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Automotive News & Views How does gas at $4 and higher impact you?
2183 messages, Last post on Nov 21, 2009 at 5:13 PM
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when someone would point out that in this year when "the deep recession will ensure gas never gets above $2.50", I am paying $3/gallon already and it isn't even July 4th yet.  Let's take another wild ride as Americans' consumptive habits bite them in the butt once again.....
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what happened to Germany before the second world war. Rather than find a way to manage the market in a true capitalistic way we decided to spend money we didn't have to bail out a market that didn't respond. There was no revenue coming in from spending or even buying so all the government could do was print more money. But that money isn't backed up with anything so sooner or later it becomes worth less and so it takes more to buy the same amount of goods as it once did for less money. Think how bad this would have been if we would have raised taxes on fuel when it was low. The price would have gone up anyway and we would have had the whammy of paying higher taxes and higher prices for fuel. Employment is still going down and business is still suffering and the government is still printing more money. I am afraid we are about to see inflation like we have seen since Carter. The country maid no provision to control speculators and they can tie up 100 dollars worth of assets with 10 dollars. They can't be stopped unless they are made to pay more to get into the game and that didn't happen. I doubt if it ever will because the speculators are often part of the same clubs that our congress members are. I will drive less and spend less on vacations and many will do the same. It won't keep it from effecting me because food will go up and utilities will go up and people will lose even more jobs. We lowered consumption and prices went up. Refineries slowed production to try and increase profits. Use will go down more and there is a plan by government to increase taxes on fuel and that will decrease useage even more. So production will have to be cut more and the circle will continue until we get some kind of balance. But it just may be time to get off the need for oil as a major transportation fuel. we may have to see a collapse of the auto industry as we know it and see something replace it with renewable energy. Now may be the time to get off of the ICE bandwagon and go EV or something else. Whatever happens we are just beginning to go into this downturn and we are no where near the bottom. In effect Chrysler is gone and GM is GM in name only. OIL is almost like a narcotic in how we use it and like a narcotic we may have to learn to go cold turkey if we don't learn how to get off of it by cutting back to nothing over time. Just what I get from watching the media and forming an opinion. 
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$2.20 is great. $2.89 sucks. At $3.00 more job losses will start and Honda will start eating into domestic sales again. Last year was the worst in 51 years for summer jobs. This summer is the worst in 53 years and that was with $2.25 gas of a month ago. I still think the oil sellers and speculators will squeeze the world for all it has. There will never again be a DOW 10,000 in 2007 dollars. America has lost nearly $15 Trillion of wealth in the last 16 months. Only about 1/3 of that $15T was artificial real estate wealth from the bubble. |
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Replying to: boaz47 (Jun 11, 2009 1:54 pm) |
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Replying to: nippononly (Jun 11, 2009 11:58 am)
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Replying to: boaz47 (Jun 11, 2009 1:54 pm) One thing for sure; I'm not going to let go of my Geo Metro!!! Even with a car that gets 50+ MPG, I still react to every price increase by cutting back on my driving. For me; it is largely a matter of principle; I feel it is unethical to buy from those who are robbing me; so I only do it after the price has been at a given plateau for long enough that I've become numbed to the shock of those particular numbers. Then; the next time there is an increase; I repeat the same dance. It is sort of like a person who is in a situation where they are repeatedly abused. At first, it seems awful; but after a while the outrage wears off, leaving just apathy and depression. And eventually one comes to forget, or else deny, that life was not always this way; and that it is our own fear and consequent reluctance to actualize our potential which is the main thing that prevents us from transcending what we identify as the obstacles in our path. There are so many unrealized and unused options available to us; if we only opened our hearts and minds to see and embrace them. If enough people in this country were willing to organize and make meaningful changes in their vehicle usage patterns; it could have a significant enough impact on the fuel suppliers that they would HAVE to change their ways. I can think of only one historic instance where people got together cooperatively in that way; it was in a country which had been continuously losing its soldiers in an ongoing war. The women in that country finally became so fed up with the slaughter that they all got together and agreed to refuse to have sex with their husbands until the war ended!! And the war promptly ended!!! It was so easy; once the people got together. |
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Replying to: gagrice (Jun 11, 2009 8:27 pm) I'm currently getting ready to head to down to the lake for the weekend and realized the gas in our boat is from last October and I paid over $4.30/gal. Under $3 and I don't really pay attention to the price of gas. I remember paying over $3/gal for the first time right after Katrina, when was that? Two to three years ago? What I find odd is the last time gas started creeping up to $3/gal and above people on the street and the lib media were screaming that Bush/Cheney were the cause and were doing nothing about it. I remember some Dems screaming the the same kind of crap. Hell, I've hardly heard a thing on the liberal news outlets lately on gas prices or the fact oil is back over $71/barrel. I think the Dems want expensive oil so they can cram their energy policy down our throats. I believe something needs to be done and we do need reduce our oil use. Gas still will have to routinely get over $4.50/gal for me to consider changing the way I use gas. Probably the $5/gal range would make it worth while to park the Expedition and buy a small car to run around town in. I'd love to have a VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI to run around in while paying less for diesel and getting 30-40mpg. Probably would have enough utility to use it to go down to the lake and I'd only need the Expedition when towing our boat or when our girls bring friends with. |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Jun 11, 2009 10:12 am)  I'll KNOW gasoline prices are way too high if it keeps us from Carlisle! Last year was insane!
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and figured out that I put 295 gallons of gas in the smart over the last year, plus another 50-75 gallons for the other 2 cars, and 40 gallons for the lawnmower. So maybe 400 altogether? I suppose that's not awful, but it's more than I'm happy with. Unfortunately, the only diesel cars that fit my tastes and budget are junky VWs.  There is a wide variety of new and used diesel options to cut the grass, though. 
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Replying to: lemko (Jun 12, 2009 6:33 am) I have my 5th Ave's mileage log with me right now, as I was entering some data into a spreadsheet. The first time I broke $4.00 per gallon was on 7/11/08, as I filled it up down here, before going up for the Mopar show. I paid $4.319 per gallon for 93 octane at the local Shell. When I got up to Dillsburg, PA, where I turn off 15 to take the back roads to Carlisle, I stopped off and topped off because I saw gas for the low, low price of $4.099! When I ran the math, somehow I got 21.3 mpg on that stretch, which I'm not buying. However, it was pure highway, and I wasn't driving that fast, so I guess it's possible. Probably more possible though, that the pump just shut off a little early! That fill-up lasted me all weekend up there, and I didn't fill up again until 7/15/08, again at the Shell station, and again at $4.319. And then I didn't put gas in it again until November, when it was down to $2.599 for 89 octane. It bottomed out at $1.759 for 93 octane the day after Christmas. The cheapest fill-up I ever had for that car was on 10/20/01. I had just brought it home, and filled up for $1.079 per gallon. I think that was mid-grade. If gas prices get too high, I guess I can always borrow my uncle's Corolla for the shows we attend where I don't put a car in. But even there, it's really not saving much money, considering the sacrifice (slower, noisier, not as good of a highway cruiser, weaker a/c, more cramped etc). My Intrepid can break 30 mpg on that trip pretty easily, where my uncle's Corolla gets around 37-38. Over the course of 250 miles, we're talking about a savings of less than two gallons of gas. If that's enough to break me, then there are some pretty deep-rooted problems in my finances! |
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