Gas prices going up ...again.

[mjones12]

Originally Posted by F and E Damp

I filled up at our local Safeway 2 weeks ago at $3.17. Today it was $3.57. Even our nearby tribal Chevron was $3.55.

Compared to the UK, where it's headed above £1.50 a liter (about $9 a gallon), we aren't as bad off as some folks in the "civilized world". You can understand why the Brits consider the Honda Civic to be a "large family car". The pre-tax price in the UK is actually less than ours, but they put an outrageous tax on fuel, then let commercial operators (truckers, bus lines, airlines etc) get the tax back. The government takes the best part of a year to dish out the refunds, effectively getting a multi-million dollar loan from the transportation industry.

Most of the European nations have similar taxes. As an ex-pat Brit, I don't consider myself to be a European. There was a Daily Telegraph headliner back in the early 1950's that read "Fog in Channel - Continent Isolated". Sums up my attitude to the European nations pretty well and it's why we've lived in the US since 1968.

Is it correct that a good deal of that fuel tax in the UK goes to support socialized medicine? We will probably be doing the same thing before long.

[Black]

Don't complain to much,
Up here in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada...the price for regular is now 131.9 $/litre
Multiply by 3.78 to have the price per gallon...5+$
Your still far better off than us on gas prices no matter what !
Black

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by Canonman

Exploit being the key word here. I don't think anyone has any issue with a business making a fair and reasonable profit for their efforts and investments.
However, when you take advantage of the fact that we are talking about an indispensable commodity and 300% record profit increases then we're looking at exploitation. Much of the huge profit increases over the past three to four years are no more than windfall due to world oil market economy manipulation by the financial, production and political elites. Just like the "Robber Barons" of the past these entities have far to much influence over the commodity price and the consumer has far to little influence over whether to purchase the commodity at that price or not.
In this forum, we complain about the cost of fuel for our RV's. For many in this world this is a matter of not being able to heat their homes through the winter or being able to afford transportation to work or the fact that business have closed due to rising costs of fuel and transportation.
Reasonable profits; No Problem
Exploitive, excessive price gouging; NO Way!

It's not the gas companies that are doing the exploiting, it's the others that manipulate the prices. Put the blame on Wall Street where it belongs. Bottom line, there is not a da--ed thing we the public can do about it. The various government entities make more off the prices than the oil companies and they add absolutely nothing to the product.

[grayfox]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

It's not the gas companies that are doing the exploiting, it's the others that manipulate the prices. Put the blame on Wall Street where it belongs. Bottom line, there is not a da--ed thing we the public can do about it. The various government entities make more off the prices than the oil companies and they add absolutely nothing to the product.

Well said Coot! Who's kidding who. State Gov. and the Feds take more than anyone to deposit in the various" hwy trust funds" and then it goes elsewhere thru. transfers of funds to God knows where.It's no wonder our highways are a mess.

[Canonman]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

It's not the gas companies that are doing the exploiting, it's the others that manipulate the prices. Put the blame on Wall Street where it belongs. Bottom line, there is not a da--ed thing we the public can do about it. The various government entities make more off the prices than the oil companies and they add absolutely nothing to the product.

OC, as usual I agree with you. The government is generally making about $.50+ a gallon as others have stated and that doesn't even consider the other taxes and fees paid by the oil producers and refiners.
That being said, the speculators include not only wall street but also the oil companies and other business insiders. "Investigations into the unregulated oil futures exchanges turned up major financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. But it also revealed energy producers like Vitol, a Swiss company that owned 11 percent of the oil futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange alone [source: Washington Post]."
So Big Oil is part of the problem along with Big Government and Big Money.
The only thing we can do is use less fuel, For me that means taking fewer trips and staying longer when I get there.
Oh, and bitchinaboutit

[Black]

Talk about taxes
1.31$/litre of regular unleaded gas...federal tax =.12/liter
provincial tax .10/liter
+ 13% sales tax/liter on the 1.31$
Let's go working man...dump your cash !
Black

[Kaadk]

The dealers up there are ripping you off. I haven't seen a place ever tack on beyond pump price. Everywhere else in Ontario the $1.31 a litre has the HST built in.

Now in the shop, sure, that HST gets us every time.

[Black]

Yes...it is included in the pump price of 1.31$...I phrase that wrong.
But still need to pay it !
The more espensive the gas gets...the more the governments collect taxes !!!
Black

[Kaadk]

Oh, yeah, they're going to get their cut. It's pretty bad that I can go over to Michigan, buy something, pay Michigan's sales tax (around 6.5 I think?) cross back into Canada, get nailed an 13% on top of that. And since they charge against the total I'm paying 13% on the 6.5% I'm paying Michigan.

But even with that, gas used and $10.00 in bridge tolls, I usually end up ahead then if I just bought it on the Canadian side.

[jaxfl]

Lets talk 3rd world country. Visiting Vietnam and in HCMC it is $1.25 a liter this morning. That makes it $4.75 a gallon USD. Most folks only buy a liter at a time here as they ride motorbikes and get like 75 mpg. However, there are starting to be a lot of Kia, Toyotas, Lexus, and Mecedies showing up over the last year or so.

[glen1971]

Originally Posted by jaxfl

Lets talk 3rd world country. Visiting Vietnam and in HCMC it is $1.25 a liter this morning. That makes it $4.75 a gallon USD. Most folks only buy a liter at a time here as they ride motorbikes and get like 75 mpg. However, there are starting to be a lot of Kia, Toyotas, Lexus, and Mecedies showing up over the last year or so.

So that makes gas 5 cents a liter more in Vietnam than in Canada??? That makes no sense!!

[B47]

Just FYI - our local Murphy's is advertising Self Serve Regular for $3.45 today.

[Ford Idaho]

Because of what I drive I rarely look at the price of gas, I did note yesterday that it was $3.36 and diesel was $4.09 per gallon.

As for the price today, all bets are off.