When Will Gas Prices Be Too High?

[WIP]

We've become acclimated.

 

[Former Christian]

Mike

You're right. It's all about perspective. To the sellers it will never be too high. To the buyers it will always be too high. And Republicans have nothing to do with it. Welcome to the world as we know it.

FC

 

[Fedusenko]

only diesels built prior to 2007. and its not free,you will be fined if you get a license. i know we do it at work and a coworker. handy, if you are reading this pm me.

Didn't know that! You were speaking of vegitable oil fueled cars, right?

As for hydroxy... you can do it for diesel, I don't know if the 2007 thing applies, but I know you can't use it on turbo charge engines.

 

[jasoncran]

Didn't know that! You were speaking of vegitable oil fueled cars, right?

As for hydroxy... you can do it for diesel, I don't know if the 2007 thing applies, but I know you can't use it on turbo charge engines.

we do, all our vehicles that have it are diesel run on biodiesel(we use oil and yes we could use veggie oil but best for the older vehicle that have mechanic injection and no computers.

 

[Mike]

totopic

This thread is about the price of gas at the pump.

 

[handy]

I think you have this backwards. Of course this isn't considering taxes we pay, but if minimum wage is $7.25/hour and gas costs $3.64/gallon, you'll have to work roughly 30 minutes to pay for a gallon.

So, I'm telling Steve this very thing and he gives me this look... a "Honey, you know I love you but...ummm..." sort of look. He points out that I have this all backwards as well.....

What can I say... math was never a strong subject of mine.

I go now...go hide my head in shame.

 

[stovebolts]

Gas prices have been too high for the past 8-10 years IMO. Like yourself Mike, I fill up twice a week one week, three times the next week and cycle. Monthly gasoline bill was just over $450. Thank goodness I'm now carpooling so that saves me roughly $200 a month. My wife is a rural mail carrier and when she would fill in on other routes, it wasn't uncommon for our monthly gasoline bill to be upward if not over $1,000 in a month.

Considering I keep my cars roughly 8 years I don't see a financial significance in owning a Volt. If the Volt costs $40,000 and I'm currently spending $250 in gasoline each month by carpooling, then it would take me 13 years to zero out the cost of the car. If I wasn't carpooling, it would take 6.5 years to zro out the cost of the car. Considering a car is only good for about 8-10 years, I don't see the financial advantage of owning Volt. Besides, I pay cash for my cars and there is no way I"m paying $40,000 for a car especially when it will never pay for itself, or a very weak return at best.

On the other hand the Sonic gets 40 mpg and only costs $14,000. That means instead of 9-10 tanks of gas a month (if I don't carpool) I'm only going through 4.5 tanks a month. That's almost 6 tanks of Gas a month savings. Not bad and that's money I put right back in my pocket and the car pays for itself in a relatively short time.

 

[jasoncran]

totopic

This thread is about the price of gas at the pump.

some may own a diesel. so it is revelant. i dont but i know a coworker who goes to north carolina for free on veggie oil that he recycles. he does this twice a year.

 

[Aardverk]

some may own a diesel. so it is revelant.

A diesel engine'd car could benefit many people but they are strangely reluctant to try one. Higher 'gas' mileage is equivalent to a gas price cut.

I have a diesel Mercedes E-Class (auto) and get an average of 39mpg with a fair bit of town mileage. It very easily gets above 45mpg on a run at 80mph. This is a reasonably spacious, comfortable, quiet car capable of over 140mph.

Previously I had a gas powered E-Class which wouldn't even average 22mpg around town and could only just get above 30mpg on a run if I kept down to 70mph, but it could go up to 155mph.

Given that I rarely go above 85mph, why would I want a gas powered car again? Why does anyone?

Those people driving around in huge trucks, not even getting 20mpg need to do the math. Is an E-Class Mercedes (or equivalent) really too small for you?

 

[jasoncran]

most diesels are quieter then the older ones as they are direct injection over the piston. this is why gas engines are also done this way as its efficient.

 

[Car Guy]

My wife and I spend about $360/month in gas at the current prices. It will be $400/month if gas goes up another $0.50/gallon as predicted. It is the highest bill we have each month short of the house payment.

The reality is that I am not doing anything differently. I'll just suck it up and wait for it to go back down.

 

[Nick]

I did the math. It seems Americans are Paying less for their fuel per quantity. But it seems they have less fuel efficient cars, generally.

 

[Bob Carabbio]

When folks stop buying it discretionally.

When I started driving Gas was $0.21/Gal, and went down to $0.18 in gas wars. My old '50 Chrysler New Yorker delivered 8 miles per gallon, and that was just fine.

I'm not sure what the "game" is - but since I'm in a company that services the "Oil Patch" industries, I DO know that they're buying "down hole" equipment like it was going out of style, and MONEY isn't much of a consideration.

IT COULD BE a "politically manipulative move" on the part of our government to MAKE people "think about" the "Chevy VOLT", and other electric car options. There COULD BE "Electric Cars" today - except that there's no "Infrastructure" to support 'em, and since we'll NEVER even consider changing anything we do UNLESS things become impossible to maintain, there never will BE an Infrastructure until significant numbers of electric vehicles actually hit the road. Since "Global warming" as a "Reason to change" has been exposed as just another sham, and the majority of folks (including myself) don't care SPIT about the environment, there has to be some OTHER equally phony, but persuasive reason to push the agenda.

Almost EVERYTHING that we "Hear" about the "Cost of Gas" is at least partially an outright lie, anyway - either from the suppliers, or from our government.

"So, now we've topped $4 per gallon in the U.S."

Not here in the Dallas area yet. it jumped from 3.56 to 3.79 in the last few days. I'd guess it'll go to $4.50 or so, and start sliding down again when they discover the "Threshold of pain" where the profits start dropping off.

"Are you doing anything differently, and at what price will you take measures you never thought you'd consider?"

Nope - everything's the same as always, and $5.00 gas wouldn't make a bit of difference.

 

[Mike]

Mitch Album, who's authored some best-sellers (I'm not trying to give his comments weight by saying this. Just giving his name a reference point.) has a talk show on the drive home on weekdays. He says repeatedly that Americans generally won't change a thing we do until gas prices hit double-digits. At $10/gallon, double-digit prices will snap something in the minds of drivers.

The reality is that I am not doing anything differently. I'll just suck it up and wait for it to go back down.

I think this is the attitude most people take, including myself, for the most part. If I lived in a metro area that had an established mass-transit infrastructure, I would consider taking a train into the city, but it would have to be convenient. It would take a lot for me to consider a carpool arrangement, and observing cars on the road to and from work, I'm in the extreme majority. Technically, my work day starts at 8:00, but I like to get in between 5:00 & 6:00 to get stuff done while it's quiet. I don't like to be on anyone else's schedule.

I feel at the mercy of decision-makers that I have no influence over, so I too, suck it up and hope prices somehow go down. , indeed.

 

[Potluck]

Re: When folks stop buying it discretionally.

"So, now we've topped $4 per gallon in the U.S."

Not here in the Dallas area yet. it jumped from 2.56 to 2.79 in the last few days. I'd guess it'll go to $4.50 or so, and start sliding down again when they discover the "Threshold of pain" where the profits start dropping off.

Right now the most common price in my area is $3.85.
I thank God for the mild winter. I, along with most folks in the area, heat with heating oil. OK, so gasoline becomes a bit more expensive for me but one must have heat regardless if one drives or not or how much.
I have a 550 gal tank. A difference of one dime in price translates to a difference of $50 to fill it. 30 cents higher means $300 more for example.

"when they discover the "Threshold of pain" where the profits start dropping off."

If the profits start dropping off either they shutdown the non-profit making facilities or they pass the cost onto the public to bolster profit and dividends paid to shareholders. I have no doubt some of the 401K plans people have for retirement are invested in some of that stock.

Had the Keystone pipeline gone through the price would have dropped almost overnight. Cost is governed by speculation on the future. Had the future looked brighter we wouldn't be paying these prices. And don't forget more competition for OPEC also translates in their wanting to lower prices. And this before the pipeline would have been finished.

We hear from the media all over the place how many billions of dollars the oil industry takes in. What they conveniently leave out is the trillions invested to realize that return. Apple made more of a return in percentage of investment than the oil industry yet I don't hear anyone squawking anywhere near as much about profit. Same thing goes for other big businesses.

 

[Sparkey]

I guess I'm older than you, Mike. When I started driving 87 octane gasoline was $.43 per gallon. I can remember $.27 when I was a kid.

The US minimum wage as of July 24, 2009 is $7.25/hr. The local price for 87 octane gasoline here is $3.599. I can buy 2 gallons of gasoline on a minimum wage if I don't consider income.

I too remember "gas wars" where gas stations would compete with each other and normal prices of $0.25 per gallon were common. When I was 18 the US minimum wage was $1.65 (pretty sure) and going up.

Mike remembers $0.67 per gallon. Those increases show inflation. What we see today is evidence of a crisis.


The video is about discussion that followed the showing of a film, "The End of Suburbia". The 52 minute film is also available on YouTube for those interested. You can find "The End of Suburbia" documentary in the upper-right at the end of this vid. "The End of Suburbia" is THE documentary that most people who are indoctrinated into the "Oil Crisis" have studied and preach from.
[video=youtube;VZceiMAJJhI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZceiMAJJhI[/video]

 

[jasoncran]

@ potluck that is because those ows worship stecve wosniak and its ok if his company uses child labor and makes money and rapes the small guy. so long as the college liberal kids get to text and chat and blog etc.

 

[Potluck]

Well, Jason, I suppose but not all the other companies worship their founder. Coca-cola is another big profit maker. McDonalds and Rite Aid also surpassed big oil in investment/profit ratios.
I don't know why nobody is raising a fuss about those profits.

Speaking of McDonalds though I heard their food is bad for you so now I eat at Burger King.

 

[bpfine]

Another war, possibility with IRAN, will depreciate the purchasing power of the dollar to extreme new lows. 2