Look at the bright side:
Look at the bright side: It’s going to get much, much worse.
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$3.89 for regular? I’d LOVE to see that right about now. I’m in the Chicago area and it’s currently around $3.95-$4.09 for REGULAR. I’m so glad I drive a Prius.
Stop whining. In Germany, it’s about $8.54/gal (€1.45/liter).
double stop whining, here in new zealand its about 14 bucks per gallon…thank god you can pretty much walk across the country in a day XD
He… In Norway the price is about $11. (12-13 NOK per liter)
Lol. You’d be shocked over the fuel prices in Europe. It’s about 1,60 euro per litre, that’s 3 dollar per litre, that makes over 12 bucks per gallon. So look at the bright side: it’s not that bad in the USA.
3.79 here in central PA… I’m dreading my move to Nevada this summer. I remember the good ole days of .99 a gallon.
99 cents? Good?
Not for those who remember
35 cents per…
Not only that, but
They checked oil, washed windows, and
Gave out trading stamps!
We’re up to $4.19 in CT. Ew.
Supply and demand – not just a nice idea; it’s a law!
We have no more capacity to refine and produce here in the US, and the environmentalists have made darn sure we won’t. If you aren’t demanding that we start drilling domestically (hope that doesn’t sound dirty), don’t get ticked about the prices. If you are one of those fighting domestic drilling, thanks for nuthin’.
Thank you, and have a pleasant tomorrow.
read the name, its not supply and demand, only about 60% of the price is supply demand ratio. the rest is the companys greed, you know the owner of hess made 4billion to himself last year? and that hes going to over double that this year?
8% profit. That is the fact. That’s a lower profit % than most retail businesses.
If the shareholders in Hess think he is doing a $4B job, bully for them and him. John Hess – his name is on the business. Sounds like he has put his fortune on the line to try to make a successful business, and won. Good for him. That’s called capitalism. It has proven so much more successful than socialism; I’m surprised someone of your obvious intellect doesn’t get that.
BTW – his total compensation was $24M, according to Forbes – might want to check your figures next time. Still a lot, but .006 of what you said he made.
Increase the amount of oil in the system, and watch the price fall. It has happened over and over in the last several decades; evey time OPEC has tried to put caps on production, one of the member nations did an end run and increased output to try to make more profit. Prices stayed low. This is the first time they’ve held relatively solid in the last 30 years that I’ve been watching this market.
Do you think supply and demand doesn’t really work? That’s more or less like saying the sky is orange. So why do you think the oil industry is the one exception?
……. only 8% profit eh? yet there first quarter profits where what? 75billion… hmm i think they can afford to give us a break on gas prices….
I think you shouldn’t be calling other folks dumb until you get your spelling and punctuation straight, sir.
Supply and demand – not just a nice idea; it’s a law!
You’re right it is, but there’s another law you’ve forgotten: The fundamental law of geology which says oil is finite. Sorry, but if you think there is a new North Sea on your shores, you’re delusional. There’s that arctic wildlife refugee, but it won’t make a significant dent in gas prices, because
1. The US mainland has peaked (almost 40 years ago)
2. Alaska has peaked (about 20 years ago)
3. North sea has peaked (8 years ago)
4. Mexico has peaked (4 years ago)
5. Russia has peaked (1-2 years ago)
6. Saudi Arabia is peaking.
All that oil, which you will pay such a huge environmental cost for, will go towards making up for what these countries lose in production capacity every year. Is that worth it, or should you just get used to high prices now instead of later?
Peak oil people – it’s here! Check out transitionculture website for a positive view of all this mess.
What are the americans whining for? Try the prices we have to pay – but I hear you’ld riot and kick the person in government out if you did that. No more capacity to refine, rubbish – you have enough space to be able to build sites for nuclear testing inland, and if these horrible, horrible environmentalists who don’t want you drilling in the middle of a National park are getting upset, wait a min – How about off-sea oil rigs? How about having cars that are fuel efficient? How about getting off your fat arse to walk or cycle to the shop instead of getting in a car? How about a really decent public transport system nationwide and using the bugger? How about not giving teenagers thier own car at the age of 16? You pollute almost as much as China!…China!!! How can you think yourselves advanced in any way whatsoever when you crap on this planet as much as a country who cares little for human life, know about other species and is still developing itself! I admit if you live in the arse end of nowhere you need a car, but not everyone does live in the middle of nowhere!!! Oh well, if your reserves are running low…better invade another country to get some more oil for yourselves, don’t want to lose a vote or two.
We have no shortage of areas where we could refine, and there are massive amounts of oil sitting under the Alaskan North Slope, the Rockie Mountains, and off shore. The problem is that the environmental movement has their head stuck in the 70’s. We can extract and refine much more cleanly than we did back then, but they raise endless legal challenges to anyone trying to tap into the vast resources upon which our ‘fat arses’ sit.
The ‘invasion’ rhetoric, by the way, seems a little silly. Just how much of America’s oil is coming from countries we’ve invaded since WWII? Last I heard, Nigeria was our prime source – and I don’t remember the last time U.S. Army boots marched there.
Does America care for human life? Hmm. One could argue either side of that fairly convincingly. I will say that we have shown a tendency to step in militarily when petty dictators are killing for fun – one could argue that would be a defense of life. I’m not saying the end result is always the best – but I think the intent (and concern) is there. Was Churchill less concerned about human life than Chamberlain?
Your rhetoric over human life is pretty flawed don’t you think?
It’s like saying you saw a bully burning ants with a magnifying glass so you tried to take it away, but then you both wrestled for it, in the meantime smashing all the ants that came rushing out of the ant-hill… But it’s ok that you killed all those ants in your tussle for the magnifying glass because you were defending lives.
But we’re not talking about ants, are we? “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are inalienable rights, according to our founding fathers, and our history, while certainly flawed, is much more about stopping the bullies than being the bully. I think there are a lot of people in the US who have forgotten that, and bought the lie that we are the world’s aggressor.
I don’t claim that we have always made the right decisions, or that our choices have had the intended consequences. But in your analogy, I would rather be the one trying to stop the bully than the bully. Or the ant.
You don’t like my ants analogy? Then lets use Kathryn Johnston as an example.
She was a 92-year-old Atlanta woman who shot a single bullet at four men breaking into her house. They returned fire with a hail of 39 bullets, killing her. Turns out those men were police officers on a “no-knock” warrant looking for drugs.
When they realized that their informant gave them bad information they handcuffed Kathryn’s lifeless body and planted a few baggies of Marijuana in her basement.
So, under your logic, had they not done a shoddy job of covering up their mistakes, they should be vindicated because they thought they were trying to take down a local drug dealer.
Had they gone on more substantial information, done more preparation, and chosen the proper initial tactics, the Johnston family would not be seeking redemption from Atlanta by suing the city.
Likewise, if our President and his supporters weren’t such southern “shoot first and ask questions later” assholes, we wouldn’t be stuck in a hopeless war where our invasion resulted in an estimated 100,000 dead civilian non-combatants and counting. Like the Johnston family, someday the Iraqi people will seek retribution and I’m sure it won’t be in a monetary form, it will be with the blood of American civilians.
So tell me… With the blood of 100,000 Iraqis on our hands and a high potential for more American casualties in our future, how are we better than the original aggressors that we used as an excuse to start the war?
Sorry, you lost me on the leap from defending ants to the notoriously thuggish APD drug unit.
But that’s probably Bush’s fault too, somehow.
Typical of a Republican to resort to remarks like “but that’s probably Bush’s fault too somehow,” when he knows he’s been beat.
It’s a pretty simple analogy really, you said it yourself: APD=Notorious thugs. Bush & Cronies=Also notorious thugs.
Just like APD our leadership walked into a situation with no clue what was on the other side of the door, guns blazing, with no regard for human life. Just like APD, America will pay retribution for what has been done.
Your argument is based on the concept that police forces who “stop bullies” are usually the lesser of two evils because of the latter’s intentions. I’m saying that just because a police force’s intentions are different doesn’t justify similar or more heinous outcomes.
I’m saying that whether we’re talking about ants, little old ladies, or Iraqis, in every example, due to the policing force’s poor planning and failure to foresee or prevent an outcome worse than that which would have resulted from inaction, it makes them more evil than the original aggressors.
Nice post. Is it enjoyable living in a country that has a hard time being found in the US shadow? We have no more capacity in our current system to refine oil because we’ve stopped building refineries. Of course, if you were actually here, you’d be more likely to know that, but I guess it’s easier to throw stones across the ocean than to actually know what you’re talking about…
Not really, my family lives in Canada – as cheap as your oil almost. I’m guessing we must have decent oil reserves in Canada…I know Alaska does, but we don’t own that bit. What countries has Canada invaded to get more oil? Damn those Canadians, they are always invading places. Been to America plenty of times thanks. Your news is biased and sucks, everything seems controlled by the government, the only way to find out anything is to go online.
OMG did I say out loud something negative about the US to your faces? OMG I must be a terrorist! Burn me! Waterboard me (cuz the Khmer rouge agreed with you guys it’s the best way to get confessions)! Shut me up! How dare I have my own opinion! I don’t hate Americans I hate politians!! I hate the fact you don’t really know or CARE what’s going on, come on America..your supposed to be about right, freedom and a aspiration to us all – don’t whine about this do something, if you have to pay more maybe youll get better fuel efficient cars made.
Had a arguement in the British Columbian museum in Victoria as they have a bit about global warming – as I asked him why he drives a huge car and the fact he dumps crap into the sea nearby everytime he flushes the toilet as there is no decent sewage treatment there…but he was telling me about global warming. That was where I come from, you see I believe in calling a spade a spade. Watch “who killed the electric car”, also watching fuel consumption and walking to places 30 mins or less it’s not going to hurt your nation only help it. I do this myself, it saves MONEY too.
So why did you stop building refineries? Ran out of money did we? Or space? pfttt….wait, wait let me guess your government told you you had or they’d spent the money or something else.
Oh btw US shadow, that’s funny – well we had our Empire, we realised mistakes we made in getting it…slavery, yeah we did that, but we were the firsts to do anti-slavery…thing is if you are going to try and be like us do a better job than we did, at the minute you aren’t. In fact truth is you are an embarrassment to yourselves. George gave you your liberty and now you think it annoys us you are a country like several hundred years later? What other countries have we given thier independance to? India, parts of China…hmm let me see. Stop being the spoilt badly behaved child of the World. You can have the World, we are done with it now; I think we took the best bits too back then, but at school we learn about negative things we did too.
Ha! I agree with Crystal and I am an American. The average American can’t put down the bag of chips and get off the coach to change anything. The apathy in this country lately is stunning. Stop depending on the government to do everything for you. If you haven’t noticed yet, they DON’T have our best interest in mind.
Is insulting Americans and calling us names over our concern for what we see as a geniune problem really going to help matters here?
When did rude people ever care about solving matters?
Not to defend the people being rude, but the temptation to say “quit whining” is strong when people are complaining about paying half or less what you pay
If you don’t live in the US, it’s easy to forget that the American lifestyle and even city design was built around cheap gas, so rising gas prices hurt more than many Europeans realise. This is already starting to change, but you can’t change the habits (or the cars) of the last few decades overnight.
It’s also a bit irksome to hear the blame being foisted on the environmentalists, when even the most optimistic estimates of oil give the ANWR region 1.8 billion barrels of “technically recoverable oil” (and about half that of “economically recoverable oil”)
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-0028-01/fs-0028-01.htm
With US oil use at 20 million barrels _per_day_ it’s clear that even opening the whole north slope to drilling will have no appreciable effect on oil prices.
Even the Bush administration, which has strongly supported opening the ANWR to oil companies, agrees. The U.S. Department of Energy predicted that ANWR drilling would lower the price of oil by about 50¢ a barrel or 1%, given that the price of a barrel of oil was slightly above $50 at the beginning of 2007. At Today’s prices, that would drop oil prices by less than 0.5% – which to would translate to a drop of about 0.8 cents per gallon of gas at the pump. That’s less than a cent per gallon. Severin Borenstein, an economist, who works with the oil industry cautioned against unrealistic expectations that ANWR might reduce oil prices by saying that “drilling in ANWR will never noticeably affect gasoline prices.”
You can see the actual math involved in calculating pricing effects here:
http://are.berkeley.edu/courses/EEP39C/ANWR.pdf
but it’s clear that even if the amount of oil in ANWR was twice what is predicted and extraction of it was twice as easy as in the rest of Alaska ….. it still wouldn’t affect the price of gas by more than 1 or 2 cents.
Basically, with domestic production topped out decades ago, the North sea and Mexican fields having topped out in the last decade and surging demand, a realistic assessment of the market guaranteed that oil prices would rise dramatically. And they have. Cheap oil is gone and barring world-wide economic collapse, it’s never coming back. Depending on the course of the dollar, gas in the US is likely to be between 5-8 dollars per gallon within the next 5 years.
It’s not the end of the world. Smart consumers will adapt. Buy cars that get better gas mileage. Try not to buy a house an hour’s commute from work by car. Improve insulation on your house to reduce your winter heating and summer cooling bills. Vote for politicians who promote increased public transport (even if you don’t think you’ll use it, it’ll get more cars off the road holding down gas prices and reducing the time you spend in queuing for the on-ramp
) All of those things, if pursued by enough people will help hold prices down.
cheers, Mark
It never ceases to amaze me what people(anywhere) are willing to bitch about and what they are willing to NOT do about something. Am I the only one who finds irony in the fact that while we (everyone) gripes about the price of gas, we still drive insanely inefficient vehicles to a drive-thru kiosk where we then pay nearly $5 to get a cup of coffee?
Yes, the price of oil is criminal, no matter where you live, exceot maybe Venezuela, but then I hear they have nationalized their gas/oil production and kicked out the giant gas moguls. If Americans really want to get even with the folks responsible, maybe we should start at home with the companies that regularly buy the patents on the technology to produce highly efficient and cleaner engines. If the Illinois Automotive Institue could, in 1992, design an engine that allowed a ‘57 Chevy to achieve 123 mpg, then that kind of points at oil costs not being the real criminal here. I also understand that the major sponsor for the Institute threatened to pull funding for the school if this particular program wasn’t stopped. So, due to the oil company’s interference and greed, a program that challenged bright technicians to create a more efficient car was STOPPED. And they try to tell us that it’s the Arabs’ fault, or that technology just isn’t capable of producing efficiency cheaply enough for the masses. That’s tough to swallow when I have my suspicions that blueprints for engines built by STUDENTS (not generally the richest bunch of folk) are locked up in vaults at Mobil headquarters somewhere. Probably in the vaults at the Vatican, since comspiracy theorists like to believe that anything of value can be found there.
So, yes folks are whining. Yes, they could be doing something about it. Unless we do, things WILL get worse. But maybe, like addicts, we have to hit rock bottom before we truly realize how deep in this mess we are.
gas is officially $4.50 for regular in Chicago
I’ve noticed in the news htat most of the whiners seem to be driving BFVs – Big F***ing Vehicles.
Maybe they’d save some cash and reduce their hot air footprint by getting a hybrid. All the room and half the gas cost.
I just adore folks that gripe and gripe rather than actively doing something to change the problem…
What are you, 15? If you’re getting pissy over an LOLPolitics site, go outside or something. Take a deep breath. Or take your half-baked arguments to a site actually dedicated to arguing about politics.
Agreed. Name-calling, crappy grammar and flawed logic aren’t necessary for a lolsite, no matter what genre – cats, dogs or politics. However, politics is an arena that will always incite argument, whether intellectually or emotionally based. And since the political arena itself rarley makes sense, the arguments for or against its policies rarely do either.
Libra mediator signing off.
Hold on……..this is a site about politics, and Im voicing my opinion..what’s wrong with that? Just because I don’t live in candyland and think everyone and everythings lovely when its not, doesn’t mean I can’t voice my opinion.
Just because I don’t agree with you doesn’t mean I am 15. Are you now going to accuse me of living in a basement with my parents? Its not immature to say you don’t like pollution, you don’t like politians, especially ones who like war or are grasping and selfish. I don’t like our politians, I DONT LIKE POLITIANS. Difference being I go on the net and you talk to the people who live in the UK, we can see our problems – we crititise ourselves and do try to change. It seems the majority of the US do as they are told by your politians, and the patriotism is so thick that you are not even willing to realise your own faults. You gained freedom from a country like us only to be told what to believe? Where is the freedom in that? It seems to be very very few politians who are truely thier for the people and not themselves. Don’t be a fool, the people of American are in general very kind and giving, but perhaps a little too trusting.
The UK has the highest gas prices in Europe – so again it’s harder to see why you have room to complain.
BTW I said before I am a scientist at a CofE school, thats church of england..a teacher. We do have child labour laws in the UK. Perhaps my job helps me to keep a open mind on things, as I do and have to have a appreciation of views on everything. To critisise is not to condemn but sometimes help instead, maybe you should think on that.
LadyJadys seriously do you even know what lolspeak is? Or what a lolsite is? Crappy grammar? Flawed logic? Seriously – WHAT? Maybe it’s a bad American attempt at being witty or funny..if so I apoligise, if not all I can say is oh dear.
all you Europeans saying you have $10-$12 per gallon fuel quit kidding yourselves… you’re paying about $3 per gallon for the actual fuel itself, just like we are. The rest isn’t for the gas/petrol, it’s your own government bending you over the pump and raping you in the ass.
wow, without your insightful comment nobody would have realized that! thanks for explaining how things work. i always thought the price difference is just magic…
Sad, but true. US Economy will adjust, though…
considering that they are still paying $10-$12 at the pump, there isn’t rly any kidding going on there.
This is hilarious to look back on now that I just filled my tank in central Jersey at $1.39 a gallon.