8-9 bucks per gallon?

[slomove]

Just read that fuel prices in Europe are now up to $ 2.17- 2.25 per *liter* (e.g. UK and Germany)

 

Makes for a good $ 8.11 to 8.41 per US Gallon

 

Maybe we should stop whining......or maybe start to get used to the pain.

 

Gert

[slngsht]

well, the actual price of crude is the same for everybody, so they just choose to tax themselves that way.

We have lower gas tax, but teh .gov still manages to get its share in other ways.

 

Moving this to OT

[Sean]

Just read that fuel prices in Europe are now up to $ 2.17- 2.25 per *liter* (e.g. UK and Germany)

 

Makes for a good $ 8.11 to 8.41 per US Gallon

 

Maybe we should stop whining......or maybe start to get used to the pain.

 

Gert

Crude oil -- US? Check! UK/Germany? No!

Refineries -- US? Check! UK/Germany? No!

 

In Japan, a burger is expensive and fish is cheap.

In the Caribbean, some bartenders will try to cheat you by pouring too much rum in the glass (which is made locally and is cheap), and shorting you on the Coca-Cola (which is imported, and expensive).

 

The point is, just because gasoline is expensive in some other country doesn't automatically mean the same economic conditions apply to the price of gasoline here. I noticed no mention was made of Venezuela, where a US gallon of gasoline currently goes for fourteen cents American (source: http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/global_gasprices/price.html), but instead you cited two of the most expensive countries in the world for gasoline at this time.

 

Sorry, don't mean to go off on you Gert, as I have actually come to have a good deal of respect for you from your previous posts in various automotive forums, but this really bugs me when people suggest I should "stop whining" or "get used to it" in relation to gas prices here, when in reality we should question why it has gone up by 250% in just a few years' time.

 

[Davemk1]

The state of our infrastructure here in the sates show how well our low tax is working. Bridges falling down and roads falling apart and no plans financially to pay for them. Our politicians don't have the coconuts to tell us we need to pay for the stuff we use as they are afraid they won't get elected (a just fear IMO). So we hold prices low and we get by cheap in the short term. But someone will pay eventually. Who will it be?

 

dave

 

 

 

[stevet]

Most of the tax, in the UK at least, goes to pay for the National Health service. There was a discussion a while back about the pros and cons of socialized medicine, so I won't go there.

 

The UK also taxes cars based on engine size currently, though that is moving towards a system based on CO2 output per liter (I think).

 

Some local councils in the UK are also moving towards parking permits based on car size/carbon footprint.

 

The 'upside,' and I use that word cautiously, is that average passenger vehicle gas consumption is now close to 40mpg across Europe, whereas here my guess is it's closes to 25mpg on a like for like basis.

 

 

[Ian7]

To davemk1:

 

if it makes you feel any better, our roughly 33% more expensive gas up here sure doesn't get us better roads,

 

and national health care is great, providing you aren't in a hurry to get any urgent treatment :ack:

[Arya Ebrahimi]

I'm curious where all of these crappy roads in disrepair and bridges that are falling down are? All the interestates around here are either very nice, or very much under construction. Now some of the local streets are more potholes than pavement, but I blame that on corrupt localities not a failing tax system.

[Sean]

UK and Germany typically have among the highest fuel prices in the world. Conversely, many South American countries have fuel prices significantly less than ours, but comparing to them doesn't sell newspapers or beat the general public into acceptance of the status quo.

 

EDIT -- I think the oil companies in this country seem to be eeking out a small profit even at the paltry $3.00 or so per gallon they have been charging recently here (sarcasm intentional).

[slngsht]

I'm curious where all of these crappy roads in disrepair and bridges that are falling down are? All the interestates around here are either very nice, or very much under construction. Now some of the local streets are more potholes than pavement, but I blame that on corrupt localities not a failing tax system.

 

I think he is talking about the Minniapolis bridge collapse and following report stating many bridges do not meet standards in the US.

[Davemk1]

 

I think he is talking about the Minniapolis bridge collapse and following report stating many bridges do not meet standards in the US.

 

 

 

Eggsactly - there is the famous bridge. There was also a bridge that fell on the NYS thruway about 10 years ago killing 9 as I recall. There was the tunnel in Portland that was closed due to the ceiling falling in. The issue isn't one of all the stuff collapsing around us at once but the slow failure of the system. Too slow to ring the alarm but failure nonetheless. In so many cases there are no plans in place to replace or repair these things BEFORE they become unusable and there is very little funding set aside to take care of the issues when they come up.

 

Everything has a finite life-span. These things will need to be replaced and it will need to be paid for. It feels to me like we aren't preparing for that. I love cheap gas........ don't get me wrong but we will pay somehow.

 

Dave

[Boxologist]

In and around the NYC area the roads are attrocious. the bridges suffered greatly from teh fiscal crisis of the 70s and the money for repairs and maintenance was not put back until the late 80s. we still have long term construction on the Williamsburg Br, a project that has been ongoing for 20+ years. most of teh bridges and tunnels, auto and rail, date from the new deal at best, most from 1910s and 20s.

 

And just the road quality is piss poor. not that the funding isn't there, its that the oversight is lacking or corrupt. the local DOTs and contractors do not have the desire to correctly rebed and lay down a roadsurface that will last 10 years, let alone 30.

[Ian7]

To Arya

 

My work takes me thru VA to NC many times each year. You have wonderful roads.

 

Come up to Montreal this summer for the great hospitality, and check out our third-world cart tracks :banghead:

[Kitcat]

We paid about $7.00 gallon last year for diesel in Italy. Our little Opel minivan got abt 35-38 mpg. As long as gas is, relatively, cheap at $3.00 gallon, the best selling vehicles will remain the Ford & Chevy pickups which seem to average about 12-14 mpg on a good day.Bump the price of gas to $4-5 a gallon and the diesel mini-van may make sense here too. BTW, the extra money for gas will be going to our buddies in OPEC, not for healthcare.

[locostv8]

There is a trick to driving in the NE you have to remember that they don't fix the roads they simply move the pot holes just about the time you think you have memorized where they are. I missed a turnoff the LIE leaving the area and wound up in downtown NYC, I was glad I was driving a Z71 Silverado those roads are worse than the dirt road up to my Mt property.

 

While working in RI I heard all the excuses abouit the weather being the cause of the bad roads (I95) but it was funny that the road was good at the MA state line, the bad weather must stop there.

[Mandurath]

I think in the US its also a volume question. How many gallons do we consume each year? More gallons would mean more money in taxes, even if less per gallon. I try to leave work at work, so I do not have the numbers in front of me. But, we went just shy of 290k in the semi last year, at 6.2 mpg comes out to 48,000 gallons of fuel. With fuel prices, that tally's to over 150k in fuel cost alone. With the states I run in (TN, KY, AL, IL, and OH the fuel tax per gallon averages at about 62 cents per gallon so we paid about $31,000 in fuel tax. Heh, not counting some other wonderful tax's. Most trucks in our company do not run as far as my co driver and I do, but with over a thousand trucks, at just half the miles that makes for 15 million per year. We make up just a small percentage of the trucks and cars on the road, so I think road conditions are more mis management, poor quality and corruption. Gah, you made me think work, I going to go watch some power block and get back in the zone.

 

http://www.api.org/statistics/fueltaxes/

[Mandurath]

Another note before I get back to my power hour, some states have let some industries get by with bigger trucks, Michigan being one (ever seen some of the 6-10 axles trucks?), but its just my example, there many others (KY coal trucks). Even with the added axles and taxes, many of these trucks are simply too heavy for the roads, but are allowed after pressure applied to the govt by industry. These trucks are allowed to carry more that the standard 80k. Some in excess of 120k. I am not talking special oversize loads here, these are normal loads of coal, potatoes, and other assorted everyday freight. Watch them turn if you have not, they don't turn, more like drag. And rip the pavement while doing it. The only reason these companies want this is the bigger trucks carry more, meaning less loads (less tax too) so it costs them less to make the products they make. Add in the weather to the problems listed in previous post and poof, nasty roads.

[Kitcat]

When I was a pup at the U of Ill, I was friends with an enginering professor whose specialty was concrete (Not much of a life). He said if we banned trucks, roads would last 1000 years.

[Mandurath]

I doubt they would last a 1000 years, concrete has a life expecancy too. But yeah, they would last a long time. Though, gonna be hard for the economy to function. Catch 22 I guess.