Gas Prices: The new Third Rail of American Politics?

We as individuals have to plan for ways to save money ourselves. The government is always going to make insider decisions and deals, big companies will hike their prices up whenever there is an excuse to do so and our voice or opinions truly do not matter.

You are right. We need to look for alternative ways to save on gas usage, such as public transportation or more fuel efficient cars because the CEOs and government officials aren't going to do it for us.

 

Whats the tax rates for petrol in the US? It makes up am majority of the price in the UK (around 60% excluding VAT) Surely you guys have it better, last I heard prices were around 60 pence per litre, compared to 140p for us.

 

Companies do not control the price of gasoline or oil, markets do. Most of the world's oil is produced by giant nationalized oil companies like Aramco, not by tiddlers like Exxon. The price of gasoline is further propelled by the lack of refining capacity in the US and to some extent elsewhere in the world. Ultimately, I believe, the price is controlled by the amount of money flowing through the system and at the moment, although its not flowing very fast, the volume of money is growing almost exponentially.

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This is why the US is more sensitive to underlying price rises than other parts of the world. A doubling in the price of the raw material will nearly double the price in the US but it will rise by only 40-50% in Europe.

 

I learned on FOX that high gas prices are all Obama's fault.



Oh wait…

 

Foxy stuff....

The only way the POTUS could affect the price is by affecting supply and demand. He could authorize the building of 100 refineries, but I think that's outside his remit. He could also authorize an increase in the fuel efficiency of vehicles or invest in alternate forms of energy but I think he has done that already.

 

It looks like, at present, the average tax is somewhere between 12 ~ 15% of the total price. The federal portion of that average would be about one fifth of it, so the price varies from Iowa to California, because the states' levy is very inconsistent. And percentage is not a valid reference, because most gas taxes are a cent figure that does not rise with the price. The federal portion is around 18 cents per gallon (4 quarts), so there is very little taxwise that the president or congress can do to affect the price of gas. The only thing they might be able to do is constrain derivative trading, but with this neoliberal congress, that is profoundly unlikely.

The US needs to pay much more for motor fuel, but as the OP suggests, it is a third rail. The entire country is effectively built around the motorcar, alternatives are simply not in place nor even ready for implementation inside of a multi-year span. The downslope of peak oil will be bringing the US right to its knees.

 

Its surprising to me how few people can see this.

 

Were they threatened to lose their power, they would use their strategic supply, and situational ethics, to "go get" what they need.

Something like what Israel is doing at the present time.

Not good to be a Canadian when this happens.

 

But what do they come after first, the water or the oil? I'll sick my beaver on them, he has a nasty bite.

 

Public Transportation isn't bad at all, especially in bigger cities where living downtown makes having a car more of a liability than an asset. Sure it may take 15-30 more minutes to get to work, but its well worth it in cost savings (parking passes, insurance, gas prices). As someone who drove a car constantly from the age of 16 I am really enjoying not having to worry about it and just hopping on a subway.

I noticed in Canada that the federal/provincial taxes make up more of the cost of gas also compared to the US.

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I think we are a ways off from that, Canada was basically offering oil on a silver platter and Obama blocked it to garner votes.

 

Well it is pretty clear Fox is trying to screw with it so viewers believe the lie.

Look at the 12 month moving average and then grab the 3 data points fox used.

A year ago gas was cheaper. Then they choose the last 2 weeks to make it look like a huge jump in a short time span. Never mind that it has gone up and down. We could go farther back and say grab the price of gas during end of Bush and it was even higher (near $5 a gallon).
Price of gas needs to be raised and really the gas tax needs to be changed. I would go turning it in to a % based system based off the current price so we could keep it at 18.5 cent a gallon and then have it go up with the price of gas.

 

I believe in Europe the average price for petrol in the 95 Research Octane Number (91 pump octane) is pretty steep: anywhere from the equivalent of US$8.50 to near US$11.00/US gallon. It's priced this high due to enormously steep taxes on petrol sold in Europe.

Small wonder why many Europeans drive very small vehicles like the new Volkswagen Up!:



Unlike the economy cars Europeans fondly remember from the 1960's, the Up! is definitely roomier and capable of very good fuel economy if driven reasonably (people forget that those old economy cars were lucky to get 33-34 mpg, given the state of engine technology at the time).