cars. It does change people's behavior."
The US authorities, however, "are unwilling to use resource price as part of their strategy" to conserve oil, says Lee Schipper, head of transportation research at the Washington-based World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank.
"The biggest hole in our policy today is fuel taxation," he adds. "Tax increases are something Americans should do but don't know how to do, and I wonder if they will ever be able to.
"Consumers want muscle cars, manufacturers say they make what the consumer wants, and the government panders to both constituencies," Mr. Schipper continues. "It's a vicious cycle."
to bad bush didn't want to fund anything before......day late and a dollar short...........**** is going to hit the fan long before we see these alternative energies.
And when we get all the benefits of a socialist economy I will gladly pay $10 a gallon, but as long as I am paying $1200 a year pluys co-pays for health insurance and my parents shelled out $200,000 for my college education, comparing taxes, as stated before, is useless. Also, dont forget the public transportation system in England/France/Germany is far superior to our system.
the fact is greedy bastards and stupid presidents have screwed us by;
1) not building any large-scale public transportation.
2)Not funding projects to produce more economical solutions, and alternative energies.
yeah what a joke. America likes to help develop technology, just not implement it.
E.G. 41 million dollars to send paper notice about stimulus checks.
Personally i'm pretty worried. We spent all we had toying around in Iraq and making our rich richer, when we should have been saving for Iran or N Korea. We've also created a recession with fear, and done nothing but keep driving the econ under and under. E.G. letting investment banks profit off the people when we are already desperate.
our government is a joke, if you don't believe it you are a sucker. i'm just hoping we can start back in the right path sometime........pretty daunting really.
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Dont forget, gas in Europe has been well over $5 for a long time now, they seem to be doing OK with it. The solution is alternative means of cross country transport, such as trains which for the amount of energy required to power can transport a whole hell of a lot more consumer goods than a truck can.[/QUOTE]
not trying to compare tax systems but just point out why they pay more for gas. like you said they pay more for their gas but they have free health care and the other benefits from a socialist society. not a fair comparison imo
not trying to compare tax systems but just point out why they pay more for gas. like you said they pay more for their gas but they have free health care and the other benefits from a socialist society. not a fair comparison imo
We CAN'T STOP PUMPING.
Yes THEY own the oil and THEY can do what they want but WE can impose trade embargos and up the prices of OUR exports. You want to see those countries go to **** lets see what happens when they can't get the **** they need because the rest of the world is sick of paying insane oil prices and doesn't need harroine that much.
You can't take the world hostage and expect no one to get pissed...
my personal opinion is **** the rest of the world right now. I'm sick of being the world police and the world saviors. Disaster... who's the first one there. America. Civil war and genocide... who is expected to step up... America. **** that. Let the UN deal with it. I'm sick and tired of everyone thinking america is full of *** holes and lazy self centered **** heads then turning around and living off our economy and taking advantage of our help and expecting us to save their ***. If we're so bad then why does everyone want to be here. Why do we have places like Watsonville with majority mexican immagrants. Fremont. Daly City. etc. Why do people want to be here? We're so bad. I don't want to be anywhere near the OPEC countries. So I'm not.
Shoot, we produce enough oil to be self sustaining. 90% of gas in 2007 was produced by U.S. refineries. We're the 3rd largest producer of oil. If we decided to be like the OPEC countries and hold back the world would be truly screwed.
sorry... quite honestly my knowledge is limited on this. I read what I can but I'm no economics major so I can only go off what I read and what I see. This is a hot button for me Gagan. You know you're my boy so don't take any of this personal.
All I'm saying is for the most part Americans don't really have a choice NOT to use gas. We don't have public transit in place. We have huge commutes compared to the rest of the world and our families are not centralized. Most of us can't get on a bike and ride over to our cousins house then bust over to grannies house like we could in the 50's. I'd LOVE to use less gas. But between commutes, travel and visiting family and friends my wife and I put about 55k on our 2 cars. It used to be more. I used to be about 35k a year MYSELF.
It's not that simple and it's not an "addiction" it's reliance. I'm sure many americans would love to take trains to work if they could. Or live 5 minutes from the office if they could. Sorry I can't afford to drop 850k on a house so I can be closer to the office.
sorry... just my personal opinion.
we're not as bad as the world media likes to make us out to be.
Yes THEY own the oil and THEY can do what they want but WE can impose trade embargos and up the prices of OUR exports. You want to see those countries go to **** lets see what happens when they can't get the **** they need because the rest of the world is sick of paying insane oil prices and doesn't need harroine that much.
You can't take the world hostage and expect no one to get pissed...
my personal opinion is **** the rest of the world right now. I'm sick of being the world police and the world saviors. Disaster... who's the first one there. America. Civil war and genocide... who is expected to step up... America. **** that. Let the UN deal with it. I'm sick and tired of everyone thinking america is full of *** holes and lazy self centered **** heads then turning around and living off our economy and taking advantage of our help and expecting us to save their ***. If we're so bad then why does everyone want to be here. Why do we have places like Watsonville with majority mexican immagrants. Fremont. Daly City. etc. Why do people want to be here? We're so bad. I don't want to be anywhere near the OPEC countries. So I'm not.
Shoot, we produce enough oil to be self sustaining. 90% of gas in 2007 was produced by U.S. refineries. We're the 3rd largest producer of oil. If we decided to be like the OPEC countries and hold back the world would be truly screwed.
sorry... quite honestly my knowledge is limited on this. I read what I can but I'm no economics major so I can only go off what I read and what I see. This is a hot button for me Gagan. You know you're my boy so don't take any of this personal.
All I'm saying is for the most part Americans don't really have a choice NOT to use gas. We don't have public transit in place. We have huge commutes compared to the rest of the world and our families are not centralized. Most of us can't get on a bike and ride over to our cousins house then bust over to grannies house like we could in the 50's. I'd LOVE to use less gas. But between commutes, travel and visiting family and friends my wife and I put about 55k on our 2 cars. It used to be more. I used to be about 35k a year MYSELF.
It's not that simple and it's not an "addiction" it's reliance. I'm sure many americans would love to take trains to work if they could. Or live 5 minutes from the office if they could. Sorry I can't afford to drop 850k on a house so I can be closer to the office.
sorry... just my personal opinion.
we're not as bad as the world media likes to make us out to be.
Our corporations are as bad though. They have ****ed us in many ways for the bottom line. I mean, you mentioned exports Ray... what do we export anymore that other countries need? I don't think there is much of anything we sell to others that they couldn't get somewhere else cheaper, or begin to.
Everything you stated about not having alternatives in place is true. But that's some what our fault. Not OURS, i mean like people 40-50 years ago. Everything was about the auto, so public trans isn't as used. Yahoo news talked about a HUGE jump in public trans in the last half year. In a way, i feel if this is what it take for folks to wake up, so be it. We'll be a stronger country in the future if we make sure we don't make the same mistakes of yesterday.
Nuclear power, solar energy, electric cars... these are the true, long term ways to fix our situation, stop our addiction to oil, and really get our asses back onto self sufficiency.
We are taking care of the current problem by getting ready to lessen our dependency on oil. The only way the price comes down is by creating an elastic demand curve, that will only happen through adaptation of alternative energy sources on a world wide basis. Currently demand for oil in inelastic, meaning that regardless of the price, demand is constant. If the demand is going to be the same at $5 as it was at $2 why would an oil company charge $2 when they could be getting $5? If alternative energy sources are available the demand for oil will decrease creating an elastic demand curve where the market will adjust itself for oil to be at the optimum level of demand and supply where the market will dictate the price, not the holder of oil.
Oh, and don't forget that we are DESTROYING the value of the US dollar right now due to the war.
Crude Oil is only traded in US dollars... Dollar goes down, oil goes up. Much of the price of crude today, probably $20-$40 per barrel alone is due to the much declined dollar.
As we destroy the dollar, we print more, we further destroy it, and we risk inflation. We cut the Key Rate over and over and over again... well, inflation WILL go up. and it has, .4% in April alone. If it goes up that much again in May, we are headed for SERIOUS rough times in the next few years, much like what we faced in the early 90s.
Crude Oil is only traded in US dollars... Dollar goes down, oil goes up. Much of the price of crude today, probably $20-$40 per barrel alone is due to the much declined dollar.
As we destroy the dollar, we print more, we further destroy it, and we risk inflation. We cut the Key Rate over and over and over again... well, inflation WILL go up. and it has, .4% in April alone. If it goes up that much again in May, we are headed for SERIOUS rough times in the next few years, much like what we faced in the early 90s.
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Car Info: 96 Chevy Impala SS, 06 GMC 2500HD (former 02 WRX)
FWIW, no need to wait till June if you are running something that burns diesel. Pic taken last night as I was topping off my truck 
I don't need more cowbell dammit!
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 3,203
From: Equally as important as Walter
Car Info: E82
Oh, and don't forget that we are DESTROYING the value of the US dollar right now due to the war.
Crude Oil is only traded in US dollars... Dollar goes down, oil goes up. Much of the price of crude today, probably $20-$40 per barrel alone is due to the much declined dollar.
As we destroy the dollar, we print more, we further destroy it, and we risk inflation. We cut the Key Rate over and over and over again... well, inflation WILL go up. and it has, .4% in April alone. If it goes up that much again in May, we are headed for SERIOUS rough times in the next few years, much like what we faced in the early 90s.
Crude Oil is only traded in US dollars... Dollar goes down, oil goes up. Much of the price of crude today, probably $20-$40 per barrel alone is due to the much declined dollar.
As we destroy the dollar, we print more, we further destroy it, and we risk inflation. We cut the Key Rate over and over and over again... well, inflation WILL go up. and it has, .4% in April alone. If it goes up that much again in May, we are headed for SERIOUS rough times in the next few years, much like what we faced in the early 90s.
I don't need more cowbell dammit!
iTrader: (5)
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 3,203
From: Equally as important as Walter
Car Info: E82
You can't blame bush alone for the problem. But saying you can't blame him at all is ignorant in my opinion. He's done zero to help out economy from going into the ****ter. He is definitely someone at fault for our high gas prices. His pappy too. England/France/Germany **** on us, they not only have economical cars in play as a whole, but also have public transportation. They pay triple what we do for gas, but not comparing the taxes there is retarded. They actually have good roads and money that is obviously spent on what its suppose to be.
the fact is greedy bastards and stupid presidents have screwed us by;
1) not building any large-scale public transportation.
2)Not funding projects to produce more economical solutions, and alternative energies.
yeah what a joke. America likes to help develop technology, just not implement it.
E.G. 41 million dollars to send paper notice about stimulus checks.
Personally i'm pretty worried. We spent all we had toying around in Iraq and making our rich richer, when we should have been saving for Iran or N Korea. We've also created a recession with fear, and done nothing but keep driving the econ under and under. E.G. letting investment banks profit off the people when we are already desperate.
our government is a joke, if you don't believe it you are a sucker. i'm just hoping we can start back in the right path sometime........pretty daunting really.
the fact is greedy bastards and stupid presidents have screwed us by;
1) not building any large-scale public transportation.
2)Not funding projects to produce more economical solutions, and alternative energies.
yeah what a joke. America likes to help develop technology, just not implement it.
E.G. 41 million dollars to send paper notice about stimulus checks.
Personally i'm pretty worried. We spent all we had toying around in Iraq and making our rich richer, when we should have been saving for Iran or N Korea. We've also created a recession with fear, and done nothing but keep driving the econ under and under. E.G. letting investment banks profit off the people when we are already desperate.
our government is a joke, if you don't believe it you are a sucker. i'm just hoping we can start back in the right path sometime........pretty daunting really.
The lack of a sufficient public transportation system can in no way be blamed on Bush, that is the fault of people generations ago who wanted cars, and thus all of our energies were spent on personal transport. Same with alternative energy solutions, it was a lack of foresight thinking that we could develop an economy solely dependant on oil and that it wouldnt cause any problems in the future. Alternative energy programs will take a while to take effect and we will not see benefits, at least not on a large scale, for another 10-15 years.