# All you fuckers whining about gas prices **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 16, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283 "2005-08-16T15:32:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/41 "2005-08-16T18:44:31Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > I drive a fuel-efficient car, so it’s not gasoline prices I’m worried about. It’s propane costs to heat the house this winter that have me worried. I’ve not heard from the company yet, but if it costs me twice what it did last year (and we’ve already closed off several rooms in a 1900 sq. foot house), that is going to be a hardship for us. My husband is a school teacher and I’m a state employee, and the measly raises we get aren’t going to make up for the rise in price. Frankly it’s depressing to work hard for your money and see your standard of living go down instead of up. My propane delivery guy strongly recommended that we enter into a price protection plan. It’s like buying futures. You agree to buy so many gallons, and they lock in the prices at todays cost. I’m going to look into it. ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/42 "2005-08-16T18:45:38Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > Y’know, my car is only middling on milage (though pretty good for a 15-y.o. car), I have very little income, and I don’t complain about gas prices. Seriously, they’re not that high. They used to be much higher, counting inflation. > [@](#): > > Still, when adjusted for inflation, the most expensive U.S. pump price was $3.12 a gallon in March 1981. [Link](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8533441/) Its getting there. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/43 "2005-08-16T18:49:34Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > My propane delivery guy strongly recommended that we enter into a price protection plan. It’s like buying futures. You agree to buy so many gallons, and they lock in the prices at todays cost. I’m going to look into it. Thanks for the reminder! ::scribbles on Palm Pilot:: ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/44 "2005-08-16T18:49:38Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > My propane delivery guy strongly recommended that we enter into a price protection plan. It’s like buying futures. You agree to buy so many gallons, and they lock in the prices at todays cost. I’m going to look into it. We do that already, and for us it’s still expensive. That’s why this recent rise in prices is scaring the shit out of me. God help anyone who doesn’t get on a budget plan this winter. At least I don’t have a 17-room, 100-year-old Victorian in Maine to heat like someone else I know does ::shudder:: ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/45 "2005-08-16T18:50:22Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Hey driving people! You with the motor idling when you talk on your cell phone! > > SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT THE PRICE OF GAS! > > The current gas price in the U.S. is what I was paying in Canada 15 years ago. The last time anyone saw prices that low in Europe is before you were born. And in terms of actual dollars taking inflation into account, it’s still lower than in the 70s. I’m terribly sorry that your government felt the need to gouge the hell out of you with gas taxes over the last 30 years. Maybe, as a concerned citizen, you could have done something about that. Apparently you were OK with it. Well, we’re not. So yeah, we’re going to bitch about it until we get good and sick and tired of doing so. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/46 "2005-08-16T18:54:06Z")
I’d actually feel better about it if I were being gouged by my govt. As it is, we’re being gouged by the OPEC Cartel, which includes among its members states that sponsor radical Islamist terrorists. So, instead of fuding those goddamn freeloaders on the dole, I guess I’m padding Al Qaeda’s bank account. But not as much as most people around here. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/47 "2005-08-16T18:58:37Z")
That is partly true. OPEC is trying to keep production down deliberately, and I’ve heard bad thing about Venezeula. I think it would be good if Bush would have tax breaks for hybrids or hydrogen, but at least he’s not interfering either way. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/48 "2005-08-16T19:00:39Z")
As several have alluded to, the increased cost of what you put in your vehicle’s tank is just one quickly noticable element of the increase. Already mentioned are home heating fuels but there’s also an increased cost for airline travel, food production, gathering and distribution, educational facilities, etc. A wide range of the essentials are going to be more expensive and those costs aren’t simply going to affect the most conspicuous consumers. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/49 "2005-08-16T19:01:26Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > I can only imagine how aggressive they will be to me on a Vespa. They won’t even notice me on the road with them. [You might be right](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6478249&postcount=30), probably more literally than you thought. ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/50 "2005-08-16T19:11:11Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > That is partly true. OPEC is trying to keep production down deliberately,. Can you give me a cite on that? Because everything I read has OPEC pumping at near full capacity. > [@](#): > > OPEC’s Quota > > OPEC agreed on June 15 to raise its output target for 10 of its members to 28 million, on July 1. The group’s president, Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah, was authorized to begin talks on raising quotas another 500,000 barrels a day as needed. > > Those 10 members – Iraq has no quota – were pumping 28.3 million barrels of crude a day. All 11 members were pumping 30.4 million barrels a day, Sheikh Ahmad, who is also Kuwait’s oil minister, said in a statement two days ago. > > ``OPEC continues to monitor the market carefully and has observed with concern the recent rising trend in oil prices,’’ he said, blaming the gain on refinery shutdowns and political tension. OPEC, which meets next on Sept. 19, has about 2 million barrels a day of spare capacity, according to the group’s president. [Source](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aMfiVmZtJZOk&refer=us) ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/51 "2005-08-16T19:16:38Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Hey driving people! You with the motor idling when you talk on your cell phone! > > SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT THE PRICE OF GAS! > > The current gas price in the U.S. is what I was paying in Canada 15 years ago. The last time anyone saw prices that low in Europe is before you were born. And in terms of actual dollars taking inflation into account, it’s still lower than in the 70s. > > Does it come as some sort of _shock_ that the price of a commodity is going up? Did you not realize when you bought your house a 30 minute 45 minute 90 minute commute away from your workplace that driving might eventually become expensive? And that traffic on your drive might increase because other people thought buying a cheap home so far away from the city might be a good idea? > > Stupid fuckwits. Gas prices are only going to get higher, everyone’s known about it, and people have been doing everything but tattooing the prediction on your hand. If you don’t take higher gasoline prices into account when planning your life you’re a moron of the highest order who deserves to go bankrupt. > > Oh wait, that’ll happen when you don’t get the raise you’re expecting, the housing bubble bursts, and the bank starts insisting you actually pay some of the principal on your interest-only mortgage… Hey, **Barbarian** , I respectfully request that you fuck off. I drive a 2000 Honda Accord which gets about 30 miles to the gallon. I have to drive from Baltimore to Northern Virginia three times a week to assist my stroke-crippled father with his affairs. My total gas bill every week amounts to about $20-25. Doesn’t seem like much compared to the drivers of the Ford Excessive (heh, heh) who pay $80 a week, but for this poor, unemployed student, it’s definitely something to bitch about. **I’m** not the one who bought the 5.0-liter V8 Hemi Behemoth. I account for an infintesimal portion of our fuel demands on OPEC, yet I pay the price just like everyone else. Yes, I know that Canada’s/Belgium’s/England’s gas prices are twice as high as ours. And I could care less since they have reliable mass transit in those places. You can get from any point A to any point B via trolley, subway, or bus. But our wise leaders saw fit to spend our tax dollars on building more roadway sprawl than a good mass transit system. Not everyone in the US is the same Adam ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/52 "2005-08-16T19:20:06Z")
Whatever the reason, the bulk of the “windfall” of increased petroleum prices in the US is going to OPEC. The steady rise in per-barrel costs is being driven by concerns about production and distribution capacities keeping up with future demand. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/53 "2005-08-16T19:26:55Z")
Stupid FilterKeys. Screwed up my keyboard and didn’t get to finish my thought. Anyway, not everyone in the U.S. is the same. I think you oughtta narrow your rant a little bit. Adam ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/54 "2005-08-16T19:30:18Z")
Just to correct an impression people seem to have: Canada’s gas prices are only marginally - say 10-20%- higher than the United States’, varying of course with location. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/55 "2005-08-16T19:34:05Z")
I guess it’s worth noting some major oil exporters are not members of OPEC, but are one the State Department’s list of Sponsors of terror. Namely: Syria (~400,000 barrels per day, though production may decrease due to depleted fields) Sudan (~350,000 barrels per day, to be ~500,000 by the end of 2005) Lybia and Iran are the major OPEC State Sponsors of Terror. Saudi Arabia may as well be. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/56 "2005-08-16T19:39:46Z")
So reading through all the posts, how about an \*\*additional Gas Tax for all non commercial/farm vehicles that are rated less than 20 mpg and a tax break for all rated over 40 mpg. \*\* This could encourage fuel efficiency and gather some extra tax dollars at first. I’m sure those Hummer drivers aren’t going to be deterred by and extra 20 cents per gallon and on purchasing a car, if someone was choosing between a car that got 34 or one that got 40, they might pick the 40 mpg which would cause car companies to put more on the road. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/57 "2005-08-16T19:40:43Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > As several have alluded to, the increased cost of what you put in your vehicle’s tank is just one quickly noticable element of the increase. Already mentioned are home heating fuels but there’s also an increased cost for airline travel, food production, gathering and distribution, educational facilities, etc. A wide range of the essentials are going to be more expensive and those costs aren’t simply going to affect the most conspicuous consumers. This reminds me - I heard on the news last night that Raleigh’s public school system expects to spend 1 MILLION dollars more on fuel for the school buses this coming year than it did last - that comes out of our pockets, too. ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/58 "2005-08-16T19:43:30Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Whatever the reason, the bulk of the “windfall” of increased petroleum prices in the US is going to OPEC. The steady rise in per-barrel costs is being driven by concerns about production and distribution capacities keeping up with future demand. Its only a windfall if more oil is found in those countries, otherwise it turns into a down payment on the future. Supply and demand, more demand and less supply is not going to go away without some serious changes in the American way of life. > [@](#): > > Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil-exporting nation, will generate some $150 billion in oil sales this year > [@](#): > > Exxon Mobil’s profit was a record second-quarter take, up from $5.79 billion a year earlier. Quarterly revenue was $88.57 billion, up 25 percent from the previous year [Source](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aMfiVmZtJZOk&refer=us) > [@](#): > > But the Irving, Texas-based oil giant again worried Wall Street as a decline in oil and gas production underscored concerns that the largest oil companies are struggling to raise their output in the face of declining prospects. > > Despite a 32 percent increase in profit, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company said its oil and gas output fell 4.3 percent in the second quarter as new projects in West Africa and the Middle East only partially offset declines in maturing oil and gas fields. [Source](http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/07/30/build/business/35-exxon.inc) ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/59 "2005-08-16T19:46:35Z")
> [@LostGoals](#): > > Its only a windfall if more oil is found in those countries, otherwise it turns into a down payment on the future. Supply and demand, more demand and less supply is not going to go away without some serious changes in the American way of life. How far into the future are we projecting, here? I’d say the market for oil is becoming increasingly inelastic as demand skyrockets, with barely any movement on the part of industrialized nations to economize nearly enough to keep up with rising costs, so why should profits suffer for the forseable future? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283/60 "2005-08-16T19:47:09Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > As several have alluded to, the increased cost of what you put in your vehicle’s tank is just one quickly noticable element of the increase. Already mentioned are home heating fuels but there’s also an increased cost for airline travel, food production, gathering and distribution, educational facilities, etc. A wide range of the essentials are going to be more expensive and those costs aren’t simply going to affect the most conspicuous consumers. Indeed. Electricity – a commodity we all need – produced from fossil fuels (oil and natural gas) is already becoming more expensive and it’s only going to get worse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-fuckers-whining-about-gas-prices/317283.md?page=4)