Vanity: Gas Prices

March 10, 2003 | don-o

[verity]

Perhaps the most salient perspective is that gas is available.

[ChildOfThe60s]

I'll go you one further. In 1975, the Senate OK'd the pipeline from the North Slope by 1 vote (the Vice President's being the tie breaker).

Care to imagine what the situation would be now with 20-40% of our domestic production missing?

[chimera]

For a child of the 60s, you sure must do a lot of driving. I put about 5 gallons every week in my '88 Sentra with it's 116,000 miles and all. I buy at least that much in milk and OJ at the grocery every week for the family. I'm out about $19 for milk and OJ, about $10 for gasoline. So gasoline isn't all that big of a part of my weekly budget. 20 gallons of gasoline each week seems like a lot of driving miles for a '60s-type person.

[TheBattman]

OK - someone please break down the reason oil (and resultant gasoline) prices are back near or at record.

I know of a couple of reasons - please add to this list:

1. Weak dollar
2. Venezuela
3. Russian Oil industry still jacked up (Yukos)
4. OPEC still exists (what a bunch of gangsters)
5. No cuts in fuel taxes - a favorite of many states.

What else? I understand the oil is back on from Iraq. The Russians need to get their collective heads out of their butts. ANWAR needs drilling (but will take years before we see the results from that).

[tomkat]

As of this afternoon in central PA:

$1.99 Regular
$2.09 Mid-grade
$2.19 Premium

[TheBattman]

Didn't we fight two wars for oil or did I miss that memo?

Yeah- and the oil from that trans-Afghanistan oil pipeline should be kicking in soon.....

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

"Not if adjusted for inflation. I remember reading an FR post a few months ago that tracked historical prices for gasoline in constant dollars. If I recall correctly, the highest inflation-adjusted price was in the early 1950s"

You are correct and it wasn't until mid 1970 that the number of seismic crews was higher than in the 1950s.

[fuente]

Paid $1.93 tonight at Food City on South Roan.

[ChildOfThe60s]

For a child of the 60s, you sure must do a lot of driving..........20 gallons of gasoline each week seems like a lot of driving miles for a '60s-type person.

Hmmm, I'm not sure how to respond to that [after I stop laughing]. How much should I be driving? Is it OK for me to be out after dark, by myself? [chuckle].Seriously, what image do you have in your mind? BTW, what I mean is that I came of age in the 60's & had a LOT of fun doing so. But, that does not mean I am a converted peacenik or reformed leftie.

Actually, I am figuring both cars that I own in the equation. Plus, even though you may not put a lot of miles on a car, many others do. And for good, productive reasons. I buy a quart of milk a week & probably a half gallon of OJ. So, there is lots of variance in people's consumption patterns.

Anyway, the point I really mean to make is that IMO the items used in the comparison are not comparable in a useful sense. The price of gas is neither more nor less reasonable because a gallon of milk is greater. It just makes for interesting conversation.

In 1972 I took home about $90 a week. *BUT* I paid 25¢ a pack for cigs, $2.00 a case for Busch, $6 a week for health insurance, $90 a month for a new Datsun on a 36 month loan, and $75 a month for my share of the apartment. Less than $20 per week for all of my food. Oh, yes, 30¢ a gallon for gas. I quit the cigs in 1977, but I am still paying for everything else. I do drink much higher quality beer, though [oh yeah]. Oops, almost forgot, about $10 a week for premium weed. Yes, yes, that too went by the wayside quite some time ago ;-)

[don-o]

You a homie or passing through?

[fuente]

New here and grow'n roots.

[_katie_scarlet]

Hilliard, OH

$1.97

[Conspiracy Guy]

Yes. Keeping things in perspective is important. I wish everything was cheaper and I made more money too.

[chimera]

Yep, I'll go along with that. Like I tell the missus, I wish I didn't have to work for a living, either. I wish money would grow on trees. I wish people would just take care of me forever. I wish....

Aw, rats, I woke up...

[chimera]

It is interesting conversation. Economists would say you are factoring in the concept of utility of the various items. In today's world, most of us need to keep on consuming gasoline at more or less constant levels. The demand is relatively inflexible unless better alternatives come along (which isn't likely). Most of us can do without luxury items, designer water, cigs, champagne, etc. So we value the more useful items at a higher level, and when their price varies we "feel it" more acutely.

My point was that on a per unit basis energy prices really haven't been the bugbear driving higher prices. Other cost components have been. The price of labor in this country has gone way up (which is good for us personally, but we'll pay for that through higher prices). I myself can't believe the price of modestly-sized automobiles. Housing prices are up. And don't even get me started on medical costs and tuition. In the long run, energy prices, while volatile on occasion, have held relatively steady.

I stipulated that I don't like the higher prices any more than you do, and I'll whine about them just as well as any of you people do. But, thanks largely to our own efforts, we've done okay in this country in terms of supply and cost of energy. But it wouldn't take much to change that. A good reason why we have to stay on our toes, and keep the pressure on Congress to pass that energy bill.

[Conspiracy Guy]

If the government could support my standard of living I'd quit working tomorrow and join the Entitlement Class.