Gas prices, why is everyone so freaked out?

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Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: dullard
Gasoline in cars is just one part of the picture. In fact it is the smallest part of the picture.

If your house is heated by oil products and you pay $300 a month for heating, what does a 25% increase do to a budget? Note: I'm not saying a 25% increase in gasoline is a 25% increase in heating costs - they are not directly related. But the price of oil has increased by ~100% recently. It will increase the cost of heating.

What about consumer goods. Industry uses tons of fuel - for manufacturing, for raw materials, for transprotation, etc. A 25% increase in gas will have a signficant impact on price of things we buy every day.

The list goes on and on. All of the factors add up.

While that's obviously the case, most people aren't smart enough to see that.

They only see the price on the pump once a week & flip out.

Viper GTS

Agreed. The average joe is simply not thinking that far ahead.

Correct. A 25% increase at the pump can lead to a 25% increase in the price of EVERYTHING.

If everything relied 100% upon gasoline transport and had a direct correlation with it 🙂 I remember at the end of 01 gas was $.99. Now it's $2.00. Things are not twice as much. A doubling of gas may have increased consumer goods a little, but gasoline is only one part of it. If gas doubles, and then the price of bricks doubles, and then the price of cement doubles is it costing 8X as much for a house? No 😉

And when Kerry is elected, he'll be wrongly blamed for the recession.

By the repubs, and the dems will blame it on bush - a reverse scenario of what happened when Bush took office blaming him by the dems, and the repubs blaming Clinton. It never ends 😛

 

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Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth

Originally posted by: Skoorb
a) The typical family budget is severely stressed, trying to keep up with avarice and the joneses, that any increase in cost puts them that much closer to the breaking point.

b) People realize that if this keeps up they'll have to think about either driving less or ultimately replacing their vehicle with a more responsible one, and nobody wants to do that.

Okay, so I sell the car I paid $20k for in '01 for $10k and buy a Civic for $16k (stripped down model) to save 50% on gas.

...sounds like I'll be losing for the first four years of owning it, and I'll be in an uncomfortable car that's not nearly as much fun to drive.

Bad idea. Basically if you bought an SUV somewhat recently and you were already stressed with finances you're now beginning to get into f*@(ery-zone, and you'll be taking a bath if you trade it, or a bath if gas prices stay up so you = screwed. Can't win either way unless you commit insurance fraud and get the money back on that gaz guzzler. Now if you drive a bad gaz guzzler and drive a lot it could in some cases make sense to trade it up for a very efficient vehicle. You'd just have to do the math based on your own situation (not you, but a person in general), or if you're thinking about a new vehicle you may think more on the EPA numbers for it.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: notfred
A year or two ago, when gas was $1.79/gallon, no one complained. People seemed to be pretty satisfied with $1.79/gallon. Now gas is up to $2.25/gallon. That's roughly a 25% increase in the cost of gas. That means if you were previously paying $20 to fill up your tank, now you're paying $25. Wow, $5. About the cost of a big mac combo meal. Maybe you fill up once a week, that's $20/month. That's about the cost of a new DVD, or half a video game, or one night eating dinner out. That's really not a whole hell of a lot of money.

Maybe you're saying "But my $30,000 SUV doesn't cost $25 to fill up, it costs $75 to fill up!"
The payment on that SUV is what, about $500/month? How much is your insurance? Another $100 or so? And the price you pay for gas has increased by maybe $50/month, and that's supposed to worry you? You can afford $600/month for a car. If the gas really is making your budget THAT tight, you could always cancel HBO and the playboy channel, that'll get most of your extra money back.

Seeing how you're math is grossly inaccurate, I can see why you don't understand. Where you simply "forget" about 13.96 cents, others don't. And people do have a certain limit which they don't mind spending. Obviously, the inflated gas prices surpass that limit.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

18MPG isn't exactly a guzzler in my case. I was assuming that I'd get 36MPG in the Civic (unlikely, there's a few grades in between my work and house)

I have never paid under $1/gal. Not even once have I seen gas under $1/gal. Gas is now in the $2.25/gal range and isn't going to go down until it gets closer to election time. Gas is normally $1.40/gal with the occasional $1.20/gal. Most people complain about the suddeness of the rise. If gas prices went up $0.05/month for a long time people wouldn't complain nearly as much. The market can adjust. But when it goes up as fast as it did, people start to complain.

In my case, $250/mo in gas+$150/mo in insurance+$50/mo in maintenance (incl. tires, oil changes, etc...) isn't much to pay when you do 18,000 miles/year. But $450 is a bit more than the $350 it used to be. (car's paid off). And I plan on owning this for another 5 years. No car=no work.

 

[Fingolfin269]

I remember paying around $.89/gal 3-4 years ago in Tennessee.

 

[conjur]

FWIW, Oil price settles at new high of $41.72 per barrel

 

[slpaulson]

Because I'm sh!t broke.

 

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Originally posted by: conjur
FWIW, Oil price settles at new high of $41.72 per barrel

What a time to be a rich oil prince in the Middle East!

 

[cressida]

A 25% increase a gallon can add up with all family members driving. You really can't walk or bike in Texas.

 

[Bryophyte]

I wouldn't mind so much if I felt that the extra money was actually helping something. It isn't a tax increase, and it doesn't help out the people who run the gas station in my town. On the contrary, it will have ripple effects into all consumer goods.

 

[imported_Kckazdude]

Originally posted by: notfred
A year or two ago, when gas was $1.79/gallon, no one complained. People seemed to be pretty satisfied with $1.79/gallon. Now gas is up to $2.25/gallon. That's roughly a 25% increase in the cost of gas. That means if you were previously paying $20 to fill up your tank, now you're paying $25. Wow, $5. About the cost of a big mac combo meal. Maybe you fill up once a week, that's $20/month. That's about the cost of a new DVD, or half a video game, or one night eating dinner out. That's really not a whole hell of a lot of money.

Maybe you're saying "But my $30,000 SUV doesn't cost $25 to fill up, it costs $75 to fill up!"
The payment on that SUV is what, about $500/month? How much is your insurance? Another $100 or so? And the price you pay for gas has increased by maybe $50/month, and that's supposed to worry you? You can afford $600/month for a car. If the gas really is making your budget THAT tight, you could always cancel HBO and the playboy channel, that'll get most of your extra money back.

You seem to be leaving out a very important part of this equation. I drive for a living and have had to increase my charging price to compensate for the increased fuel price. This is a pratice all throughout the transportation industry. THis will directly affect you in that it will affect your budget by the end of the summer. Think this, if you bought it, a truck brought it. Trucks use fuel. Fuel and operational expenses rise and are passed on to the consumer at some level. SO while you may not be bitching about the $5 dollar a week gas increase, you will most likely bitch about your increased cost of groceries and household items that you need.

 

[dmcowen674]

"Gas prices, why is everyone so freaked out?"

Who's "freaked out?"

I'd like to see it at least $6 a gallon. Maybe we'll get some of the 8 mpg behemoth SUV's off the road.