Gas prices, yup, one of the subjects everyone loves to hate. As gas prices are shooting up and the internet is littered with articles speculating why and pointing fingers at everyone from gas executives to the president, I thought I’d pull a few with varied opinions and put together a blog from them. Gas prices matter a ton to me. I put from three to five hundred miles on my car a week. I currently drive a 1989 Chevy Suburban. It gets around ten miles per gallon. I’m not joking. If I put a couple thousand dollars into some mechanical work it might get fifteen miles per gallon, but some fun things like the air conditioning still won’t work. Therefore I’m in the market for a new to me car, namely a Toyota Corolla (if anyone has one that runs good with A/C power windows & locks, let me know). I figure I’m better off putting the money into something that will get better mileage for me than I am fixing the Suburban at this point.
I digress, back to the subject at hand, rising gas prices. There seems to be multiple reasons gas prices are high; crude oil prices are up again, some refineries are closed earlier in the year than normal for maintenance and some refineries that weren’t efficient are closed entirely. All these things together equal more pain to all of us at the pump. Now whether these factors will influence the election in November remain to be seen. I found this article that shows that while gas prices can be a factor, they are not totally responsible for who wins or loses the election. I personally think there are many, many other reasons that Obama needs to go, but I’m trying to stay away from political discourse as I’m just not in the mood to go there currently.
Another article I found claims that these horrid gas prices are actually good for the economy in various ways in that they encourage (force) Americans to find other ways to save money such as online shopping and other methods of conservation. I admit I do my share (possibly more than) of online shopping, but nothing beats actually going to the store and choosing what you want. Trying it on, feeling the fabric, fun stuff! Hmm, on an unrelated note I’m thinking I’ll visit my favorite store over here The Red Poppy before heading to Joplin tomorrow for the weekend. J
The third article that held my attention long enough for me to reference it in this posing talks about how even though dropping gas prices quickly might seem tempting to the nation’s elected officials they need to resist and find a long term solution with a sensible energy policy. This is a stance I can support. We need a long term solution and new ways of producing, using and conserving energy are the way to go. Otherwise every few years or even more often, we’ll be in this same situation, wondering how gas prices got this high and demanding a solution. It seems that high prices now might be more bearable if a long term way to lower them were on the horizon. That’s just my two cents on the matter. What do you all think?
Gas prices are something I personally have never understood. I don't get the reasoning behind why they can go up ten cents over night! I think it's ridiculous and my car gets 32 MPG. I cringed for you when you said 10 MPG.
ReplyDeleteI wish I understood them myself, and yes, 10 MPG is killing my budget. I was hoping to wait six months or so before buying another car as I'd have more saved and could get a newer one, but I'm thinking I'd be crazy to wait, so I'm shopping now. I think car shopping is the one kind of shopping I really don't like to do.
DeleteStations charge what they expect to pay for their tanks' next fill-up. They don't charge enough on the tank you are currently buy from, and they can't afford to buy the next tank.
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, they have profit margins of fractions of a cent on gas. Gas gets you into their stations--they make their profits on food, drinks, and convenience groceries inside.
If you want to know why gas is so expensive...look directly at the government. MO state taxes on gas alone are about $.50 on the gallon, and fed taxes are even higher. Half of our price on gas is taxes. If you count fed taxes on oil companies and refineries that get passed on to us (you can't tax a company--the consumer pays the bills, since their money is ours), it's more like 3/4 of the cost.
And the government is always telling us that they feel our pain and want to help!
The government is the root of all evil when it comes to price of pretty much everything I've decided. For everything they feel our pain on they are collecting far more than we know in taxes. On top of that if you think about the amount of money they make while serving in government and the pension they are guaranteed you wonder what if any pain they ever actually feel concerning money.
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