Are today's gas prices really making anyone go broke?

Personal Research | unpublished | Don Simmons

[Don Simmons]

OK - so now the average price of a gallon of gas is up to $1.75. If you pay attention to our beloved "media", you'd think we were all on the brink of poverty because of higher prices at the pump.

However, if you break it down, the fact is that the cost is probably very, VERY absorbable by average Joe American.

Before anyone even thinks about it - yes...I know there are people who are crunched a lot more than others. There are always exceptions - and the comparison I'm about to make can be refuted and disproven with individual examples also.

Don't bother - please take this at face value. It is a comparison -- it's not a rule of law.

OK, let's say you average driving 1,500 miles monthly. That's more than most people and less than some.

Now, let's say your car averages 20 miles per gallon. Again, more than some and less than others.

1,500 miles divided by 20 mpg equals 75 gallons.

So, on average, you use 75 gallons a month. Fair?

OK...

If the price of a gallon were back down to around $1.50, (Yeah, yeah - it should be lower. blah blah blah...it ain't, so deal with it!), I doubt we'd be hearing all this pissing, moaning and whining.

ANYWAY....that's 25 cents less per gallon multiplied by that 75 gallons.

75 X .25 = 18.75

You save $18.75 a month.

For most people -- BIG FRIGGIN' DEAL!!!!!

If that $18.75 breaks your bank, the price of gas is the least of your worries, I say.

It might not be a bad idea for you to.......(are you ready for this?).......CUT BACK!!!!!

LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS!!!!! You probably spend twice that $18.75 - or more - every month swilling cheap beer.

Lord have mercy on my hard, callous soul for telling it like it is.

Am I alone in my thinking here, or can I get an "Amen"?

[ladyinred]

It is quite a bit higher in California, about $2.35 per gallon, but I see your point. A small bottled water is sometimes $3 and it ain't even a gallon!

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[Will_Zurmacht]

hehe...sometimes I miss Cali...
California liberals are the type who complain about $2.50 gas(which is largely their own doing), then go and spent $6.00 on designer coffee...sheesh

[SamAdams76]

You probably spend twice that $18.75 - or more - every month swilling cheap beer.

Not me. I prefer the good stuff.

[.38sw]

It's a mere $1.97/gallon at Costco in Concord. A bargain!

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Prices are around one dollar per gallon less than they were in 1980 if you take inflation into effect.

[SandRat]

and when inflation is calculated in at $1.75 a gallon now back to 1969 that changes the price to about 35 cents a gallon.

If the number DS cited were a tax cut it would be too small and if it were a tax increase it would be said to be insignificant; all from the LIBs trying to use it as a platform for '04 yet they won't allow drilling off the coast of CA, ANWR, or the Gulf of Mexico.

[lelio]

If that $18.75 breaks your bank, the price of gas is the least of your worries, I say.

Two things: this just isn't about the cost of driving your car, but everything you buy is affected by gas prices. Second: the "$18.75 isn't a big deal" is a slippery slope argument. If it isn't a big deal, then why can't the government take it from you?

Granted I know this isn't about taxes, but to say that $500 a year isn't a big deal isn't going to get you much mileage (tongue in cheek).

[writer33]

Yep. Washington just tried to pass one of the coffee taxes on lattes, etc... You would've thought the world was about to come to an end. We can't have that, but raise the price of cigarettes thirty dollars and no one in the media complains.

[Dog Gone]

From the Dept of Energy, March 2004 Short term Energy Outlook

[templar]

However, if you break it down, the fact is that the cost is probably very, VERY absorbable by average Joe American.

High prices hurt Truckers and others that have to drive a lot to make a living (agriculture as well). Those costs will eventually be passed on to consumers in higher prices for everything they buy, as well as the higher prices they pay to fill their tanks. More money spent on fuel is less money spent on other things, which affects everyone producing, transporting or selling those things. Higher oil prices (which is driving price increases of fuel) also affect the price of raw materials for everything from synthetic fabrics and plastics to prescription drugs. Fuel prices are one of the major factors of general inflation of all goods and services.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

OK, let's say you average driving 1,500 miles monthly

Mr. Peel averages 100 miles a day. Prices where we are: $1.79/gallon. Sure, he can afford it, but it was also an excuse to trade in the old and get new. So after careful studying and 1 test drive he found an ultra-cool Saab with all its computerized thingys that tell him he's currently getting 28.9/mpg. The best he ever got with the old was 16.

[grellis]

OK, let's say you average driving 1,500 miles monthly.

I will offer my apologies in advance...as I type this I am suffering through a horrible head cold and the effects of (perhaps too much) cold medicine. But here goes:

My husband works five miles from home, times twice a day, 10 miles. Times five days a work week, 50 miles. Times four weeks a month, uh...200 miles.

Each weekend I average 100 miles junk shopping (antiques, not drugs). Times four weekends, 400 miles. Plus the 200 previously mentioned miles, I'm up to only 600. That's a difference of... uh ... 900 miles from the quoted 1500 monthly average. It just seems like a lot to me.

Having said that, the rising price of gas doesn't bother me one whit more than the rising postal rates. Its still a good deal if you compare it to what virtually every other nation on earth is paying. What keeps me close to home lately is the old Michigan axiom:

Michigan has two seasons: pot hole and construction. Construction season officially started last Monday. I'll be sticking close to home until November.

[breakem]

Permit one paranoid customer's opinion. The majors will have near record profits for the first quarter. Example, Exxon/Mobil is having the 3rd highest profit of any corporation in the history of the world.

Today is the first day of a new quarter. If they keep up the record profit pace for another quearter there will be a revolt and mucho government regulation proposed in an election year.

They are counting their first quarter, smiling and moving on to normal profit-taking.

[peter the great]

Obviously I am going to have to cut back and live within my means. Anyway no matter what city that I am living in, it will always shake out that I will live one half hour from work. hat translates into filling up the tank twice a week. When gas was cheap Filling up the tank cost me any where from $11 to $13. Today I am spending $20 to $22 for a tank. Subtract the difference then multiply that by two and what you start to see is some real money. Which means that is less of something that I could purchase whether it is a beer at a bar, dinner at the diner. a round of golf, lottery tickets, newspapers, magazines what have you. Anyway when the dust settles it is the little guy who bears the brunt of this.

[templar]

The majors will have near record profits for the first quarter.

In dollars surely, but is their percentage of profit any higher?

[Doe Eyes]

So Kerry's 50 cent a gasoline tax really wasn't that big of a deal?

[Don Simmons]

You make a very good point.

However, my comment was brought about from watching (insert name of socialist, pinko, network anchorperson here __________________) pitch his woe to the audience about how much "Americans are feeling it at the pump".

There are many more economic factors that can be considered - some of which, like the chart posted above - can refute even the most up-to-date, across-the-board economic factors.

Good input though.

[JOE6PAK]

For $20 bucks I use to be able to fill my Ranger and buy a 12 pak of Pabst blue ribbon.

Now for $20 bucks,I can only get a 6 pak of Natural lite with a fill up.

It is all BUSH'S FAULT!

WHAAAAAaaaaa!