Originally Posted By mrkthompsn Take a guess what the price of a gallon of gas in downtown Tehran is.
Originally Posted By EighthDwarf $0.50? Keep in mind that no matter how cheap gas is in Tehran, it represents a higher percentage of income than it does here.
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn It's $0.35 in Tehran, Iran. It's $0.95 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It not only just a function of a higher percentage of income, it's from the fact that they drill and pump their own oil. Where's more that 80% of our gas money going? Saudia Arabia? Note that we have our own untapped oil.
Originally Posted By Elderp I would argue only about 40% of the profits go to the country where it is pumped from. About another 40% is the refineries. The last 20% is taxes.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 I say let's use Saudi Arabian and Middle Eastern Oil, then when they run out, we just use our supplies for us... It's ingenious when you think about it.
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh <Where's more that 80% of our gas money going? Saudia Arabia?> Actually, most of imported oil comes from Canada. I think Mexico is second.
Originally Posted By Mrs ElderP High Gas prices certainly bother this guy: His contention, gas is still way too cheap. <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2191491/" target="_blank">http://www.slate.com/id/2191491/</a>
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 (Gasoline is also cheap compared with other essential fuels. A Starbucks venti latte costs the equivalent of $23 per gallon, while Budweiser beer runs $11 per gallon.)<< I hate that srgument, unless you are in college, you will not drink beer by the gallon.
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<Actually, most of imported oil comes from Canada. I think Mexico is second.>> True, but by propping up demand with our leviathan vehicles we keep prices high for the whole world. Also worth considering is that Mexican production has peaked and is in decline. The same can be said for other major producers.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 "Note that we have our own untapped oil." And is any of it in a place that we can get to easily, cheaply, and without destroying the natural environment? Apparently not, or we already would be drilling up those places. But I'm sure once gas hits $10 a gallon people will stop caring about the environment and drilling will start. But then what happens once that oil is gone??
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains I have a question - I drove down to Dl in my Diesel Monster - It only cost me about $40 more than normal so I was happy - The way there and back Diesel was $4.69 Get back notice Diesel is still $4.69 when I take DD to school monday AM. Monday afternoon $4.75 Tuesday am $4.75 Tuesday pm $4.80 Wed am $4.80 Wed pm $4.85... So with in 2 days Diesel went up $.16 a gallon - Regular gas went up in this same time $.04.... So why does Diesel go up so much more at a time than regular gas?
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Well, they are expecting fuel to go up to $12 a gallon by the end of the month here. And the local train station put parking up 40 cents more a day (they raised parking by 80 cents in Jan). Grrrrr. Travel in the states is certainly cheaper. There is talk about a road blockade in London and Paris to protest next week.
Originally Posted By fkurucz ^^In your case the Euro gov't could provide some real, non trivial relief by reducing fuel taxes.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 They won't because they have such a good public transportation system. I can take a train anywhere in Bavaria for 19 dollars, which is very nice. The most driving my family and I do usually is from our house to either the airport or train station. That is why Europeans don't mind such high gas prices, they don't drive as much as Americans do.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo fcurucz, indeed the taxation on fuel is high (to encourage environmentally good behaviours). We are paying about $3.30 in tax per gallon.
Originally Posted By Mrs ElderP Re: post 150 Fundamently, eventually oil **may** get up to $1,000 a barrel, and gas **may** be $10 a gallon. The question is, by then, will you care? Right now there is *nothing* as compartivly cheap as $30 a barrel oil. There are a few energy sources, depending on your location that are cheaper than $130 a barrel oil. There are lots more energy sources that are cheaper than $200 a barrel oil and so on. Your great great great grandma cared about the price of whale oil, rendered from whale fat, because it was the the best oil for her lamps and provided much of the light in her dark house. On the other hand, as whale oil got more and more expensive (as whales got scarcer and scarcer) chemists started fooling around with the sticky stuff bubbeling up through the ground in Pennsylvania, trying to see how to make it burn cleanly and cheaply. They figured it out and within not such a short amount of time, there was a big oil boom in Pennsylvania (followed by other booms in Texas, etc.) and a declime in whaling in New Bedford. Of course the whales haven't totally recovered, but they're not totally gone either. Really, you may never fill up your car with such a small percentage of your income as you did in 2001, but you will always have a way to move from place to place. The invisible hand will take care of that.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Don't get me wrong, I am angry about the price we pay, but it is not the end of the world compared to other things. But 2.5 hours to go 60 miles today between traffic to the station, getting parked, on a train that was delayed and then my mile walk to work was annoying to say the least. However, due to traffic, the car journey would have taken as long and cost far more.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<And is any of it in a place that we can get to easily, cheaply, and without destroying the natural environment?>> I for one would certainly hate to be responsible for the extinction of the Artic Tundra Snail... or whatever in the world it is that they worry about. Its freaking wilderness... that means no one lives there. That means we can drill as much as we want and no human beings are harmed. And to me, human beings are a lot more important than the freaking Artic Tundra Snail.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Now RT, go and watch the Lion King, after all we are all joined in the circle of life.
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains Great now it's $4.89 - so $.20 in 96 hours.... Regular gas in same time up $.06
