Gas prices?

[mtbazz]

They are only going to get higher. The answer is pretty simple, stop driving so much. Stop living 20 miles away from where you work. Get an electric car. This shit has been a long time coming, don't act surprised.

Easier said than done. I work outside of princeton nj and there is no affordable housing in that area for me, unless I want to live in a cardboard box...as a result I have to live 30 miles from my job to be able to afford a house that is not a POS or in the ghetto.

Gas prices higher in the previous admin? Sorry but show me proof. I don't recall paying over $4.00 a gallon when Bush was president.

Personally I think the the curren administration is in favor of high gas prices.

[onmyknees]

Gas prices were higher during the last administration but maybe your right Obama is a secret OPEC member and he just wants our weekly gas money to fix all the budget problems that were left for him.

With all due respect...you're inaccurate. ( a nice way of saying wrong) ! We never paid 4 bucks a gallon under the last administration. I paid that yesterday. 18 months ago I paid just over 3 bucks a gallon, and Bush was long retired and writing a book. It's 4 bucks a gallon now, and he's still retired. So who do I blame now?

[loren]

They are only going to get higher. The answer is pretty simple, stop driving so much. Stop living 20 miles away from where you work.

I drive about 25 miles one way. Also, I plan on doing a lot of traveling (by car)this summer.

Gas prices higher in the previous admin? Sorry but show me proof. I don't recall paying over $4.00 a gallon when Bush was president.

Personally I think the the curren administration is in favor of high gas prices.

That's what I'm saying. President Buckwheat doesn't mind higher gas prices, hoping that more drivers will trade their cars and trucks and evil SUVs for the government approved fuel-effecient automobile; which is nothing more than a glorified golf cart.

[gmercer]

With all due respect...you're inaccurate. ( a nice way of saying wrong) ! We never paid 4 bucks a gallon under the last administration. I paid that yesterday. 18 months ago I paid just over 3 bucks a gallon, and Bush was long retired and writing a book. It's 4 bucks a gallon now, and he's still retired. So who do I blame now?

What are you talking about? It was over $4 per gallon in the summer of 2008.

Here's a website to check for yourself:

http://gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx

Just select the charts for the last 3 years or longer to see.

[robertlouis]

fucking hate gas price. have to sell my V6 soon

And from the perspective of someone outside the US, that's global warming in a nutshell.

Yes folks, smaller and more fuel efficient cars. Even though my diesel costs the equivalent of $10.80 per gallon, my car's two litre engine regularly returns over 50mpg.

$4 a gallon - oh you poor things.

[sunairco]

Twelve dollar prescriptions and total health care - oh you poor things.

Try to find a diesel model in most vehicle ranges. They don't bother to make those available as an option or manual transmissions in most models in the states or Canada like they do with the same models elsewhere. While you're at it, try to find diesel in many of the cities. Sure some places have it that cater to trucks, but most inner city petrol stations don't. It also costs more then premium petrol. Premium grade right now is $4.01 by my house as of a few hours ago. I passed a station that does carry diesel at $4.10.

[jimme747]

As with alcohol and tobacco, gas is an easy money jerker. And yes most of the US is inaccessibly without a car. However diesel cars will give you 50mpg easy.
As said earlier most West Europeans pay close to 10$ a gallon. Most of the cars, even small ones run on diesel. I am still in awe every day to see those big SUV's and 4x4 trucks driving in the Bay Area with one person at the wheel and doing about 10 mpg. Little car sharing or none. Don't blame the government(s) it's the oil companies that boost the prices, Libya and Iraq where to blame.

[mtbazz]

What are you talking about? It was over $4 per gallon in the summer of 2008.

Here's a website to check for yourself:

http://gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx

Just select the charts for the last 3 years or longer to see.

Thats weird...I just don't remember it being that high.

Also, people outside the U.S. need to understand why we are "complaining". The first of which is that the U.S. is nowhere near as centralized and compact as Europe. We are a large, spread out nation. For the majority of people here, commutes of 20-30 miles a day or more or the rule rather than the exception. Once you west of the Missouri things get even more large and spread out. More often than not decent housing in areas that are fairly nice are just simply not affordable.
As far as public transportation goes, unless you live in or very, very close to a large metropolitan area there is no public transportation.

Using myself as an example, in the Princeton area where I work, within 10-15 miles of my place of employment townhouses and condos are in the 250-300k range. I make good money but I can't afford that. Its really not until you get to be 20-30 miles out that housing becomes slightly more affordable. Im 30 miles away. For the same price that I would have paid for a small condo 10 miles from work I have a single family home on 5 acres.

Drive a smart car? No thanks. With the way the roads around me are maintained (or not maintained), coupled with winters that give us a fair amount of snow and ice a smart car would last all of 5 minutes. Electric cars? Nice theory, but my electric bill is high enough, the technology is not there yet, and I really doubt our power grid infrastructure will support a large population owning smart cars.

Last week at some speech somewhere Obama was asked about high gas prices and what he will do. His answer was basically that they will fluctuate, but that people need to start thinking about getting rid of their V6's and and V8's. Uh..hello? Contractors, home builders, delivery drivers, etc. use and need these large vehicles for their jobs..Thats simply not an acceptable answer.

[rodinuk]

I agree about the geographical differences but many people here easily have commutes of that range too.

I have experienced car journeys in the US and the automatic transponder toll routes but we also have a few schemes coming in like the mandatory Congestion Charge in London and some motorway toll routes in the North and the Dartford Crossing on London's Orbital Motorway(sorry London's Orbital Traffic Jam).

Currently the roads are peppered with potholes awaiting repair from the winter weather and the duty on fuel has no direct correlation with the investment into the transportation system.

For us it's the rail network which is the potential solution but decades of underinvestment, large price hikes and Government's dithering over how to approach it have produced a mishmash. I would love to use the rail system more but it doesn't cost in.

Bottom line is we're all "complaining"

[mtbazz]

Even if I wanted to use the trains and busses here, I still need to go to significant effort.

For example, If I want to go to Manhattan I can either drive 90 minutes into the city, or drive 70 minutes to a New Jersey Transit station, and take an hour train ride. Both require alot of driving. There is no easy answer.

There is some talk over here about high speed rail, but that will really only benefit a handful of people. Unless your near a large metro area forget about it/

Obama is really naive if he is thinking that high gas prices will spur people to get rid of their gas guzzlers and embrace more fuel efficient (electric) cars and alternative energy. These types of technologies are simply not mature enough, and the the electric cars that are out there are really rather expensive.

Any rebounds our economy has had recently are going to be lost as people use their "extra" money to pay for gas instead of on local businesses, many of which will undoubtedly close their doors do to increase costs in supplies due to higher gas prices and lost revenue because people dont have the extra money to spend.