Arrgghhh!!!!!! I hated this when it happened a couple of years ago and I certainly hate it again. Unfortunately I can't cut back on my driving since I already have a 90 mile round trip commute to work to pay for the gas!

Ohhh, close to the limit me thinks! But hey, don't forget the robust economy that has been responsible for no pay raises in 4 years while everything else just keeps going up!

Sorry dude, we are Americans we don't have to get used to it! (not yet anyway)

 

Yeah, but isn't some of that money paying for your "free" government goodies?

 

We are talking the United States here. We have just a little bit more leverage than Canada. To be perfectly honest, there is no reason why we should pay more than $1.50 for any sort of fuel.

 

While I really wouldn't wish higher prices on anybody (because of ripple effects), part of me says "bring it on." This seems to be the only thing we understand that could lead to real innovation in more efficient vehicles and vehicles that use other types of fuel. We need these innovations for many reasons. Even with cheap oil, we still have big issues with air quality/emissions and this really needs to be dealt with. I'm not saying any final solutions are on the horizon now, but a lot of clever thinking is, and I'd love to see that dynamo continue to turn.

Otherwise I get through these price spikes just fine....it's the folks that choose to drive gas guzzlers that seem to squeal the loudest.

 

We pull plenty of oil out of the ground here in Canada. We shouldn't be paying a fortune either, but it's all taxes.

On another note, it's silly to hate on SUVs and big trucks unless you know for a fact it's someones daily driver and grocery getter. Who's polluting more: the guy in the JCW doing 10,000 miles a year burning up twisties, or the guy in the lifted F350 who uses it to tow the boat to the lake a dozen times a year?

 

I don't believe most of us hate SUV's, we hate the arrogant SUV drivers!

My question is, if the Third Reich could make oil from coal in the 1940's, why can't we be doing the same thing since we has sooooo much coal that they won't let us use any other way?




Don't worry, the rate its going we'll be catching up soon!

 

We can make oil from coal, oil shale, fatty wastes, wood by-products and other such things now through the Fischer-Tropsch process, just as the Germans could then. It is just very inefficient, it is net negative energy, more input than you get from the product.

The Germans did it since they had very few resources for oil. If I remember right one of the reasons they invaded Russia was to get oil resources, but they did this prematurely before they had organized enough militarily to take on the Russians. It was a battle of material resources on too many fronts.

 

Based on what information or logic?

 

Because a not so small amount of the price of a gallon of gas is taxes?

 

Wrong answer, Fed and State taxes are on average 20% of the cost of a gallon gasoline.

50% crude
20% taxes
20% refining
10% marketing & distribution

This changes a few points one way or another year by year, state by state.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/p...ml/petbro.html

 

WOW, Sunoco 260, man that brings back memories of my 68 Vette built by Motion performance, only gas i could use it that thing, when they stopped making it i sold the car, BIG MISTAKE!!!

I lived through the 79 and 81 shortages also, dont think we will have a shortage as we are using less fuel then a few years ago and the cars are more efficient now. I do believe the price of fuel will hit 5 a gallon, another reason why the automakers are actually trying to make a good electric car these days. The company I work for burns the most amount of Jet A in the world on a daily basis, there is alot of talk about the price of oil and what effects it can have on our company let alone the economy, another reason why I believe it will be 5 a gallon. On a brighter note, maybe it will raise the value of our cars.

 

When it gets close to the next elections the price of gas will come down. It always does.

 

So it has nothing to do with geology, geography, production, reserves, demand, population, or economics?

 

 

If you are going to question my information or logic...let me turn the question around and ask you why we SHOULD be paying any more than $1.50/gallon for refined or unrefined fuels? Or...do you think that I am right and just are bent that I didn't post a bunch of internet links pointing to supposed "truthful" statistics or opinions?

At the end of the day...there are an abundance of reasons why we should NOT be paying as much as we do for any form of fue in this countryl. But as you know...so much of this has to do with politics and all of the other ******** associated with a multi billion dollar business.

 

High fuel prices impact more than our driving.
Increased costs to grow food. Increased costs to produce goods. Should your municipality use coal or oil fired plants to generate electricity - hang on.
Then, there are the transportation costs that increase too.
Truck, ocean/barge, and train haulage rates are closely tied to fuel rates.
Tire prices increase as well.
I’ve omitted a bunch too, but it should be easy to see how an increase in fuel prices is harmful to the growth of an economy.
On a personal note: I have been driving my Jeep as a DD since I ordered the MINI on 12/03/10 and traded my car at that time.
Jeep gets 12.4 MPG. I am averaging over $11 per day for fuel costs (~$80/week – ouch ).
The Heep is a once-in-a while play toy set up for trail riding that I typically drive 4K miles a year or less so the fuel burn rate has been a real treat.

 

I am just humored when people constantly pick some number out of the air of what a gallon of gas should cost, typically not based on any market conditions.

We could do the same for the price of Diamonds, Pork Bellies, Dysprosium, Natural Gas, iPhones, Gold, Regiano Parmigiano, or any other consumable. All things that are market valued, no differently than oil. All these things have the same problems as oil, they have black markets, they are stolen, illegally environmentally produced, hoarded, demanded, coveted, regionally produced, and produced in countries that have political and currency manipulation.

Yet oil.... people seem to loose their minds about it. Spouting off conspiracies and blaming everyone under the sun without even the tiniest understanding of how this vast system works or where the supply comes from. Mostly a result of looking back at historical economic conditions, not current ones of exponential population growth in Asia and declines of proven oil reserves.

Yes, I am an oil guy, worked in various facets of the industry with degrees in civil engineering, and economic geology.

The only conspiracy I consider valid out there is that Saudi ARMACO has never released official numbers of what their proven oil reserves are. It is estimated to be about 30% of the worlds oil reserves (not production). They have about 3-4 million barrels a day of excess production capacity they can bring on to bring prices down, but they don't, it is their oil and they can do with it as they please.

Ultimately I believe we should be paying about double of what we are now. Oil is a very unique energy source for which there are no substitutes for it's properties of energy content and ability to be transportable and storable. It is a finite resource, every oil field runs out. Period.

 

Just a friendly reminder of our Site Guidelines (please click link if you need a refresher, let's not have people in trouble because they "didn't know" ):

You can discuss gas prices/energies all you'd like...but let's keep an eye on the political discussion.

 

Nevermind then since we have been net nannied.

 

Sorry you feel that way. There is actually an excellent underlying energies discussion going on in this thread that I really didn't want to squash by just closing the thread. I thought leaving it open would be a better option for the discussion while still keeping things in check.

We all clicked the little "I agree" box next to the Site Guidelines the very first day we signed up here...so let's roll with that.

 

For me, I'll have to start driving my SUV more than my MINI, 'cause my SUV gets about 40% better mileage.

 

I hoping for better forms of transportation that break us of our oil dependency but, that is a long way away. Electric is not the way to go because we are just taking it of the roads and making our coal or oil generating plants use more of that to make electricity. Hell I am all about like 3 to 5 miles away from where you work and walking or riding a bicycle to work. If anything it would make the population healthier.

 

Give it a few years, and my uncle (no kidding) will make a breakthrough on a proton/fission(I think, could be fusion but it's the opposite of current nuclear plants) generator. Think the generator from spider man 2, but much bigger. Then electric generation will be perfected, using the most common element in the universe. And electric cars will much better. But that aside, Id say hydrogen is the winner of the "cool fuel" prize.

 

Except if you do a plug in electric and install Photo Voltaic panels at home.

Drive during the night and plug in days or

Store up energy credits with PV all the time and use them during less peak times to charge your car overnight (on a timer).

Cost will vary with your local electric rates and how sunny the weather is.

 

I would love to see the end of fossil fuel production but as most everyone knows, a very large percent of everything is either made of oil products and/or was transported by the use of it.