Posted on 04/22/2008 10:07:21 AM PDT by shrinkermd
No way poor and lower-middle class families can continue to pay these gas prices. Even the regular middle-class is being hit hard what with all the other expenses such as groceries, higher utilities, etc.
It doesn’t matter how much gas was in the 1950’s, today’s price is the concern for everyone. Eighty dollars or more to fill a tank? That’s a day’s wage after taxes for some people.
Don’t know where things are heading, but everyday life for many people is being affected badly. Guess this is one way to hurt the U.S. economy for those wanting to. People have little money left over for other purchases.
Those who can afford the high prices should keep in mind the other 80% of the population cannot. The economy will slow down even more.
If you'd asked me a couple years ago about what would happen if gas was 4 bucks a gallon, I'd have predicted major changes.
Now it's happened and.......
Just as much traffic as ever (and not just @ commute times)
I drive the speed limit and 90% of the traffic flow goes by on the left
Car pooling? what's that?
so I'm wondering how much difference it really makes?
Gas, Food, Taxes, Medical.
I have two girls to send to college and to marry off. Forget about retirement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I live 1.5 miles from work, and driving a 12 MPG, full-size van, I use far less gas than my hybrid-driving commuter friends.
I thought the same thing, I remember paying 30 cents per gallon in the 70's.
Gas prices will go down one day, that day being the day that no one will be able to afford the posted price.
Wonder if the EUROpeans will be the ones defending OPEC from the next mad tyrant to come on the scene?
You may actually want to try looking at the data about what % of income people spend on their "energy" rather then just emoting. Conservative think, we do response to vapid emoting. Your statements on this thread are pure hysteric emotionalism that do not have any base in fact.
If you burn 20 gallons of gas a week, which is a considerable amount of gas for the average person and the price goes up to $5.00 the change in cost to you each week is 20 x$2.50 = $50.00 a week or $200 a month. Since the price rise lasts about 4 months out of the year, that is an annual increase in cost of about $800.00
That is NOT going to require the average family to significantly change their lifestyle. Maybe they will eat more home cooked meals rather then going out or buy more generic rather then name brand products or cut back on some of their leisure time activity but it is NOT going to cause an Economic Depression.
They always say the poor and middle class can’t afford X, and yet they always seem to. We’re in a transition time, gas was really cheap for a really long time, but the historical average shows that was an aberration, it was below normal pricing when adjusting for inflation and other forces. Transition times are always the hard part, when something goes from below normal price to normal price or above that’s when the pain is felt. Once things stabilize people get used to it again and the pain goes away.
As for $80 or more to fill a gas tank, buy a more fuel efficient vehicle. $80 is 20 or more gallons, nothing with a 20 gallon tank is getting good millage. Your $80 refill is probably barely getting you as far as my $35 refill (320 miles city, close to 400 highway).
It’s the whole mindset where people are doing okay themselves, but they think everyone else is a paycheck away from the soup lines.
So far I’m not seeing it. I was just at the fair this weekend, over and above being an entirely discretionary spending event the Pima fair is WAY out of town, minimum 30 mile round trip for the vast majority of people. Even people who live in the Southeast “boonies” of Tucson that are conceptually “near” the fair have a good 5 miles to get there. And yet the place was packed and the money was flowing. Still got the huge pile of Mexican license plates at the malls every weekend too. Gas prices don’t seem to be slowing down everything, everybody complains but nobody is actually changing their habits.
Using this logic a desktop computer should cost several hundred billion dollars.
The people in my area have certainly begun to change their spending habits. Of course, I am in a small town environment.
England pays about $8 something a gallon and their roads are jammed full of cars. The high price of gas has NOT changed their driving habit or their economy at all. People learn to adapt to changing circumstances. Maybe they don't on vacation this year. Maybe they sell their boat. Maybe they mow their own lawn instead of hiring a lawn service. Etc etc etc
Like most Leftist you seem to think someone in Govt is suppose to take care of YOUR responsibilities, like buying energy, so that your personal life style remains forever unaltered.
Hate to tell you this but YOU are responsible for YOU. No one else is responsible to make sure you have cheap energy.
This is the logical cost of our societies fashionable “environmental” polices. You all screamed during the 1970-80-90s to “give a hoot, don't pollute” and shifted that nasty unsightly energy production away from your homes to overseas in the name of “green politics”. Well this is the logical cost of those self absorbed political decision. There is no free lunch. You all wanted your “green” environment. Well you got it. Now you are paying the price for it by being subject to the tides of the international energy markets.
I don’t think you heard it from me that they were complaining of slim profits. But given your figures (Which you packaged quite nicely) I don’t think their profits are excessive at all.
That is 4.5 billion dollars...compared to the amount of stuff processed, the amount of money it costs and whatever they have to do with profits (reinvest in hardware, etc) it doesn’t sound like they are gouging anyone. It is a big industry.
Since you reverted to your usual name calling, my participation in this discussion with you is over.
Small towns tend to have very delicate economies.
This is the Federal Reserve Bank calculator for inflation. Note, the inflation imputed is not solely energy; this means that the inflation rate is probably more lately because energy and food have been both volatile and rising faster than other portions of living costs.
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