Posted on 05/17/2007 5:48:48 AM PDT by cweese
My goodness, people! Don't you realize that there are things in your life that you really need to be worrying about? What's all this weeping and moaning over gas prices?
With every single paycheck the Imperial Federal Government seizes about 14% of the money you have earned. This money is put into an income redistribution fund from which you may or may not draw a check when and if you reach a certain age. Die too soon and that money goes to someone else .. not to your heirs. Live long enough and you may .. just may ... get most of your money back, though there is no legal guarantee that you'll get a cent.
Yet here you sit pissing and moaning about gas prices.
We did the math here last week, but let's pull out the calculator again for those of you who don't come here every day.
First, the figures:
According to the AAA, one year ago the price of regular was $2.929. Today that price is $3.114. That's an 18.5 cents per gallon increase over the past year.
Now we go for the average gas mileage for cars in the U.S. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that as of 2004 the average mpg for new cars sold in the U.S. was 24.7. In 1980 it was 23.1. So, to make a point here, we're going to go even below the average price for 1980. We're going to use 20 mpg.
Now ... for those of you who went to government schools, I'll do the math for you. You're driving your family of four 1400 miles to get to Disney World and back. That means you'll be burning 70 gallons of gas at 20 mpg. The gas is now 18.5 cents more expensive than it was last year. Let's go ahead and round that UP to 20 cents. So, we burn 70 gallons and each gallon costs 20 cents more than it cost last year. That's going to cost you an amazing $14.00.
Oh My God! What an incredible tragedy! What a devastating blow to your finances! You're going to have to spend $14.00 more to drive your family to Florida this year than you did last year! That's $3.50 for each family member! How in the hell are you ever going to be able to afford this? Alert your local radio station news department! Call the newspaper! Sound the alarm! Americans are being crippled by these rising gas prices! Call your politician. Something has to be done about the evil oil companies! Get the government involved! We need more regulation!
Oh .. and you people driving to and from work need to be outraged too! Are you doing your share of the whining?
The average commute to and from work in this country is 16 miles. Now of course we know that cars don't get the mileage on a stop-and-go commute as they do on the road, so we're going to lower the gas mileage figure from 20 to 15. So, you're driving 32 miles (on the average) to get to work and back every day. That is gobbling up about 2.13 gallons of gas. Go back to that 18.5 cents per gallon increase over last year and you'll see that you're spending about 40 cents more for gas for your commute this year than you were last year. That would be about $2.00 a week. Less than the price of a decaf skinny latte at Starbucks. A lot less.
Oh, the humanity! You're spending less than the cost of three text messages on your cell phone every day to cover the increasing cost of gas! Tell your boss you're going to have to quit! You just can handle this any more! Get fired! Go on unemployment! Forty cents a day! That's it! Your back is broken!
Come on people, wake up! Your governments -- local, state and federal -- are stealing money from you every single day to fund vote-buying programs. Your local elected officials are ripping you off to support welfare artists and to study the mating habits of Polish zlotnika pigs. How do you think they feel when they see you griping about gas prices? They LOVE it! They steal you blind and there you sit complaining because you're going to have to spend $14.00 more to drive your family to Disney World and back. They take 14% of the money you earn every day -- money you may or may get back with virtually no interest -- and you're spinning around on your eyebrows because you're spending 40 cents a day more to get to that job and back home again!
What would a conversion kit to propane cost versus your fuel cost? Or a SVO kit and an old diesel vehicle?
There's a filling station about 60 miles away
There is no propane available closer? No fast food restaurant that uses vegetable oil?
So am I claiming that I don't have a choice? Yes, I guess that I am.
Also you don't have a choice where you live or work? I've moved more than once for my employment. Why do you not have that choice?
No sarcasm at all. Their profit is the same on $2 a gallon gas as it is on $4 a gallon gas. More gallons sold = higher profits. The fact they’re selling more even though supplies are down as prices are up says a hell of a lot more about the demand among American consumers than about their pricing.
It won’t sit well with the Bush cheer-leading section and the pompom wavers, but you are right on track. This is why WE MUST mobilize and get a Conservative, and I’m talking fiscal Conservative (not like the Big Government Republicans we have now) to the White house.
President Bush has done some good things. We need to get someone in there who can continue President Bush's tax policies, without the spending and illegal immigration pandering. Someone who will take the media and Democrats to task. Someone out front and articulate.
The first part of your post was 100% correct but you certainly hurt your credibility by asserting that the average commute is somewhere between 40 and 50 miles. Some people have those type of commutes, but they are statistically rare.
Up, way up. All you have to do is look at the ever expanding suburbs. Out where I live nothing has changed much in the last 40 years except the standard of living which has increased dramatically over the last 40 years. It would be a shame to give that up, especially if its intentional.
Wow, this just shows that freepers can be socialists too.
Oil is sold on the world market and the price is set there. The oil companies don't set the price, the market does.
BTW, one of the reasons the price of oil is climbing in the US is because of the falling strength of the dollar. The dollar is only about 60% as strong as it was in 2000.
The reason for the falling dollar is that the US government (under GOP control) has an endless appetitive for spending.
>31/.19= drumm roll... a 79% profit increase. Who’s gouging who?<
Never done anything but collect a paycheck right?If you had to meet a payroll you would know failing to maintain margin is a prescription for bankrupcy.
LOL - the oil companies make about 18 cents for every gallon of gas. You really believe that their profits are what has caused the $2 increase in gas prices? Do you really believe that even a $20 million bonus to an executive is going to raise the price of gasoline by $2?
The primary causes for the price surge is (1) increased world demand for oil (China, India, etc) and (2) the devaluation of the dollar due to the endless spending of the GOP.
Hmmmm... (banging head on keyboard) Then they should just make as much as possible and give it away. They'd make a fortune.
Ya I was pretty worried about them going bankrupt..
My truck is a 1994. I bought it used. I would like a new vehicle but I choose not to spend that money. Why is brand new your only choice?
Are you honestly suggesting that everyone who doesn't like the price go to McDonalds every day and beg for their spent fryer grease?
No, I've given several other choices as well. Most people would rather pay for the convenience of gasoline and services stations. But to the people who just complain and claim they have no choice I say B.S.
How many times do you suppose they'd just give it away?
Right now they pay someone to take it away. Giving it away is pretty good option for them right now. And claiming what might happen in the future for only one of the option prevents you from doing anything but buying petroleum is lame.
LOL - you're missing the point that they are passing on the world market price for oil.
>Ya I was pretty worried about them going bankrupt..,
Guess you answered my question with that brilliant statement.What is the profit margin for the company that signs your paycheck?
I believe Tom Sowell and/or Walt Williams were some who have pointed out that even $3/gal is no more expensive than .25 cents/gal was c.1970, or whatever the comparisons were. IOW, we’ve been getting a great deal for some 20 years, because they relative cost per budget was cheap until the last few years.
Nope, because their costs isn’t the same. Again, this isn’t rocket science. If it sells for $2, it costs them $1.87. If it sells for $4, it costs them $3.87. So yeah, they could continue to sell it at $2 a gallon and sell buttloads of it... and lose $1.87 a gallon. They could give it away and lose the entire $3.87 a gallon. Not exactly a smart business model.
You see, typically in supply and demand, when the prices go up, demand decreases, and prices stabilize. Demand here (in a large part because the entire economy is fueled by gasoline, pun intended) has so outpaced supply that prices aren’t making a dent in their sales. That’s why they continue to sells the billions upon billions of gallons of gasoline and rake in huge gross profits, all the while maintaining the same profit margin.
Honestly, if I drank my way through most of my economics classes and still understand this, why is it so many others can’t seem to understand something this basic?
You're easily one of the more intelligent members of FR so I'm really surprised by this. The rising price of oil is a bad thing and Boortz is wrong when he tries to downplay it.
That being said, it is not the fault of the oil companies. The world market sets the price for oil and demand is way up and the supply stays somewhat stagnant.
This is also coupled with the falling value of the dollar thanks to the spending and fiscal irresponsibility of the GOP over the last years.
We can't do much about supply as the OPEC nations would just cut their production in response to our added supply to the market and wait us out. We can, work on demand, however, and not something as silly as ethanol.
We can make the dollar stronger again by forcing our government to have fiscal responsibility.
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