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I wonder why people are so absorbed with gasoline prices?
It seems to me that they are willing to pay infinite money for trivial things like telephones, cable TV, and ephemeral college degrees...
yeah? is that really what "it seems" to you? it seems to me like people care about the price of everything they buy. they probably complain more about gas because 1. they see a price difference but no difference in the product and 2. they don't perceive much satisfaction with the product. its just a commodity while a new iphone gives them some kind of satisfaction.
It's one of those things that affect everyone. The media also loves to play it up. Every local TV news station runs a shoddy "pain at the pump" story every time the price of gas jumps a bit.
People tend to resent it because there's not much you can do about it. I have to drive for work. It's not like if gas jumps up .25 cents a gallon and I can't afford it, I can just decide not to drive for a day or something. If your cell phone bill gets too high you can cancel it or get a cheaper plan.
I wonder why people are so absorbed with gasoline prices?
It seems to me that they are willing to pay infinite money for trivial things like telephones, cable TV, and ephemeral college degrees...
Not all of us will pay infinite money for the items you listed. I don't have cable tv. I only have a cell phone - no home phone - and I do not EVER go over my minutes, texts, or data limits. I attended state schools for the most part and even earned scholarships.
At close to 4 bucks a gallon, it does hit the wallet especially when you have to fill up a couple of times a week or even once a week. I also remember paying 87 cents a gallon. Walked into Hess with a 10 dollar bill and filled up my tank. This wasn't in the 60's. This was the late 90's. Gas prices didn't slowly creep up. They flew up like a 737 and have not really come back down. Someone's certainly getting rich from these prices and it's not me!
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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When gas prices get too high, you have many choices:
Buy a more economical car
Take the bus
Move closer to work
Carpool
Walk
Bicycle
Use Costco or Safeway gas that runs 20 cents a gallon cheaper
Unfortunately people that use their car for business purposes may not have those options but most just raise prices to cover it, and if gas prices drop, they increase profits. When we got to $4/gallon I sold my beloved 1972 El Camino SS that got 10-11 MPG that was my shop truck, and got a new Ranger. Lately I have been taking the bus to work because the company I work for subsidizes the pass and after trying it found out that it's very relaxing to sit and read news or whatever on the phone. Now I only drive 2.5 miles each way to the park & ride, and fill up every other month.
It seems our energy policy is misplaced. There are big subsidies and tax writeoffs for wind and solar, which do not displace petroleum, but little for natural gas conversion. Is the goal to allow oil to keep its pricing power to encourage production?
Here one thing that hasn't been mentioned yet, although it's well known: The low hanging fruit has already been picked. That is, the oil which is fairly easy and cheap to get out of the ground has already been gotten. Current production, and even more so future production, costs more (having to drill deeper, etc.). That is why we will never see (even inflation adjusted) really low gas prices like we used to have in this country (I remember 18 cents a gallon as a child).
People probably complain so much about gas prices because it is one of the most volatile of the things we buy. (Fresh produce, which can be affected by drought, flood, freezes, etc. is probably almost as volatile).
Also, there is not as much elasticity in the demand for gasoline as there is in most other products. Many posters have pointed out that we still have to get to work. The steps required to reduce our usage are not easy, quick steps, although they do exist and were listed upthread by another poster. By contrast, if the price of oranges shoots up because of a bad freeze in the growing areas, we can just quit buying oranges for a while; it's a relatively simple matter.
I wonder why people are so absorbed with gasoline prices?
It seems to me that they are willing to pay infinite money for trivial things like telephones, cable TV, and ephemeral college degrees...
I totally agree I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought this way
We have people waiting in lines at the grocery store gas stations to use gas points and get up to 60 cents off a gallon. They will wait in lines of about 20 cars ahead of them idling the engine. Then after they fill up they drive across the street and drop $20+ on burger king or mcdonalds.
It's one of those things that affect everyone. The media also loves to play it up. Every local TV news station runs a shoddy "pain at the pump" story every time the price of gas jumps a bit.
People tend to resent it because there's not much you can do about it. I have to drive for work. It's not like if gas jumps up .25 cents a gallon and I can't afford it, I can just decide not to drive for a day or something. If your cell phone bill gets too high you can cancel it or get a cheaper plan.
If it gets high enough you can downsize on the car or buy a hybrid
If it gets high enough you can downsize on the car or buy a hybrid
For most people, the cost differential of buying a hybrid is not justified by the cost of gas going up a few cents, or even a buck.
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