IF Gas Prices reach $4 a gallon or higher...

[spdickey]

Gas has been over $4.00 (now over $4.50 for premium, even at Costco) here in Los Angeles. Cats aren't lying down with dogs, pigs aren't flying and the seas aren't boiling over, yet. SUV resale prices have plunged, waiting lists for smarts has grown even longer. People still drive, traffic is about as bad as usual, a few more of the poor are taking the bus than before. Life goes on.

[Westfield 11]

For every complex problem there is a simple, easy to understand answer.......that is wrong.

Combine that with the prevailing idea that those with education and knowledge are arrogant elitists whose opinions upon subjects in their fields of study are of less value than the opinions of laypersons with an Internet connection and you have a recipe for disaster.

No wonder we have such boneheaded ideas as corn-based ethanol......

[saronian]

Originally Posted by anthony94114

IF gas reaches $4.00? It's been at or below $4.00 a gallon for super (which SO many cars specify) for months in San Francisco. We're living the reality already. $5? Couldn't possibly be far in the future...

We're almost there in Oakland...about to break through the next psychological barrier. I'm starting to notice less laughter while filling up the smart.;)

[Smart Enuf]

Originally Posted by saronian

I'm starting to notice less laughter while filling up the smart.;)

Yes, it's only a matter of time before we get the first report of a smartjacking.

[exipnaki]

Originally Posted by saronian

I'm starting to notice less laughter while filling up the smart.;)

I came out of the convenient store the other day and there were three men standing around my smart and talking.... I said with a playful tone "are you guys laughing at my car?" They said "NO... we are admiring it!"

Looks like the time has come....

[BobDiaz]

As gas prices continue to reach $5 per gallon, the laughter at the Smart Car has ended and the laughter at the SUV has begun.


Bob Diaz

[JPaul]

This made the headlines this morning: price of the liter of super (95) in France is now around €1.50, that's $8.8238/gallon.

source:
Essence: le sans plomb 95 frôle 1,50 euro

[rawlus®]

the fuel costs are largely the same, the US merely under-taxes. that's why most of the rest of the world has nice 300mph trains and roads and bridges that aren't falling apart while our entire infrastructure is in jeopardy and our mass transit system is a complete joke.

[vwW12]

«the US merely under-taxes»

Wow. Sounds like you would like the U.S. to tax gasoline more than what it does already (most people pay about $0.60 per gallon in Federal, State, County, City, and Board gasoline taxes).

Tell that to a single mother of two making $10 an hour. Feel good now?

[rawlus®]

Originally Posted by vwW12

«the US merely under-taxes»

Wow. Sounds like you would like the U.S. to tax gasoline more than what it does already (most people pay about $0.60 per gallon in Federal, State, County, City, and Board gasoline taxes).

Tell that to a single mother of two making $10 an hour. Feel good now?

gas taxes in other countries sometimes exceed the price of the fuel itself. those taxes then permit the countries to build world-class hyper-fast mass transit rail so the single mother of two can travel from one side of the country to the other for $50 in a few hours instead of driving for three days and spending $100's on gasoline.

low gas prices here have stifled any practical option for anyone other than continuing to drive everywhere. mass transit is in the dark ages here and roads and bridges have never looked worse in my lifetime.

the other thing much higher gas prices would do is force people to think more about where they go and how they get there. maybe they wouldn't be so cavalier about driving the soccer van full of kids all over creation every single day of the week for 16 years. lol. maybe they'd tell the kids to get on their bikes and get themselves to school or the field or the park on their own - like i and plenty of others had to do.

i passed a school this morning, there were over 100 SUV's idling on the curb up and down the street, each with one or two kids in it. fnny thing was, there were also tons of school busses. i guess some don't even believe in school busses anymore, they have to drive drive drive...

if mom is only making $10/hour then perhaps she shouldn't have made the decision to have 2 kids! should we suffer crumbling bridges and disintegrating roads and a lack of transportation options because mommy can't afford gas?

i think cigarettes should be $25/pack too. might as well get as much money from them as we can too.

increase the alcohol tax too.

but reduce the income tax by about 95%.