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Personal Research | unpublished | Don Simmons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"?

[chuckwalla]

you want perspective?
Imagine if a hostile country controlled most of the milk production and the environuts wouldn't let us milk any cows here.
Imagine MPEC paying the same for producing milk but cutting down to raise the price and since we can't do without it they charge $8.00 a gallon. Maybe $10.00 a gallon. They make an extra 2 billion.
Now where is your perspective?
Imagine milk storage companies here saying there is a shortage and adding $2.00 a gallon for a while, or a pipe broke and raising the price another $2.00/gallon?

[Salo]

Funny - I just got a new car - VW Golf TDi. It's a diesel and gets ~48mpg. My truck gets 15 mpg and is now my hauling-only vehicle. I always get my gas (for the truck) from Wal Mart on my credit card and I was putting about 150$ a month in the tank. I'm thinking I'll be around 40$ a month for the VW if that. The more the price of fuel goes up, the better my purchase looks.

[jslade]

I'll bet you're the type to go out and spend more for a gallon of designer water. Think about it. According to experts IIRC, based on 1981 dollars and adjusted for inflation, gas should be selling for $2.40 a gallon.

[syriacus]

An excessive increase in fuel costs will encourage conservation.

Environmentalists should be happy.

[Glenn]

Hey. Paying 6 dollars for a loaf of bread wouldn't break anyone either. Perhaps there should be a monopoly for that.

[Double Tap]

If they wanted to they could keep the price way below one fifty a gallon and still make a lot of money. It bugs me when they raise prices through greed and so many people like you say it is a bargain.

You don't know what you are talking about. Let me ask you this, how much tax do you pay on a gallon of gas where you live? Now, how much tax on a gallon of bottled water? Tell me why there is a difference.

You say greed. Put your brains on display, tell us how much profit, by percentage, these awful companies are making.

[usslsm51]

If the price of gas effected only drivers of cars, it would be a small price to pay. However it effects more than just cars. Airlines, trucks, trains etc., are also effected and thereby cause the rise in prices of all consumer goods to cover the cost of transportation. Its not just a car thing.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Figure out what the median wage in 1960 was, then what a gallon of gas cost back then.

Do the same for 2004.

Buy ten gallons of gas each year.

Figure out what percentage of your weekly salary ten gallons of gas represented then versus now.

Gas was higher in 1960.

Now factor in the average MPG for both 1960 and 2004.

Hands down, we get a better bang for our buck now.

[Celtic Conservative]

"Never underesimate one oil nation's willingness to screw another."

If I recall correctly , one of the reasons opec cut back on production targets was due to some members producing more oil than they agreed to and this brought oil prices down, or kept them flat. The reduction of barrels per day by member nations was an attempt to compensate for these "cheaters". My guess is that the "cheaters" will probably do it again.

CC

[verity]

A slippery slope argument is nothing but a slippery slope. ;~)

[chuckwalla]

It's very simple.
There is enough oil for another two hundred years of current usage. However by that time we will no longer be using gasoline engines.
There is abundance of oil and only politics and greed are keeping the price high.
Are you going to tell me that if someone suddenly came up with an engine that ran on rain water the price of oil would not plummet in order to keep the oil companies alive?
It's like taxing booze and cigarettes. People get addicted to things and can't do without so make them pay more because they will.
We are in a sense addicted to oil and can't do without it so whatever is charged we have to pay.
Why then are the Saudis concerned about ANWR and their prices if it is at rock bottom now?
It's greed. don't buy their line about shortages so the price must rise

[lewislynn]

Would you be asking this if Bush was a Democrat?

[chuckwalla]

If you used 40 loaves a week it would.
Or say a hundred a week.
It adds up fast and comparing gas to bread is foolish.
I might just switch over to tortillas if bread went to high.
Can't do that with gas.
If there was more competition the price would not go up and stay up. It would always be reasonable.

[lewislynn]

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

Taking inflation into account my TV, Stereo, VCR, etc. cost me nothing...free of charge.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Basically.

[lewislynn]

other than retained earings for exploration and more production. Take economic 101.

HUH?

[lewislynn]

A$%hole! When the price goes up 60 cents in 75 days and you make the thired highest profit of all-time,

But wait. Those high prices by OPEC are higher costs to the oil companies, they pass those costs on to you in higher prices not increased profits...See, in "econ 101" higher prices doesn't equate to increased profits.

BTW, you might not have noticed but, in the universities, everything except the exact science of economics is taught by liberals...< /sarcasm >

[7.62 x 51mm]

Here in southcentral Penna, a gallon of milk is $2.59, a gallon of water is $1.99 and a gallon of anti-freeze is $2.15. Gas is still the biggest bargain going... so far. But by mid-summer, it'll be well over $2/gal around here.

[FITZ]

Quite a bit higher here --- and this is a very low wage area.

[chuckwalla]

OPEC raised prices two days ago.
Price here in ca went up 60 cents in about a month over a month ago well before buying any higher priced oil.