HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY FOR GAS ? IT'S RISING LIKE CRAZY !

4/15/2011


How much do you pay for gas ? Here it's $3.70 per gallon, I saw on the
News, New York is $4.20 per gallon and that's regular. I also saw London is
$8.00 per gallon. Do you think it'll go to $5.00 per gallon by Memorial Day ?


Cheers..Joe

Joe,

The price of gas is of no concern to me. I hope it goes sky high. We have a car which gets 51 mpg and drive very little. It is high time America got over its dependency on foreign oil.

We have had this problem for 30 some years. Now is the time to fix it.

4/15/2011


Alice..

I saw the problem 32 years ago when I first got
my license , long lines in NY for Gas ! I have a Ford Focus
2004 , thinking of trading it in for 2012 ? Depends on the
price.. What kind of car do you have that gets 51 miles to
the gallon ? If they had created electric cars 32 years ago
we wouldn't have this problem !


Cheers..Joe

Joe,

A hybrid, a Prius. We have had it since 2008.

4/15/2011


Is that a Toyota ? I have to check out Volkswagon
I love their Bug....


Cheers..Joe

While higher gas prices affect everything (food, goods, etc.), I'm indifferent. Like Alice said, maybe it will force us into being more conservative and developing public transport.

Maybe it's not that gas is now so high, maybe it's that gas has been so cheap.

Maybe it's still a sign that we need to work harder to find alternatives.

Ann

While alternatives are cheap the powers that be are not interested because they make less money with those. It is a greedy vicious cycle. When the oil runs dry the alternatives will rise in price just you wait and see!

On a large scale, for all-weather use, alternatives are not practical. The only thing that will help is to lower consumption. People have to be trained to do that.

That's true, LC on both counts. The current alternatives are not practical with the current cars on the market. We're stuck with gasoline for now, and need to control consumption, but alternatives can be developed, and cars can be engineered to use them. More attention needs to be paid to that. We are in this mess because nobody was willing to "read the writing on the wall," so to speak.

Ann

Exactly what Ann said.

Joe,

Yes, it is a Toyota. For the record we have purchased no other make since 1984 and have had no troubles.

Be glad you are not in a big truck.
Diesel cost more than gasoline ... and our truck holds 220 gallons.

You could have a heart attack looking at the total on our diesel pump!

JoElle,

What is diesel going for now?

4/15/2011


Alice..

Here in NM it's $4.28 Gal....!!

Cheers..Joe

Thanks, Joe!

Those who drive for a living, like JoElle, feel it the most and need some form of help. For the rest of us, the high cost of fuel may be what we need to force alternatives. Alternatives can be in the form of other types of fuel and/or a change in methods of transportation. Trains and busses save money.
We know that the cost of operating a car is more than putting gas in it. Insurance, maintenance and repair is costly.
Ben Franklin said, "A penny saved is a penny earned." Saving can solve many problems.
People survived well before the gas-driven automobile. They also survived before TV and PC's. Today we need everything fast and we want it yesterday. Slowing down may be a detriment to ill health.
Anyone remember how to write a letter by longhand?

A conversation with my daughter, Lynn, last night, brought up another problem with rising gas prices in the current economic/political situation. The Texas legislature is trying to decide how much to cut from the education budget for this next year. The conservatives' plan is to cut about 14 billion dollars. the progressives are trying to hold the cut to about 5 billion. The final answer will very likely go into a special session during this next summer, and be somewhere in the middle, but even the lower figure is going to mean staff reductions that will put 40 students into many classrooms, and with cuts to the transportation budgets being inevitable, rising gas prices could mean that school busses won't be able to run.

Ann,

The Catholic Church should pay Texas for the child molestors they have harbored. A punitive fee could wipe out deficits. You could have 20 kids per class room,

Therre will still be rich people in Texas, raise their taxes. Why is it that politicians can only think of cuts?

And when Congress voted to extend the tax cut this year, they found several groups to leave out, like retired Texas teachers. An extra $400 of mine, this year, is going back to the government - $30 a month. It doesn't seem like much, but I wonder how many of the rich people were left out, if any.

Ann

We have oil her in the U.S.. Russia has the largest amount in the world...they also buy oil from the middle east. Is there something we don't know?

Ann,

Probably none. You are paying for their tax break.! Pathetic!

History will not look kindly on such actions.;

The Republicans flatly refuse to raise taxes.

They want only to cut spendng which in turn cuts jobs which in turn cuts taxes collected--what a vicious circle.

alj wrote:

And when Congress voted to extend the tax cut this year, they found several groups to leave out, like retired Texas teachers. An extra $400 of mine, this year, is going back to the government - $30 a month. It doesn't seem like much, but I wonder how many of the rich people were left out, if any.

Ann

How is this possible? How could not extending the tax cuts affect the teachers? I don't understand .

There wasn't just one cut. There were lots of little packages of cuts. When the cuts were renewed, they were renewed selectively. The cut for teachers' pensions was not selected for renewal.

Ann

alice wrote:

JoElle,

What is diesel going for now?

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/wohdp/diesel.asp

Just think close to a thousand dollars to fill up.

My brother also owns a Prius. He LOVES it!

The cost of food has risen sharply, due to the cost of fuel. My question is, if the groceries cost more, they pay the distributor more. The distributor is either receiving windfall profits or they should be paying the independent truckers more to cover the fuel increase (the purported reason for the increased cost of goods).

My position on gas prices remains the same as ever. I love to take a road trip. I would also enjoy the same trip by train. However, trains are few and far between. Thus, I drive. Not this year. I cannot afford $4/gallon to drive round trip to Michigan when I can fly for $200 round trip.

If rising fuel prices create demand for public transportation, that's a good thing. Those with excessive wealth, however, don't feel the pinch of the gasoline prices. They can vote instead to reduce services to children, disabled, poor and elderly and not invest in alternative energy.

Unfortunately, increased fuel costs affect a basic necessity: food. Again, the pain is at the subsistence level, not at the top.