Gas prices

[Topaz]

Water will just have to be privatized if that's the case.

Maybe they should used rain water or ocean water and not drinking water.

[Rue]

Rue, I respectfully disagree. When you say "yet feel forced to" it kinda scares me. Those are the words that pressure groups use with politicians to justify negative reinforcement methods like increased energy taxes to FORCE people into "greeener" behaviour".

As I had written, mass transit simply sucks in my town. I cannot spare 3 hours a day and more walking than riding as a valid option to 15 minutes in my car. I cannot envision carrying the family's weekly groceries on a bike, especially in the rain or the winter.

We don't need the government forcing us onto bicycles. Higher and higher energy prices do that all by themselves. My impression is not that people will just grudgingly adjust and eventually feel proud of themselves. Rather, I think people are getting more and more enraged!

Most of us feel that gas companies are hosing us and governments are corrupt and inept. We're getting collectively more and more pissed! We're time-poor and more and more stressed.

I'm worried that people are going to start going postal!

Sorry just reading the posts back now. No WB I agree with your response to me. Sheeyit. I did not mean we should be forced to by government. No no. Like you say there. I just meant in the other sense-until we really have our backs against the walls, and have no other choice we might not change. I mean me to you know. You know that human tendency to keep putting it off until we absolutely have to. That is what I meant. No I actually agree with what you say totally. I also don't have Aug's confidence in the economic assumptions he makes as to supply and demand and has prices. I really do think aside from the politics involved a lot of what we see are some nasty commodity brokerage speculation making money off of controlled networking and price fixing.

I mean I am honest and say I can on an individual level do some things but hey yah I know there is a limit to what we can do as individuals too, etc. On my income I really am getting hit hard by it. The food prices I notice are going up. Everything goes up because of transportation. I can't help but think of Cuba where the government orders people into empty cars.

Stranger things have happened. Look how easy it was to implement the War Measures Act during a crisis. I worry these things become a pretext for intrusive government intervention for the wrong reasons.

[Topaz]

One reason you won't see any government help consumers with gas prices is IF they did they would be hurting themselves. By that I mean they are all invested in oil and gas and if the prices of gas and oil fall, they lose money. Harper family itself are in the oil business, so you know he won't help. The only way to get to the gas prices is to have people reduce their usage or the Auto sector come out with a good medium-size car that doesn't require gas.

[bush_cheney2004]

....The only way to get to the gas prices is to have people reduce their usage or the Auto sector come out with a good medium-size car that doesn't require gas.

You can buld your own right now by modifying a Prius as a true plug-in hybrid, or go totally electric with a fuel cell. But it will cost a lot more than buying gasoline and have some quirks.

Gas is still cheaper than Diet Coke....what's the problem? Filler' up !!

[Guest American Woman]

Gas is still cheaper than Diet Coke....what's the problem? Filler' up !!

Ummm. No. Gas is not cheaper than Diet Coke.

[bush_cheney2004]

Ummm. No. Gas is not cheaper than Diet Coke.

It is where I live....Filler' Up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...and yes, I would like a super-size Diet Coke.

[Guest American Woman]

It is where I live....Filler' Up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...and yes, I would like a super-size Diet Coke.

Where I live it's $3.93 a gal for gas and $3.50 for a twelve pack of Diet Coke (which amounts to more ounces than in a gallon). You can get the Diet Coke even cheaper on sale. Can't imagine why it would cost so much more where you live.

[bush_cheney2004]

Where I live it's $3.93 a gal for gas and $3.50 for a twelve pack of Diet Coke (which amounts to more ounces than in a gallon). You can get the Diet Coke even cheaper on sale. Can't imagine why it would cost so much more where you live.

Where I live, 87 octane unleaded is $3.59 per US gallon (3.8 liters), while two liters of Diet Coke is $1.49 + tax....cans cost much more. However, the Diet Coke is not ready for consumption, as it has to be cooled or iced; the gasoline is dispensed to my motor vehicle ready for use, and taxes are included in the price. Diet Coke purchased from a restaurant or vending machine is even more expensive than gasoline.

Today, I paid $1.59 US for a chilled 20 oz. Diet Coke...ouch!

Amazingly, the more expensive Diet Coke is largely just purified city water and syrup from a local bottling plant, but the gasoline started its life almost halfway around the world.

Filler' Up !!!!!!

[Guest American Woman]

Where I live, 87 octane unleaded is $3.59 per US gallon (3.8 liters), while two liters of Diet Coke is $1.49 + tax....cans cost much more. However, the Diet Coke is not ready for consumption, as it has to be cooled or iced; the gasoline is dispensed to my motor vehicle ready for use, and taxes are included in the price. Diet Coke purchased from a restaurant or vending machine is even more expensive than gasoline.

Today, I paid $1.59 US for a chilled 20 oz. Diet Coke...ouch!

My 12 packs of Diet Coke are already chilled and ready for consumption, and I don't have to pay any tax. So where I live, your statement is definitely not true-- Diet Coke is cheaper than gas, especially if one is unfortunate enough to have bought a diesel as that goes for $4.59 a gal. But I was referring to 87 octane unleaded with my price, same as you. So that leaves me to wonder why gas is so much more cheaper where you live.

[bush_cheney2004]

So that leaves me to wonder why gas is so much more cheaper where you live.

Maybe because I can see the refinery from the roof of my house.

[Wilber]

What's with diesel prices down there? Diesel is damn near a buck more a gallon than regular in many parts of the US but here it runs from slightly more to slightly less depending on the time of year. Today it was a cent a liter less than regular.

[bush_cheney2004]

What's with diesel prices down there? Diesel is damn near a buck more a gallon than regular in many parts of the US but here it runs from slightly more to slightly less depending on the time of year. Today it was a cent a liter less than regular.

1. The US switched to a low sulphur diesel requirement, impacting production and distribution

2. Diesel is taxed higher than petrol

3. Diesel fuel demand has rebounded for cars

4. Home heating oil demand drives up distillate costs in season.

[Wilber]

1. The US switched to a low sulphur diesel requirement, impacting production and distribution

2. Diesel is taxed higher than petrol

3. Diesel fuel demand has rebounded for cars

4. Home heating oil demand drives up distillate costs in season.

Diesel isn't taxed higher here but everything else applies. We have been totaly ULSD since the fall of 06.

[bush_cheney2004]

Diesel isn't taxed higher here but everything else applies. We have been totaly ULSD since the fall of 06.

As you well know, the backbone of our commercial transport system is diesel fueled rigs, and how much better is their efficiency compared to improvements in cars and light trucks that burn gas? I remember "tractor trailers" getting about 4.2 - 5 mpg of diesel in the late 1970's....now it is around 6 mpg, right?

It costs about $1200 US to refuel a truck these days....good thing it is tax deductible!

[M.Dancer]

. So that leaves me to wonder why gas is so much more cheaper where you live.

Maybe diet coke is just really expensive...

[Wilber]

As you well know, the backbone of our commercial transport system is diesel fueled rigs, and how much better is their efficiency compared to improvements in cars and light trucks that burn gas? I remember "tractor trailers" getting about 4.2 - 5 mpg of diesel in the late 1970's....now it is around 6 mpg, right?

It costs about $1200 US to refuel a truck these days....good thing it is tax deductible!

We actually pay more than you for both gas and diesel, what I don't understand is why there is such a big difference between the two in the US compared to Canada. An increase from 4.2 to 6 MPG is a 42% increase in mileage. I don't think gas engines have done any better than that since the 70's. 6 MPG for something that weighs 80,000 lbs and has the aerodynamics of a typical barn is pretty good IMO. If it was powered by a gas engine you would be closer to looking at gallons per mile if it could pull it at all.

[bush_cheney2004]

We actually pay more than you for both gas and diesel, what I don't understand is why there is such a big difference between the two in the US compared to Canada.

There is no single reason...it is a combination of things from what I can see. Americans are actually using slightly less gasoline but more diesel, inculding biodiesel, which adds a premium on the infrastructure like ethanol does to gas. Truckers are really honked off right now because of the high prices.

An increase from 4.2 to 6 MPG is a 42% increase in mileage. I don't think gas engines have done any better than that since the 70's. 6 MPG for something that weighs 80,000 lbs and has the aerodynamics of a typical barn is pretty good IMO. If it was powered by a gas engine you would be closer to looking at gallons per mile if it could pull it at all.

Agreed, but travel by car or light truck is a bit more elastic than our commercial ground transportation, which is the backbone of our economic system. Whether local, regional, or long haul, there is no way to escape the costs unless fuel contracts were purchased.

Now I know what we would hear if I broke out my old CB radio. Does anybody remember what diesel fuel costs did during the gas shortages of the '70's?

[the janitor]

Gas is still cheaper than Diet Coke....what's the problem? Filler' up !!

That's because Diet Coke is overpriced. You dirink enough of that junk, you won't need to buy gas, you'll have your own internal supply.

[Oleg Bach]

That's because Diet Coke is overpriced. You dirink enough of that junk, you won't need to buy gas, you'll have your own internal supply.

Hey - they made my brother cap his well and go on town water - his well water was the coolest and the freshest in the area - now he sucks on chlorine---imaging if we bottled the stuff and sold it? Water worth more than gas - go figure - but ...did you hear that they want to outlaw clean bottled water in the Toronto high schools - seems they want the kids to suck on chlorine...maybe they could just send them down to the local swimming pool and drink on all fours like water buffalo? so does Diet Coke make you fart? - I don't know - I can't stand the slop and it's stinging carbonated bubbles - where is the pleasure in that? - now back to gas prices . I remember back in the day that we fretted at a buck a gallon...I say charge 10 dollars a litre..that way would could enrich the oil merchants to such a point that the bastards would suffocate in money.

[the janitor]

so does Diet Coke make you fart? - I don't know - I can't stand the slop and it's stinging carbonated bubbles - where is the pleasure in that? - now back to gas prices . I remember back in the day that we fretted at a buck a gallon...I say charge 10 dollars a litre..that way would could enrich the oil merchants to such a point that the bastards would suffocate in money.

I've got a better idea...make everyone who buys Coke pay a carbon tax because of the greenhouse gas it produces in people and save the environment.

[Topaz]

High gas prices have been blamed on the oil companies, OPEC and now I'm hearing its investors who are driving up the prices to make a quick buck. The question remains, who are these people, politicians, world leaders etc. it certainly not the average north american that is struggling to make ends meet while these "investors" watch some people struggle to survive through these times. It seems the end of summer is when they think the bubble will burst and the gas prices will come down once the investors realize the good times are coming to an end and go back to something like gold to invest in.

[M.Dancer]

The question remains, who are these people, politicians, world leaders etc. it certainly not the average north american that is struggling to make ends meet while these "investors" watch some people struggle to survive through these times.

I take full responsibility. So does my associate. We are investors and we have approved this message.

It seems the end of summer is when they think the bubble will burst and the gas prices will come down once the investors realize the good times are coming to an end and go back to something like gold to invest in.

If you believe that, then now is the time for you to start shorting energy stocks. Why shouldn't you make some money too.....Mind you, I think you will lose your shirt because summer will have little effect on China and Asia's energy needs.

[jdobbin]

Gas prices jump 5 cents this week.

http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=544245

Gasoline prices in Canada jumped by an average of 5.5 cents a litre over the past week, according to data released Tuesday.

The weekly price survey from MJ Ervin and Associates, a Calgary-based consultant to the energy industry, indicated the average price for regular gasoline in Canada is $1.326 a litre.

The biggest price gain of the 60 communities surveyed was in Montreal, where the average price surged 14.7 cents to $1.434 a litre. This placed it in contention for having the highest fuel prices in the country. But it still fell short of Labrador City, N.L., where the average price rose 4.4 cents to $1.466 a litre.

As has been the case for the last several weeks, the cheapest location for fuel recorded by MJ Ervin was Kingston, Ont., where the average price rose 1.5 cents from a week earlier to hit $1.227 a litre.

And in the U.S., it hit over $4 a gallon.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/27/news/econo...sion=2008052709

Retail gas prices hit record highs for the 20th day in a row, motorist group AAA's Web site showed Tuesday.

The nationwide average for a gallon of regular unleaded rose to $3.937, up slightly from $3.936 the previous day.

The climb in gas prices, which have steadily risen over the past three weeks, comes amid the start of the summer driving season, which unofficially kicked off over the Memorial Day weekend.

The AAA survey shows gas prices are up about 9% from a month ago and nearly 23% higher from year-ago levels. The average price for gas has passed the $4 a gallon mark in 11 states, as well as in Washington, D.C.

A U.S. government report showed the sharpest drop in driving since it has kept records in 1942.

[Topaz]

I take full responsibility. So does my associate. We are investors and we have approved this message.

If you believe that, then now is the time for you to start shorting energy stocks. Why shouldn't you make some money too.....Mind you, I think you will lose your shirt because summer will have little effect on China and Asia's energy needs.

Its the investors that are speculating and they have millions of dollars to do it with, do you??

[margrace]

As I commented before, is there something our gov'ts aren't telling us. Hope you are right that gas will come down in the fall. If it doesn't a lot of people will be freezing.