Gas Prices

[Ramimac1]

Be thankful you don't pay our fuel prices then..

Very thankful, if prices get near $6 US here you may see people evaluating their part time, minimum wage jobs as not worth the effort.

 

[Kevriano]

Very thankful, if prices get near $6 US here you may see people evaluating there part time, minimum wage jobs as not worth the effort.

That's a very good point. I can see it happening here, or already having a similar effect, in that it's just not worth people getting a job, as all the money will go on travel.
I'm lucky in that respect, my van is for firm's use only, though I bring it home. I have no fuel costs for them.

 

[Moss]

Praise the lord for bikes! So easy to get around in Portland, OR.

 

[whitehorse84]

my 2011 M3 gets 12mpg in city Cost of doing business though I suppose.

 

[Derekb41]

$3.59 here is Tennessee.

 

[Leukeh]

Here in Aus it's averaging about $1.46 per litre... which is about $5.52 per gallon.

 

[macmacaman]

Thank god I live in a city with great public transport and bikeroutes. Couldn´t afford a car and the gas on my wages.

 

[RoyalEF]

$4.17 for regular this morning in the suburbs of NYC.

Planning to travel cross country in a RV starting in June. Timing sucks, since I've been planning this for a year. I'll have to fill up in the cheaper states as much as possible.

 

[Audio.Trench]

It's still floating between $1.26 - $1.30/L in Ontario. (approx. $4.79 - $4.94/gal)

 

[iWhat]

I saw an article title that said we might see $6/gal. I was afraid to read the article, so skipped it.

 

[XJ-linux]

Here's an idea I read about. It will never happen because high gas prices undermine the agenda of the "new energy" and many 401k's and pension funds have commodities. But...

Call your elected officials and demand they take a vote to short sell the SPR. Heck, when Congress doesn't/can't pass something, there's usually an agency that poops out a convenient "regulation" that can get it done. Regardless, you don't have to actually deliver it to anyone - it's all a war of paper. Heck, we can oversubscribe the sell like OPEC if we want as no one is going to actually get any of it anyhow. Sell it for whatever as long as it's low and flood the market with sells - it's volatile anyhow. Let the shorts sells drive it down and then cover the shorts at lower prices. That will let the wind out of the longs.

We seem to be able to rationalize just about anything as a threat to our national security whether it's economic security or physical security. I'm sure there is a loophole for some agency somewhere that makes it theoretically possible. Drag some stories out to the MSM about small businesses going under, pets freezing to death and people not looking for work because it's not financially viable to spend the money it takes to drive in relative to wages. Get some catch phrase like "Citizens are too big to fail." Whatever. People generally do what the TV says and they will demand action if you make it simple.

Heck, it's the citizen's money (and SPR) so we may as well do something that benefits us with it. It's a Capitalist country so we may as well use it to our advantage as not everyone can afford to speculate or pay for expensive gas. It won't happen, but it would be nice.

 

[Greg55]

3.73 per gal here in NC. (near Charlotte)

 

[CrimsonRequiem]

I saw an article title that said we might see $6/gal. I was afraid to read the article, so skipped it.

I wouldn't be surprised to see $5 by the end of the month in SolCal, and in some of the other bigger cities in the US.>_>"

 

[iBeldar]

The Kroger gas station in front of my work has it for about $3.71 a gallon I think, for regular 87 octane. My big boat, Grand Marquis, probably averages me about 20mpg. It is a 19.7 mile round trip to get there and back. I make minimum wage.

I can't wait for it to hit $6 a gallon.... lol, I will basically be buying gas for the week with one day's pay. $20 right now will get me ~ 1/4 tank, maybe a tad more. I never run all the way to empty.

EDIT: To touch on the public transportation topic; I live about 10 miles west of Atlanta, GA. There is one of the busiest airports in the world. How many times have I seen a bus here? Not counting church/school/etc buses, none. There are taxi companys and chances are you'll see one a day, possibly more. But it isn't like NY where you stand on the side of the road and yell for one. You basically call the cab company, and they dispatch a cab to you, just like the police. I had to take my dad to the airport at 5am one time because the taxi company told him it would be 3 hours before the next cab could get to him. You can take a bus on longer trips, but as said before, even with one destination it takes forever. Takes us about 12 hours tops to drive to Missouri to visit family; my aunt took a bus down here last summer and the ride was ~20 hours. Not to mention you're cramped on a smelly bus full of strangers.

So yea, our gas is cheaper than most places, but with good reason.

 

[XJ-linux]

$3.99 in Minneapolis as of this morning. Anyhow, here's some interesting numbers on gas prices. Specifically, the recently released quarterly information on the fuel taxes by State and FedGov per gallon. The oil company profits are somewhere between 10 and 30 cents per gallon depending upon where you source the information (FreeRep -vs- MSM -vs- DU).

http://www.api.org/statistics/fueltaxes/upload/Gasoline_Diesel_Summary.pdf

Here's a link on how one investor hedged on Summer futures to defray fuel costs. In the example, an investor makes $380 to offset gas expenditures for his household. Not rocket science, and certainly doable for someone willing to do some research.

How I Hedged Summer Gas Prices With ETF UGA - Seeking Alpha

 

[Stretch]

It's been around $4.06 where I live. But I'm down visiting my fiancee this weekend and I found it for $3.99 in Binghamton.

 

[whitehorse84]

$4.79 a gallon yes!

 

[cwa107]

$3.89 here... that's almost $80 to fill up the Pilot. Ouch.

 

[rman]

4.29 / 4.39 / 4.49 here

 

[mcbrew]

Hopefully, the rising price of gasoline and diesel fuel will start to make people act differently. Drive more efficiently, buy more efficient vehicles, carpool, use public transportation, etc.

It is sad, but I live next door to my business partner and his wife. We all work at the same place. Each of us gets into our own car and drives 30 miles each way to work and then back home. Nobody wants to carpool because don't want to be tied down to a schedule.