Do rising gas prices REALLY affect us all that much?

[Alex Franke]

I was just watching CNN (now that I've found my remote!=) and there was a story about how gas prices are going up to "outrageous" levels, how lawmakers are "taking action", and how 2/3 of Americans say that higher gas prices have such a huge impact on their lives.

Here's what I don't get. I drive a V8, and we get maybe about 20 mpg on average. We drive about 10,000 miles a year and pay a little over US$3 a gallon for fuel. So for me, a 10% hike is gas prices means I'll have to somehow scrape together another $3 a week. (gasp!) OMG -- I might have to pass on one of those Starbucks mochas once a week!!!

Same thing if you drive a more efficient car (say 30MPG) an extra 5,000 miles a year.

An aren't our gas prices like half what they are in Europe? I seem to recall seeing a sign for about 1.20 -- if that's euros/liter, then that translates to about $6.20/gal.

Am I missing something obvious here?

[MilDoc]

Higher gas prices also means higher trucking costs and higher costs for everything shipped by truck, or anything else that depends on oil, not just gas.

[LinuxRandal]

I was just watching CNN (now that I've found my remote!=) and there was a story about how gas prices are going up to "outrageous" levels, how lawmakers are "taking action", and how 2/3 of Americans say that higher gas prices have such a huge impact on their lives.

Here's what I don't get. I drive a V8, and we get maybe about 20 mpg on average. We drive about 10,000 miles a year and pay a little over US$3 a gallon for fuel. So for me, a 10% hike is gas prices means I'll have to somehow scrape together another $3 a week. (gasp!) OMG -- I might have to pass on one of those Starbucks mochas once a week!!!

Same thing if you drive a more efficient car (say 30MPG) an extra 5,000 miles a year.

An aren't our gas prices like half what they are in Europe? I seem to recall seeing a sign for about 1.20 -- if that's euros/liter, then that translates to about $6.20/gal.

Am I missing something obvious here?

YEP
Income level verses cost of living. It doesn't just cost you for driving. Vehicle surcharges go on everything. Groceries, pizza deliveries, ordering equipment (Amazon, Grizzly, etc). Petroleum based products go up (plastics increase). For those in lower income brackets (I was for YEARS), it affects EVERYTHING. How often you mow, to how much food you can buy. We got hit with the vehicle surcharges at work (a "temporary" thing). Gas dropped, the surcharges didn't, and now they are talking about possibly raising them. So as in any business, our costs get passed on in one way or another to the customer.
From talking to friends and relatives, it only tends to be a minor inconvienence, when you hit around $40k a year. (considering most of the $30k+ people are commissioned, and drive all over).

[final_t]

Shipping costs have gone up. Airline tickets have gone up. More spent on commutting to/from work/store means less money in the pocket to spend. Less travel for trips, etc. The goverment doesn't care so much because the same *total* amount of money is still being spent, just on gas and energy and not on other items.

[LCHIEN]

1.2 euros per liter translates to about 5.40 USD per gallon assuming 1.2 USD per Euro.
When I was in Norway earlier this year the price of gasoline there was around $US 7-8 per gallon (10-11 Norwegian Kroners per liter).

Because we are building cars that are high-dollar items with useful lives in the 10-12 year range, it's going to take many years to get gas guzzlers off the streets. They're so expensive it will take the threat of long term rising fuel prices to get tehm off the roads and replaced with something better. worse yet, the replacement technology still, for the most part uses expensive fuels, I don't see how biofuels are going to be cheaper in the long run and not 100% improvement in the global warming department.
(Do the plants planted for biofuels consume 100% of the carbon dioxide they release when burned, plus the CO2 created in farming them?)

We drive two cars about 8000 mi each per year. they get about 20 mpg and are probably a few years from retirement (from my use, then someone will probably drive them a few more years).

That's approx 400 gallons per year per car. So each $.50 rise in gasoline costs costs me about $400 per year. certainly significant but not enough to make me buy a new, more efficient car right away.

[Ken Massingale]

Yes, compared to some other countries we have it good in the U.S. on fuel and other things.
What really get's me is how when gas goes up and everyone starts complaining, the governmet starts talking about investigating, etc., suddenly the prices go back down for awhile. Not back to the previous price, just enough to stop the complaining. Then a few months later it starts over again. Soon we are happy at the higher price from a few cycles ago.
Don't know about y'all, but I didn't just fall off the cabbage truck.

[Hoover]

I am retired, and the cost of gasoline goes against my fixed income. Yes it does make a difference. The cost of gasoline and diesel are added into grocery costs, and when I have to pay for a service call there is a tacked on charge for fuel. Also the price of postage is going up May 14. Fuel costs affect us from all directions.

[sparkeyjames]

Higher fuel prices are cutting into my tool budget and home improvement supply purchases I frequently plan trips when I need to make multiple stops at places where I need to shop for just a few items here and a few there. Or plan routes than enable me to stop at a store on the way too or from work with a minimum of extra mileage. There is no need for these high prices here. It is just a bunch of jerks manipulating the market in order to attempt satisfy their unmitigated greed. This is done along with complete disreguard for what they are doing to the economy of the country they call home.

[Ken Massingale]

Higher fuel prices are cutting into my tool budget and home improvement supply purchases I frequently plan trips when I need to make multiple stops at places where I need to shop for just a few items here and a few there. Or plan routes than enable me to stop at a store on the way too or from work with a minimum of extra mileage. There is no need for these high prices here. It is just a bunch of jerks manipulating the market in order to satisfy their unmitigated greed.

Yup. Record profits every quarter... Jerks for sure, but very powerful and influential jerks.

[Alex Franke]

Ah good points. I did infact have to pay a "fuel surcharge" when I had my pizza delivered last night.

So the cost of everything plastic and transported goes up a bit as the price of oil goes up. And $65 a barrel is probably still on the high side even adjusted for inflation.

But they interview a guy at a gas station here who said, "We won't be driving out to the beach this year, that's for sure." I can't imagine that an extra penny a mile would make me change my vacation plans.

I still think people are over reacting a bit here -- the title of the CNN story was "Pain at the Pump" or something to that effect -- not "Pain with shipping costs, pizza deliveries, grocery bags, and truck drivers". Of course that wouldn't be nearly as catchy

Ken, you're right -- there IS a cycle there! I recently read that an oil company CEO took home nearly $500 million in compensation last year alone. That's just crazy... Like Mike Eisner or Larry Ellison crazy...

[MilDoc]

Everyone notices "pain at the pump" but barely notice a slight increase in everything else.

[L. D. Jeffries]

I guess the "pain" at the pump has something to do with the fact that last year cost of oil was above $70 a barrell with pump prices about the same as they are today, except for the fact that oil is about $15 a barrell cheaper now!
Go figure! Someone is making more than their share of profit, just look at Exon and others profit statements. Begs the question as to what they are doing to help the "oil" situation

[Hoover]

[QUOTE=Alex Franke;264843]
I still think people are over reacting a bit here -- the title of the CNN story was "Pain at the Pump" or something to that effect -- not "Pain with shipping costs, pizza deliveries, grocery bags, and truck drivers". Of course that wouldn't be nearly as catchy

The facts are that fuel costs don't stop just at the gas station. Call it overreacting if you want, but still the hidden costs are there. When Bush took office in 2001 gas was $1.39 a gallon regular unleaded.

[leehljp]

Speaking of increasing gas prices in terms of the "increase" to equal $20 to $30 a month is not that much to someone making $40+ thou a year, but when you think in terms of $200 a month for gas becoming $220 on a salary of $30T, you just start pricing exra food out of the kids mouth, AC off, heat much lower in the winter, the extra shirt. . . and other things.

I am not in that position but my wife and I both work - by calling and choice - as missionaries. We both work and get the salary of one. We notice it back in the States when we travel a lot from church to church over a wide area.
In the US, when a husband and wife work and get two salaries, say - $35T plus $25T on the low end, that is still $60 thou. Reduce that to $30T and you notice big time the 10 and 20 cent rise. Remember this is a good many people in the US.

I can fully understand the cost. Thankfully, here in Japan, we get a COLA and 90 percent of our travel is for business/ministry, so it does not hurt as much here. When in the States, we do get compensated and offerings from churches for our travels, but not from our salary. But we do travel at the rate of 35 to 40 thousand miles a year when stateside. You do notice 10 to 30 cent changes in price and that happens almost instantly as you cross state borders.

HAVING said all of the above, We are not that desparate as we do have a house and other things - a car - back in the States, but we are very aware of how it affects low and medium low income people and kids just starting out or trying to be self supporting while in college.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

They need to increase the authorization amount when you use credit/debit card. When I get real low on gas the pump turns off at $75 before the vehicle is full.