Would $3.50/gal gas change your actions?
On TV I've seen several gurus predict this for 2008.
Personally I would try to use the Ram pickup less. Also I would try to cut down on all those short little trips.
Personally I would try to use the Ram pickup less. Also I would try to cut down on all those short little trips.
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I'm already paying more than that...and yes, it has curtailed some actions... 0 -
quote:Originally posted by nunn
$3.50 a gallon gas would only cause me to write bigger checks when the bills come in. I can't drive less than I do now, and I won't downsize vehicles. Both are paid for, and I can buy a lot of gasoline for the cost of a car payment.
nunn nailed it for me too.0 -
The price of gas is exactly the reason that I still drive a 10 years Escort back and forth to work. Sometimes the guys bust my ass about it but it's been paid for for 6 years and gets over 30 mpg.
Even got my wife to consolidate trips with the Explorer gas hog.
The only time I really go anywhere I don't NEED to is my weekly trips to the range (about 30 miles round trip).0 -
I drive an SUV that averages 18.9 mpg. I drive an average of 1200 miles a month. Thats 63.5 gal/month. If gas goes up $.50/gal it will increase my gas bill $31.75/month.
That won't change my driving habits much. I have already started going to my local Ace Hardware for small items (4 miles round trip)and paid a bit more rather than taking the 20 mile round trip to Home Depot. So I guess higher gas prices help local business compete with the big ones.0 -
Already have cut back. SUV has been parked for the last 6 months. Will drive less if gas get even higher. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by slipgate
quote:Originally posted by forkliftking
It's just Supply and Demand. In my business, I sell all of my equipment for as much as I can get out of it. It's not what it's worth, It's what you can get sell it for. I dont blame the gas companys one bit. Of course, I have a few bulk plants in my area in which I have sold a few forklifts to.
...and what about them getting together and all charging the same so that you pay about the same wherever you go? Gas is the most profitable business on this planet.
Not only would that violate anti-trust laws but it's about the worst idea economically speaking.0 -
quote:Originally posted by slipgate
quote:Originally posted by forkliftking
quote:Originally posted by slipgate
quote:Originally posted by forkliftking
It's just Supply and Demand. In my business, I sell all of my equipment for as much as I can get out of it. It's not what it's worth, It's what you can get sell it for. I dont blame the gas companys one bit. Of course, I have a few bulk plants in my area in which I have sold a few forklifts to.
...and what about them getting together and all charging the same so that you pay about the same wherever you go? Gas is the most profitable business on this planet.
Dont they already do that?
That is my point! You said you don't blame them for charging as much as they can. But they price fix, which is an unfair practice. Especially for a comodity that is required to exist.
Gas IS the most profitable line of business. Look at the RECORD profits that all the oil companies are making. Inflation adjusted or not, they are making more profit now than they ever have.
I have no problems with capitalism, just unfair business practices that hurt 98% of the citizenship.
And developing nations are growing QUICKLY. Packistan's economy posted a 50% growth in 2007. Right now fears of demand outstripping supply are driving costs up. The petroleum market is incredibly volatile. Without investors the companies would shrivel. Without profits that justify investors sticking around through the ups and downs, the investors will just go away.0 -
quote:Originally posted by idsman75
quote:Originally posted by slipgate
quote:Originally posted by forkliftking
It's just Supply and Demand. In my business, I sell all of my equipment for as much as I can get out of it. It's not what it's worth, It's what you can get sell it for. I dont blame the gas companys one bit. Of course, I have a few bulk plants in my area in which I have sold a few forklifts to.
...and what about them getting together and all charging the same so that you pay about the same wherever you go? Gas is the most profitable business on this planet.
Not only would that violate anti-trust laws but it's about the worst idea economically speaking.
I'm not championing the idea! I'm saying they DO it illegally! I'm saying they price-fix all the time. There is NO competition in the gasoline world due to this. In fact, when a station sells gas too low, the station owner gets in trouble.0 -
Right. There's a reason he gets in trouble. For example, look at some of the grocery stores and the Wal Marts that have gas pumps. The can AFFORD to sell gas at $2/gallon because they are so huge and it will drive customers inside their stores. This creates unfair competition for the little guys.
Secondly, nobody looks at the petrolium sector in light of other global and domestic sectors. An increase in the price of a barrel of oil affects other countries too. This is likely to spill into these red hot emerging markets like Brazil, Russia, India and China. Their growth will slow which will eventually bring down the prices of things like cement and metals for us. Most folks who simply want to lambast the oil companies don't look at the energy/petrolium sector in light of all of the other sectors with which it is connected. Most of it is populist rhetoric which is meaningless and highly uneducated--similar to claims that our manufacturing sector is being offshored to foreign markets. Our manufacturing sector has been GROWING for the last decade. The fact of the matter is that technology and the automation that results has made certain jobs obsolete. We are manufacturing more now than ever before. Tech is what is killing the manufacturing jobs--not offshoring (often mislabled as "outsourcing").
Most people don't realize that gas stations make VERY LITTLE profit from fuel costs. Most of their profit comes from sales inside the gas station (beer, cigarettes, lottery tickets, etc). It would be assinine for them to charge more than what the local market can bear. Some petrolium companies are into Exploration and Production of crude oil. Some also refine and sell the end product (like Exxon). Companies that only explore and produce crude are involved in a much more volatile industry. They're either singing or crying. The singing has to be good enough to justify the times that they are crying or investors will vanish. The companies that do both are less volatile but their highs are not as high and their lows are not as low because consumption decreases when prices go up at the pump and the sales inside the gas stations go down.
Some people need to turn off MTV and turn on CNBC.0 -
quote: Would $3.50/gal gas change your actions?
I don't get it, I have been paying +-5 cents from that most of this year.0 -
I lived in Alexandria Bay, NY for a bit--right up 2 blocks from the St Lawrence river that separates America from Canada. Fuel was typically 35 to 50 cents higher in Alexandria bay because of the cost of getting the fuel up there from the nearest town/city. The fact that I chose to live in A-Bay shouldn't mean that someone else closer to the source should pay more so that all our fuel costs could be even steven. 0 -
No 0 -
We diesel drivers are paying that now. My employeer is pitching a hissy fit over the fuel cost of my 60,000 miles a year driving. 0 -
Generally monday through Friday I drive less than 30 miles. I ride the train to work unless the weather is really crappy out and the train station is about a mile from where I live, it's the walk from the train station to work that can get ugly once I'm off the train.
Gas could hit ten dollars a gallon, I would probably start going to work earlier and leaving earlier so I could find a place to sit on the train. It's already getting pretty packed.0 -
I could live with that price for gas if the market fundamentals called for it, but THEY DO NOT!
$100 crude is the result of speculation which pretty much assumes that the all of OPEC will become one big firefight tomorrow and we will get no oil [:o)]0 -
No actions to change. I use all my gas to get to work and back everyday so I can afford to buy gas. I can only go shooting once every 2 weeks because it costs another gallon to get there and back, and with ammo prices rising every 3 months, well you know. No time or money for anything else, so all driving is necessary. If prices go up, only option is to get a higher paying job, or the best option, to get a higher paying job working at home so no travel is necessary. 0 -
All you folks complaining about the cost of gas...have you LOOKED at how much TAX is on a gallon of gas???? It's 18.5 cents per gallon in just KY state taxes. The federal tax is 18.4 cents. That's 37 cents per gallon right there in KY! The state rate may be more where you live. It ain't enough for the govt to tax your pay. They have to also tax the stuff you buy with money you already paid taxes on! That's where (some of, anyway) the indignation needs to be directed! [:(!][xx(][V]
EDIT...just read where the average tax on a gallon of gas in the US is up to 46.9 cents per gallon!!!! Do away with the taxes, and gas prices don't look so awful bad.0 -
I already use the F250 alot less than I used to. It's an '04 and only has 36K on it. We have an 03 Civic we use for most our driving. Looking at getting a small SUV with over 24mpg soon. 0 -
I get 12 miles to the gallon if I'm lucky but I have a free unlimited supply. [:D] 0 -
Retired - do no driving that is unnecessary. Have two SUVs that fit me just fine. Don't plan to change driving habits unless costs go well over $5.00/gal, then would look into an electric runabout for shopping and local trips.
I have always combined shopping trips, limited internal loads (no survival supplies in the vehicle if local), always watched the tire pressures, use lightest synthetic oil recommended, only changed oil every 5K miles (till extended change oils came out - now every 10K miles), got chassis alignment (thrust angle) 4wheel every year.0 -
Not in the slightest. 0 -
No bother to me, I have one car, one truck and one suv.I am out of shape and live three blocks from work.It is not the cost of gas that is bothering me, it is the cost of everything that is affected by the price of gas that has me in a fix. 0
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