Thread: Gas tanks are draining family budgets

First, we agree. Gas prices are destroying the economy. I have always held that what really wrecked GW's world in the end was the gas prices. Its just what you say. High gasoline prices suck the goodness out of the family budget. All the extras disappear and it becomes a meltdown for everyone.

That being said, this is Memorial Day weekend. This is the traditional high point in the year for gasoline prices. I was therefore surprised and shocked to see prices drop in my town by 40 cents over the last week,

Originally Posted by Dick Martin

First, we agree. Gas prices are destroying the economy. I have always held that what really wrecked GW's world in the end was the gas prices. Its just what you say. High gasoline prices suck the goodness out of the family budget. All the extras disappear and it becomes a meltdown for everyone.

That being said, this is Memorial Day weekend. This is the traditional high point in the year for gasoline prices. I was therefore surprised and shocked to see prices drop in my town by 40 cents over the last week,

It may be traditional this time of yr. but 100 dollar a barrel is not traditional and my OP is not about traditional prices. It's about outsourcing our oil to Oil Lords and Obama is doing nothing about it. To me this is a travesty to the American people. Oil is not evil as it is the life blood of our economy and not expediting more oil drilling here at home is insane.

For liberals that is just fine with them. Screw our economy and the people that have to pay higher gas prices and the jobs that are lost because they want to buy oil from Oil Lords instead.

Originally Posted by Forplay

It may be traditional this time of yr. but 100 dollar a barrel is not traditional and my OP is not about traditional prices. It's about outsourcing our oil to Oil Lords and Obama is doing nothing about it. To me this is a travesty to the American people. Oil is not evil as it is the life blood of our economy and not expediting more oil drilling here at home is insane.

For liberals that is just fine with them. Screw our economy and the people that have to pay higher gas prices and the jobs that are lost because they want to buy oil from Oil Lords instead.

The point is, and was, that gasoline prices are seasonal. These seasonal trends are noticeable and predictable. Yes the price is too high, but some of that is the seasonal aspect of gasoline pricing.

Originally Posted by Dick Martin

The point is, and was, that gasoline prices are seasonal. These seasonal trends are noticeable and predictable. Yes the price is too high, but some of that is the seasonal aspect of gasoline pricing.

Yes of course, more propping up Obama.

You know the worse thing about high gas prices, and who it effects the most. The poor and middle class, these are the one's you bitch are always being disadvantaged by big corporate American. But in truth you could care less about the poor and middle class, because if you did you would drill baby drill. You would want to bring our money back home and all the jobs. But no, to you liberals oil is evil and therefore screw the poor and middle class.

Your country didn't outsource oil, you out-consumed your own production.

The US has had a terrible (no) grand energy strategy for the last 30 years. Leaving people consume incredibly much due to the illusion of ever cheap supply. The US consumes twice as much Oil per capita than most other OECD countries. Same goes for electricity consumption, which is 3 times higher than in a Country like Germany (per household).

That's the reason you suffer quite hard under increasing energy prices.

Originally Posted by El_Zoido

Your country didn't outsource oil, you out-consumed your own production.

The US has had a terrible (no) grand energy strategy for the last 30 years. Leaving people consume incredibly much due to the illusion of ever cheap supply. The US consumes twice as much Oil per capita than most other OECD countries. Same goes for electricity consumption, which is 3 times higher than in a Country like Germany (per household).

That's the reason you suffer quite hard under increasing energy prices.

The hell it didn't, we have enough oil supply to flood this country, but it's all under lock and key by you liberals. Who think oil is evil, and it's all our fault and the rest of the liberal BS. And then you want to compare us to Europe, like they can't even afford to protect themselves. Tell me how they compare their military to ours. Also how far do they have to drive across Germany to deliver goods compared to ours. I could go on and on but you get the idea.

And also tell me how you liberals think about the poor and middle class having to pay these high prices and cutting into their already tight budgets. Oh that's right they have to change how they live, to pay their bills. Like walk miles to work each way.

Originally Posted by Dick Martin

That being said, this is Memorial Day weekend. This is the traditional high point in the year for gasoline prices. I was therefore surprised and shocked to see prices drop in my town by 40 cents over the last week,

Oil prices fell sharply in the beginning of May, the only surprise is the price change got to the pumps so quickly.

Originally Posted by Forplay

Households spent an average of $369 on gas last month. In April 2009, they spent just $201. Families now spend more filling up than they spend on cars, clothes or recreation. Last year, they spent less on gasoline than each of those things.

The same price pressures revealed the weakness in the housing market last time around.

Originally Posted by Forplay

The hell it didn't, we have enough oil supply to flood this country, but it's all under lock and key by you liberals. Who think oil is evil, and it's all our fault and the rest of the liberal BS. And then you want to compare us to Europe, like they can't even afford to protect themselves. Tell me how they compare their military to ours. Also how far do they have to drive across Germany to deliver goods compared to ours. I could go on and on but you get the idea.

And also tell me how you liberals think about the poor and middle class having to pay these high prices and cutting into their already tight budgets. Oh that's right they have to change how they live, to pay their bills. Like walk miles to work each way.

May I remind you that gas prices went MUCH higher under Bush, and that gas prices are actually going down?

It is not the "availability" of gas that raises the gas prices. It is speculation, and the continued greed of the oil companies.

By the way, it is not about "driving across Germany to deliver goods." It is about delivering goods across EUROPE, and doing it in MUCH more efficient manner, because instead of looking to "today," Europeans had a vision for the future, and their rail system is infinitely more developped than ours.

Originally Posted by Forplay

I ask what is Obama's energy policy?

Make it more expensive:
"somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe - Steven Chu, Obama's science czar."
“electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket” under his economywide cap-and-trade system - Obama"

Why?
Because our standard of living is too high compared to the rest of the world and in order to achieve parity, the developed countries standard of living is being whittled down while we are helping the developing countries grow via things like the World Bank, IMF, ending of tariffs, FDI, too many business and environmental regulations, etc. etc. High energy costs help acheive this goal because it means we can't buy as many consumer goods and 70% of our economy is based on consumption. This will also result in leaving those natural resources that were to be used for those consumer goods that the enlightened have deemed we don't need available for the rest of the world to use to grow their economies.

The end goal is for every nation to have roughly the same standard of living. Since environmentalists say it would take over 5 earths for everybody to have a standard of living like we do and it would take over two earths for everybody to have a standard of living like they do in Europe, our future standard of living is going to be much lower than what it is in Europe.

Originally Posted by Forplay

It sure is not "drill baby drill." We have 9% unemployment and are sending 500 billion a yr to Oil Lords that control our economy. Bring that 500 billion back home and all the jobs that go with it and this country would boom.

Under cap-and-trade, we could end up sending almost $400 billion a year to foreign countries. Either way we're screwed.

Originally Posted by Forplay

All the liberals bitch about companies outsourcing, well what are we doing with our oil? Outsourcing, yet that is OK for liberals because to them oil is evil. And could care less how it effects the pocket book of Americans.

This is insane, and worse yet, liberals could care less about jobs in this country, yet bitch about companies outsourcing. What hypocrites.

Actually, many liberals are in favor of outsourcing because it means other nations are improving their economies and brings us closer to meeting the UN's Millennium Development Goals. Remember, Democrats are also known as 'internationalists' meaning they are concerned about other nations. Too bad for us, its often at our expense and too bad for us that most people are unaware of this.

Originally Posted by Forplay

NEW YORK (AP) -- There's less money this summer for hotel rooms, surfboards and bathing suits. It's all going into the gas tank.

High prices at the pump are putting a squeeze on the family budget as the traditional summer driving season begins. For every $10 the typical household earns before taxes, almost a full dollar now goes toward gas, a 40 percent bigger bite than normal.

Households spent an average of $369 on gas last month. In April 2009, they spent just $201. Families now spend more filling up than they spend on cars, clothes or recreation. Last year, they spent less on gasoline than each of those things.

Gas tanks are draining family budgets - Yahoo! Finance

Those recent uprisings in the Middle East have played a large role in raising the price of gas. Interestingly those uprisings had the support of the US government for 3 years (remember Chu's comment: "somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe"). Looks like they figured out the way. In addition, when those uprisings are done, the new governments should be more democratic and hence more open to being just more nation-states under the UN.

Kramer

Once again, gas price today are lower than they were in 2008.

Gas Price Historical Price Charts - GasBuddy.com Average&city2=&city3=&crude=n&tme=48&units=us

Originally Posted by Sadanie

Once again, gas price today are lower than they were in 2008.

Woo hooo....and how did those high gas prices help the party of the president during that election cycle?
2008 is also the end of the story of high gas prices for the Bush years, the post Katrina bump sent shock-waves through the nation that rocked the foundation of the economy and exposed how bad things were in the housing sector.

Originally Posted by JDJarvis

Woo hooo....and how did those high gas prices help the party of the president during that election cycle?
2008 is also the end of the story of high gas prices for the Bush years, the post Katrina bump sent shock-waves through the nation that rocked the foundation of the economy and exposed how bad things were in the housing sector.

And the "drill, baby drill" concept didn't help, now, did it?

The only think that will help is for us to curtail our dependency on oil.

Isn't it amazing how we keep on complaining about gas prices, but Europe has dealt with much higher gas prices for decades, and is still competitive (to say the least!)

Isn't it amazing how we complain about "high taxes," but Europe has had much higher taxes, and is still competitive.

Isn't it amazing how we complain about "social programs draining our economy," but Europe has had a much stronger safety net for decades, and is still competitive.

Isn't it amazing how we complain about "unions," and "labor laws" getting in the way of our competing against other nations, yet Europe has had decades of MUCH stronger labor laws.

Let's face it. We have our head so far in the sand that we are totally ignoring the realities of what global economy is made of.