When would you say gasoline is too expensive? (regular gas, Texas, price)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
At what point would you say gasoline is too expensive? Gas prices are creeping upward again. How high is too high?
Let's see. In October 1972, likely the bottom in terms of "real" prices, the general prices in my area were $0.37 a gallon, which works out to $2.18 per gallon in March 2018 dollars (link to converter). Prices were around $1.00 per gallon in January 1999, or $1.52 in real terms but that was for a very short period.
After the first period of gasoline shortages, in July 1974, with price controls in effect, the price of $0.59 per gallon (using the price at the Hess station, usually a discounter) would be $2.98. The price at the same station, now a Speedway, is $2.90, or $0.08 cents lower. Essentially the same as now, but that's comparing leaded then to unleaded now. The price of regular leaded in January 1981, just before decontrol and plunging prices was $1.50 per gallon, the equivalent of $4.09 now. And I am not using unleaded prices for 1974 or 1981 because the "big sign" price was always regular leaded.
Using unleaded figures, the price of $4.40 per gallon in July 2008 works out to $4.99 now. So is gasoline expensive? No.
I would say that over $3.50 per gallon it begins to be historically high.
Gasoline is a necessity in rural America. People who live on bus routes can park their car and ride the bus. Where I live, there are whole counties with no bus service. The remedy is car pooling for work and shopping. Look for freight rates to go up for mail order items.
They are already going up because so is truck driver pay.
Do keep in mind that oil prices are determined on an open market, not set by oil companies. And different grades of oil are priced differently.
Most of the refineries in this country are designed to process heavier oil than the light oil from most fracked operations. So it would cost many millions to reconfigure these facilities to take lighter crude... the fact is that all barrels of crude are not the same or usable in the same place.
And gasoline refining is not that simple in that the federal government requires a certain percentage of ethanol be used.
I agree but fracked production is on the margin in the US as it tends to be one of our highest cost to find and produce. Oil and refined products are not as fungible as money but lower cost to transport than most things.
To the poster who meant to say most of the crude produced in the US is refined in the US not exported as I think I saw someone say. It is a global market and there are different crude flavors hence the price of crude depends on its quality and if its high or lower sulfur etc.
Im a Chem Engr and debottlenecked refineries in my early career. the value of a crude to a refinery is another complex question that impacts where the crude gets sold or traded to be refined. In the old days achieving high value product demand as the bigger challenge than running lighter than usual crude for a given refinery but we dont need to get that deep for this discussion. I agree with your over all point.
I think the gas tax should be increased to the point where they pay for 100% of the cost of the roads. I don't think that property and income taxes should be used to fund the road. It should be use based, if you're using the roads you pay for it. I don't want to raise taxes as a whole, so taxes should be lowered and the EITC increased to offset this increased use tax.
That would also have a positive consequence of pushing people towards more fuel efficient vehicles. Many countries across Europe operate this way.
At what point would you say gasoline is too expensive? Gas prices are creeping upward again. How high is too high?
Well, when you're driving 300 miles a week or even daily and your vehicle is getting 7-10mpg to the gallon that's a reason to think that.
When you're driving 32 miles a week, it's not that bad. it's a matter of perspective.
I once was employed PT and paid $3.67 a gallon I was making $10 an hour.
Now I make $14.41 an hour. $7 a gallon won't bother me as I drive very little. Just wish they'd quit with the ethanol garbage. IT hurts more than helps.
I think the gas tax should be increased to the point where they pay for 100% of the cost of the roads. I don't think that property and income taxes should be used to fund the road. It should be use based, if you're using the roads you pay for it. I don't want to raise taxes as a whole, so taxes should be lowered and the EITC increased to offset this increased use tax.
That would also have a positive consequence of pushing people towards more fuel efficient vehicles. Many countries across Europe operate this way.
Politicians make the decisions about where to use the revenue from the gas tax. Less than 80% is used on roads and much of it funds mass transit operations. And other things like museums and bike trails.
Raising the tax on fuel will hurt the public but not necessarily help roads.
I agree but fracked production is on the margin in the US as it tends to be one of our highest cost to find and produce. Oil and refined products are not as fungible as money but lower cost to transport than most things.
To the poster who meant to say most of the crude produced in the US is refined in the US not exported as I think I saw someone say. It is a global market and there are different crude flavors hence the price of crude depends on its quality and if its high or lower sulfur etc.
Im a Chem Engr and debottlenecked refineries in my early career. the value of a crude to a refinery is another complex question that impacts where the crude gets sold or traded to be refined. In the old days achieving high value product demand as the bigger challenge than running lighter than usual crude for a given refinery but we dont need to get that deep for this discussion. I agree with your over all point.
I may have been the one you are thinking about, but I was not talking about crude oil. If you are chem engr. you know crude is a stew that produces multiple distillates. The US imports a lot of gasoline and exports a lot of diesel, because much of the world concentrates on diesel vehicles, while the US concentrates on gasoline vehicles. We often have a glut of middle distillates like diesel and heating oil, so we export it, and we have a shortage of gasoline, so we import it.
I'm sure you are familiar with catalytic cracking, which is used to improve the yield of propane, butane, gasoline and other fractions. I don't know how many refineries are set up to crack heavy fractions, or to do subsequent hydrocracking to create lighter fractions. My understanding is not all do that. I suppose asphalt has to come from somewhere.
Politicians make the decisions about where to use the revenue from the gas tax. Less than 80% is used on roads and much of it funds mass transit operations. And other things like museums and bike trails.
Raising the tax on fuel will hurt the public but not necessarily help roads.
Use taxes on roads don't even pay for half of it's total cost anymore. The gas tax hasn't risen since 1993 and inflation plus more fuel efficient cars have made it so it's a smaller portion of the road budget then it used to be.
And the national gas tax is earmarked for the highway system.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
