Price of Gasoline Now

LW, Here's another gem; Bush just said on t.v., that the deficit will be cut in half within five years. You gotta love that guy - for his stupidty. c.i.

Dubya is one of those ancient Edison incandescent bulbs -- one finds them in a night light.

Oh, he's David Copperfield now -- economist, especially the conservative variety are all alchemists.

LW, Night lights have a useful purpose, but Bush has none. In fact, this guys dangerous to the world. c.i.

It seems many people doesn't mind being on a sinking ship.

(Picture Dubya in front of a large audience circling him on a flat plane like an airfield. "I am now going to make the deficit dissapear but hope you have some time and brought lots of provisions because it's going to take five years! Actually, it should be his Criswell "I Predict" routine and he would look good in bleached white hair and bangs).

This is partially true but not the largest part of the story. As of Feb 2003 gasoline was taxed at $.48/gal in CA (State and Federal combined) and the rest is cost + profits. In the UK gasoline is taxed at $2.80/gal.

With that tax structure alone their gas will be higher by $2.32/gal before you even bring any costs or profit into the picture.

There is also the issue of reserves and indigenous natural reserves.

cjh, This is the report I was referring to when I said the Cadillac SUV was the most stolen vehicle. However, on a search on Google, it doesn't agree with any other reports on most stolen. c.i.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/6583046.htm

I could predict snow in the Rocky Mountains starting today and eventually it'll come true, just as the Cubs will--some day--win the World Series.

Predict anything long enough, it's bound to happen. I suppose this kind of word-parsing enables Bush (and all the other Republicans who condition their words thusly) to con themselves into thinking they're telling the truth when they're lying through their teeth.

(Sidebar: During his run for the Senate here in 2002, I e-mailed John Cornyn's office suggesting he return the campaign contributions Enron had made to him when he had run for Attorney General of Texas. One of his staffers had the audacity to e-mail back telling me "John Cornyn has accepted no monies from Enron for his Senate campaign.")

We're better served by leaders who don't strive so hard to twist the truth into a pretzel only they can swallow.

Gas in California is up an average of .40 cents since this time last year. I realize that most people pay a lot more for designer coffee from Starbucks per gallon but one can't drink ten gallons of coffee a week. For the average tax payer in California, the Bush tax cut has been chewed up by the cost of operating an automobile alone.

The more rationlization and lame excuses one comes up with for this administration and Presidency, the worse they look. It smacks of denial so I think a First Step is in order for those who deny the failings of our present government.

I filled up Monday for 149, filled up today for 164....how is the "Kick their ass take their gas" crowd going to make this seem like another noble effort and success for GWB...stay tuned folks this is better than than The Daily Show.........almost.

To answer the question posed by soozoo, "why is gas so much more expensive in europe" the main reason is the american governments irresponsible attitude to what is a world problem.

Oil is a commodity which is being rapidly depleted, and which can never be replaced, european governments tax gas at a rate which discourages people from wasting this precious fuel, ( granted that's not their only agenda) The USA sells a gallon of gas for what europeans pay for two bags of potato chips, the result is that americans drive gas guzzlers.

I cant find the site at the moment (I'll keep looking) but it said that the US uses 25% of the worlds resources even though it has a population of only 5% of the worlds people, and will continue to do so until a president is elected who has the gonads to raise the tax on gas by three dollars per gallon to bring it in line with the rest of the civilised world, which as we all know will be never.

The day when people will be eating soylent green may be a lot nearer than we think.

kev, What you say is very true; but cheap gas in the US helps our economy remain number 1 in this world. Everything related to energy is a necessary evil for economic health; the US population represents only five percent of the world population, but we consume forty percent of the world's resources. That's just the way it is; if it's not us, it'll be somebody else. c.i.

Believe me c.i. whilst I'm not an economist I can readily see how gas which costs less than the price of a sandwich per gallon would be a real boon to any country's economy, but the bottom line is this, what happens when the rest of us do the same as the US? The worlds supply of oil would be gone in fifty years instead of the currently predicted three hundred.

If we dont come up with a realistic alternative to gas before oil runs out the world economy stops dead in it's tracks, world starvation of biblical proportions is guaranteed.

Nearer to 2003, the US puts more monoxide into the atmosphere than anybody, and whilst the rest of us are trying to cut emissions the worlds worst offender wont even take part in the discussion. It's very short sighted.

I'm not a tree hugger, but commonsense tells me that we are not going to find another planet to live on before this one is spent.

kev, We hear you; but trying to change the course of this administration that completely ignores our environment is like asking god to show up. It'll never happen. We must hope that future administrations and congress in our country work towards realistic alternatives to gas; but both democrats and republicans have failed all of us in the past. There are many signs of global warming; when we visited Peru last May, the tour guide told us that the snows on the Andes Mountains are disappearing, and getting worse. Up in Canada this month, we were informed of the depletion of glaciers. All warning signs. Responsible leadership all across the globe is necessary, but the US has the greatest responsibility as the greatest consumer of energy. c.i.

kev, One more bit of information on the glaciers in Canada. The Whyte Museum in Banff has a series of photographs taken of the glaciers from the 19th century. There's a dramatic reduction from the first photograph to the present time. I'm not sure whether this is effect of normal climate change or not, but it behooves humans to not gamble with the future of this planet. c.i.

Agreeing with Kev this time. Our tax structure is encouraging depletion of a finate resource. UK should have some reserves of its own though from the north sea field. Can't believe it has been exhausted already.

I'm sensitive to the environmental effect of burning fossil fuels and also the fact that we may deplete the sources sooner than we expect. I'm also aware that cheaper gas means an average worker can live away from a commercial/industrial area in a quiet and remote residential area and afford to commute to work. There has to be some advantages to living in the U.S. or more people would be moving away. The cost of living in ratio to earning power is one thing our country can somewhat brag about. However, it's not always a rosy picture and families who own not one SUV, truck or Minivan but two or three and running about with single a singler driver is almost ludicrous. That some of that money ends up in countries who in turn contribute to terrorist groups makes it seem even more intolerable. It is also curious that despite a low inflation rate in nearly all other areas, energy costs to the individual have gone up markedly. Where does this lead? To the White House and this administration in my opinion.
I don't know if Bush is all that concerned about losing the next election because I believe he is going to come out financially smelling like a rose. And where's the money? Your guess is as good as mine, but having a father with extensive international financial connections sure helps.

Roger I'm sure there are many hundreds of millions of barrels of oil left in the north sea, the trouble is we , between us use them up at a phenomenal rate.

c.i. whenever someone mentions snow in this context I cant help but recall my own childhood snow experience which was this:

It used to snow every year around the end of october/ november, ( mid 1950s) and it was deep, I used to jump out of my first floor bedroom window into six (or more) feet of snow. We would still be sledging the following april.

The last time I saw more than an inch of snow that lasted more than a couple of days was 35 years ago.

Global warming? it would seem conclusive, caused by monoxide emissions? I honestly dont know, am I worried for our grandchildren? you betcha.