Gas $3.73/gal

[jyl]

National average for unleaded regular now $3.73

http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/index.asp

Opinions on whether gas breaks $4.00 this year? $4.50? Any takers for $5.00?

Lets see, at $3.73, assuming 20,000 miles/yr, a 45 MPG car saves $2,487/yr over a 18 MPG car. $4.00 -> $2,666. $4.50 -> $3,000. $5.00 -> $3,333.

How much incentive $ will Detroit have to put on its SUV/pickup hoods, to offset that?

Of course, a 70 MPG motorcycle/scooter saves even more.

I figure that over the next 5 years, if gas averages $5.50, my 45 MPG car will save $18,333 over a 18 MPG car, which is not bad coin.

[Rusty Heap]

I'm getting real sick and tired of people whining, yes WHINING about gas prices......it is what it is...........and we still pay some of the cheapest in the world on average. I have friends in europe, $8 a gallon. New Zealand, $7 a gallon, Canada $6 a gallon............yet some people don't blink about paying $5 for a expresso cup of coffee, or $1 for a 20 oz bottle of water, or $8 for a beer at a sporting even or $7 for a drink in a bar.

I hope soccer moms in their full sized suburban to take Jack and Jill to baseball practice at 11 mpg read this.

Life is short, make your choices wisely.

That said, there is much much much more to life, and a vehicle, than just gas mileage. It's just money!

[jyl]

I love hearing people whine about high gas prices. I would like prices to be even higher.

[Rick Lee]

My friend (who's voting for Obama, see my thread on that) really believes in his heart that it's wrong for us to pay more than a pittance for something if we need it, rather than want it. So Starbucks (aka Fourbucks) is fine. But paying current gas prices for his two monster SUV's and weekend boat is just a gross injustice and he thinks Obama will make it all better. I $hit you not.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

I hope soccer moms in their full sized suburban to take Jack and Jill to baseball practice at 11 mpg read this.

Um, I don't think there are too many soccer moms driving Suburbans that read OT on Pelican.

Soccer moms, there's a whole 'nother thread.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Does the U.S. have an Energy Policy?

Personally, I'm unhappy about the price of gas. it means more consumer dollars will go into the pockets of the Middle East, pretty much our sworn enemies, than into our economy, which weakens the Dollar and pushes the world closer to trading on the Euro.

got a motorcycle to do my part. less gas = more consumer spending.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

got a motorcycle to do my part. less gas = more consumer spending.

Ditto.

FWIW, Canada is our number one oil supplier.

[jyl]

Of course, your friends in Europe are not profligate enough to drive a 11 MPG SUV daily.

And their currencies have been appreciating vs the USD.

Since 2003, oil px is up from $40 to $120 in USD. But EUR is up from $1.06 to $1.54 in USD. So for Americans, oil px has increased 200% while for Eurozone oil px has increased 106%.

Further, the tax imposed on gasoline is low in the US, which means more percentage impact from the rising oil prices.

With gas at $3.73, we pay appx $0.47 in fed/state fuel tax and up to $0.30 in sales tax depending on location. So the gasoline itself, excluding tax, is about 81% of our out-of-pocket cost. That means when oil prices rise, we see a large percent increase in the cost to the end consumer.

In Europe, typically the gasoline itself, excluding tax, is about 45% of the out of pocket cost. So rising oil prices have a smaller percentage impact in the cost to the end consumer.

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Ditto.

FWIW, Canada is our number one oil supplier.

Amazing how few people realize that. I told my neighbor who moved here less than a year ago FROM CANADA and he said I was mistaken. I said, No you are, eh!

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Ditto.

FWIW, Canada is our number one oil supplier.

Yeah, I understand that Rick, but it's Middle Eastern oil that destabilizes the Dollar, what with wars and all going on. Buying oil from people who hate you isn't exactly a sound Energy cum Foreign Policy.

[Dantilla]

About an hour ago, I paid $4.05.

My truck gets 13 mpg, so I just parked it, and got the old 944S I bought for a race car project out of storage. It takes premium, hence the 4.05, but it gets close to 30 mpg on the highway.

It's also much more fun to drive than a 3/4 ton 4x4.

Gas for the airplane just topped $5/gallon.

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

Yeah, I understand that Rick, but it's Middle Eastern oil that destabilizes the Dollar, what with wars and all going on.

Gas was 2.19 a gallon up until a Democratic Congress was elected 18 months ago.

[Vipergrün]

We are merely being conditioned to accept higher gas prices in the future. If we start talking about, or worse, start accepting that gas will reach 6.00 per gallon, it will. Right now it appears that oil prices are merely being driven by futures speculation. There are no gas shortages. Oil companies and investors are making a killing right now.....and continue to condition us that "higher prices are coming". We need to stand up and say NO, I will NOT drive that SUV, NO, I will not commute to work alone. It will never happen. Most folks are happy paying 8.00 per gallon of gas, 4.00 for the actual gas, and 4.00 for the cup of coffee they drove 11 miles round trip to purchase cuz they are to stupid or lazy to make their own coffee.

And yes, it's funny to watch jaws hit the floor when they find out Canada is out number one oil supplier.

And not a friggen thing will be done about any of this if Hussein-Obama takes office. All he can do is provide lip service. Remember people, change is NOT ALWAYS GOOD! If you think it sucks now, wait until you are paying 4.00 per gallon just in taxes and your Grande low fat half and half vanilla chocolate semi-sweet iced coffee comes with 2.00 per cup tax......

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

I'm getting real sick and tired of people whining, yes WHINING about gas prices......it is what it is...........and we still pay some of the cheapest in the world on average. I have friends in europe, $8 a gallon. New Zealand, $7 a gallon, Canada $6 a gallon............yet some people don't blink about paying $5 for a expresso cup of coffee, or $1 for a 20 oz bottle of water, or $8 for a beer at a sporting even or $7 for a drink in a bar.

I hope soccer moms in their full sized suburban to take Jack and Jill to baseball practice at 11 mpg read this.

Life is short, make your choices wisely.

That said, there is much much much more to life, and a vehicle, than just gas mileage. It's just money!

I don't use 50 gallons a week of espresso though

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Red Baron

Gas was 2.19 a gallon up until a Democratic Congress was elected 18 months ago.

your intellectually dishonesty is sad, or perhaps thinking isn't really your thing?

[Vipergrün]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

Yeah, I understand that Rick, but it's Middle Eastern oil that destabilizes the Dollar, what with wars and all going on. Buying oil from people who hate you isn't exactly a sound Energy cum Foreign Policy.

Maybe we should invade Canada and Venezuela to even things out a bit.....you know, share the love....

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

your intellectually dishonesty is sad, or perhaps thinking isn't really your thing?

No need to think about the obvious. Prices were lower, unemployment was lower and consumer confidence was higher. Check it since you guys are all into polls.

[Rick Lee]

While I certainly would rather our country's petro dollars go to friendly countries, I don't believe any OPEC member would lose a dime if we suddenly bought no more oil from them, but got it elsewhere. Oil, like gold, is a commodity and costs the same on the world market, whether you buy it from Mexico or Saudi Arabia. I know there are some differences in oil quality from different areas and that affects what it can refined into. But leaving that out of the equation, any friendly country is still going to sell us oil for what it costs on the world market.

I should add that my Obama-loving friend also firmly believes the answer to all our oil woes lies in Bush being tough enough to talk Iraq into selling us oil real cheap under the threat of our doing a total withdrawal from Iraq. Can't make this stuff up.

[jyl]

No, we have no energy policy, other than to favor the oil industry whenever possible.

We subsidize the oil industry with tax breaks, exploration incentives, and low cost leases.

We subsidize oil users by not charging them for the cost of the pollution they generate.

We support the oil industry and oil users with trillions of dollars in military spending directed toward US oil interests in the Middle East.

Meanwhile we spend almost nothing to encourage development or deployment of alternative energies - whether solar, wind, nuclear, or other..

We could be making a meaningful shift away from gasoline and, more broadly, from non-renewable and polluting fuels.

For example, in the US the average car MPG ("car" includes SUVs, pickup trucks, etc) is 19 MPG and the average required (CAFE) MPG of the new car fleet is appx 25 MPG (combining passenger car and light truck). In Europe the average MPG of the new car fleet is 38-39 MPG with >40 MPG on the way. Sure Americans have large families, large waistbands, large possessions, large distances, etc, but we could certainly do better - would 30 MPG be such a stretch?

As for grid energy, in Germany, appx 5% of grid energy is wind, 3% solar, 18% nuclear. Wind and solar are planned to be 27% in 10 years. There is no reason the US could not be even with, or ahead of, Germany. If we were as aggressive as Germany in wind and solar - and better than them in nuclear - in 15 years 30-40% of US grid energy could be from solar, wind, nuclear (and existing hydro).

By the way, appx 250,000 jobs in the renewable energy industry have been created in Germany to date, projections are 400,000 in a few years. Scale up to US population and that would be appx 1MM jobs now, 1.5MM in a few years.

[gr8fl4porsche]

You care about gas prices when you have to fill up a small fleet a few times a week. My annual gas bill has gone up $50,000 a year over the past couple of years. This comes out of my ever shrinking pocket and cannot be readily passed on to the customer.

High gas prices, poor economy, banks shutting off the money = bad time to be in construction.

Hopefully we'll make it thru these tough times. It seems we are always struggling thru the tough times and the good times only last a few months. Its almost summer and were still not busy. I guess my kids will going to public school next year.