I know: It's definitely not price gouging (insult away, BTW)

Two....

How much oil used in the U.S. is pulled from ground in this country?

 

Well, is there any reason why my house --- appraised at $170,000 in 2000 --- is worth $380,000 today?

Is that price spike any more egregious than gasoline?

Am I "gouging" someone willing to pay $380,000 for a house I paid $129,000 for in 1996?

I believe it's about 33-35 percent.

 

BTE, unlike gas, I don't HAVE to buy your house. I have the choice and there are more reasonable prices available. Gas ... it's a limited market and you can't really shop around for much of a difference.

 

Ragu, you make good arguments. But - and not to be harsh - you might sway me a little more if you could offer up some solutions other than "too bad" to people out there who are really struggling right now.

And by the way, the economy does appear to be slowing down, and gas prices are being blamed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/28/AR2006072800408.html

 

That explains why it sucks, but it doesn't explain why there is "no reason" for the price to go up.

The reason is simple . . . people will pay it.

Also, you DO have a choice with regard to gasoline.

Someone driving a car that gets the national AVERAGE of 21 mpg can practically cut his gasoline bill in HALF if he buys a cheap Toyota Corolla (38-40 mpg).

And while you don't HAVE to buy my particular house, if you want a single-family home in South Florida that's not falling apart, you WILL have to pay more than $350,000. And good luck finding something that cheap.

I'd say the parallels are pretty close. You have to have housing. You have to have gasoline. Market dictates price of both.

 

"But I really can't afford this gasoline . . . and keep my 1,000-song iTunes collection up to date . . . and get the cool new XBox coming out this fall . . . and don't forget that nifty Blu-Ray high-definition DVD player. Gotta have one of those . . . Hey honey, I booked our flight to Las Vegas today."

[/americanconsumer]

 

The flippant attitude about buying a vehicle astounds me. Who do you know who can just go out and buy a vehicle? For me, with a mortgage and rising utility bills, etc., I have a VERY limited income. I paid off my reasonably fuel-efficient car 13 months early. What the hell am I supposed to do?

 

The simple solution -- albeit with a complex backstory -- is less demand. If, because of magical beans, say, people started using less gas, you can bet your bottom dollar that the price would go down.

I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but when it comes to oil companies, the Big Three, the death of the electric car, the Benevolent Democratic Republic of Texas, global politics, and movies featuring George Clooney getting his fingernails pulled out, I'd believe almost any old bullshit. Creepy from the well to the tank... And all you can do to fight back is stop buying a lot of gas, things that use a lot gas, and things that give you a lot of gas.

Like magical beans.

 

Trade it in on a MORE fuel-efficient car.

Reliable, used subcompacts (Civic, Corolla, Mazda3) can be had for less than $5,000 . . . not even counting your trade-in.

I sold my Corolla in 2003 for $2,800. It had 135,000 miles on it and was good for at least another 100,000.

$2,800 for 100,000 miles of driving at 37-40 mpg is a pretty good deal for the person that got my car.

 

You're right. Nothing innovative that has changed the standard of living in the world has ever come from the government. >>cough, wheeze<< internet >>cough, wheeze<< GPS >>cough, wheeze<< satellites >>cough, wheeze<<

Nope. Nothing. Not a single innovative thing out there that has ever changed lives. Not a damn thing.


Look at it this way, you have two giant entities of mass: The Automotive Industry and The Oil Industry. Why would either one of them want to change?

I'm not saying that the government needs to build the cars for them. I'm saying that it needs to set the standard. What is so wrong with mandating an alternative fuel source?

When cars were first developed there were not that many out there. As such, they copied engine technology. Since then, has there been any real progress? Up until a few years ago, hybrid vehicles weren't even an option. Why did it take so long to develop something new?

Once you set the standard and say, "This is your alternative fuel source. You are now going to develop off of this. In 10-years, there will be no more gas stations. They will all be alternative fuel stations."

The government mandated in HDTV. Why can't they do the same with this?

 

I haven't bought a CD in four months.
I haven't bought a video game in more than one year.
I haven't bought a TV in more than four years.
I haven't bought a VCR/DVD player in more than eight years.

What I do spend money on is a mortgage, gas, food and turnpike tolls. I'm as thrifty as they come. But I live 35 miles from work -- my fiancee works 20 miles the other way down the interstate. I get good gas mileage from my 2000 Pontiac Sunfire, and I don't spend much, but I also don't make much. And that's where some Americans are feeling the pinch.

Believe it or not, not everyone who's whining about prices are doing so because it cuts into our toys. We're whining because it hurts our checkbook and ability to do other things, like say, save for a wedding.