bagwell

I'm actually with ya on this 100%!!

....except I work for an airline and it will kill us

ABC

You do realize that with higher gas prices comes higher cost in just about everything and anything - Food, clothes, materials, etc etc.

SLegacy99

Keep those tires properly inflated!

IS-SV

$3.59 for Chervon regular here, another 18 to 20 cents for premium.

lexmenow

UK is the size of Idaho by comparison. Come on. If our whole country was as big as Texas then I would see your point.



Why hate on driving your on a car forum

bagwell

I wouldn't call sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on your daily commute to/from work "driving"

IS-SV

Agreed, that kind of bumper-to-bumper driving is "trash-driving" to me. Enthusiasts that really enjoy driving hate that kind of driving the most.

bagwell

oil is up to $95.42 right now...Libya's Gadhafi vows to fight on, die a martyr.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/af_libya_protests

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

We need to stop oil price from being influenced by things that shouldn't affect it in the first place. Tomorrow, oil will rise $10/barrel because 2 Starbucks closed down out of the current 10,453,098 franchises.

mmarshall

Well, that's your oil-speculators for you. For some years now, they have actually had more influence on oil prices than the normal laws of supply and demand. It used to be that prices went up when the supply (in relation to the demand) actually went down. Now they go up (bid up by speculators) simply on the anticipation that supplies will drop.....long before that drop actually becomes evident. I agree that it's ludicrous....but that's the system we're stuck with, at least for the time being. To some extent, it works in reverse, too.....they drop their bids (and cause oil-prices to drop) simply in anticipation of improved supplies, even before those supplies actually materialize.

Welcome to California. Gas prices are usually (but not always) higher there than in most other parts of the country. There are several factors to that, but for the most part, you can thank the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the state legislature for creating unique blend-requirements for fuel sold in the state. These more or unique requirements do help auto emissions in the notorious L.A. smog-basin, of course, but they create a requirement for oil companies to refine and sell special fuels for CA that are not required by the EPA (or state governments) in most other places. So, the oil companies face a fuel-market that is not as cost-effective in CA as the larger market for the rest of the country. Added to that, of course, are additional things in CA that drive prices up, like high land/property values, high property taxes, fairly high wages....and, in many cases, it simply costs more to run a gas station there than in many other places. Those extra costs, of course, are often passed onto the consumer......at the pump.

bagwell

Just filled up for $3.03, $31.xx total in the Prius; still not bad IMO.

IS-SV

No welcome necessary, I've been in CA for decades (since preschool age). We know all that common knowledge above, it's readily available on the internet for those that don't get out and travel and see this wonderful nation of ours, the United States of America..

Gas prices at $3.59 are reasonable in Silicon Valley considering income levels, lifestyles, tech capital of the world, concentration of the most highly tech-educated workers in nation, desirable moderate semi-arid climate conducive to healthy outdoor sports-oriented activities and the enjoyment of nice cars too without snow shovels, salt, and grit every year to deal with, relatively clean air (which comes at a cost), overhead, land prices/scarcity of much is a result of spectacular topography, etc. Pay to play is fine with me.

But I agree, the oil price manipulation nation-wide is something else. Yes prices aren't that bad compared to much if not most of the western world.

MrBruin09

Well said.

mmarshall

I know.....to some extent, I was being facetious. But, Internet or no Internet, a lot of people still don't know the peculiarites of the CA oil/gas-market, and why they pay more there than (most) other places in America.


A lot of that applies to the D.C. area, too, except that your nice sunny Mediterranean-type climate, for keeping and driving a nice car, generally beats ours. Our gas prices, here, range from just about the national average to slightly above at some stations.

True, many Europeans empty their wallets at the pump, but, on the other hand, they get big government subsidies (and benefits) for other things that they don't have to pay for, and we here in America do. But that is getting somewhat off-topic, so I would really go into that here.

LexFather

saw regular hit 3.15 today here

I do not agree we need high prices I was fine ten years ago when gas was $1.40 or so. High oil prices affect the cost of EVERYTHING I would never wan high oil prices as a consumer.

To me people will realize gas will never go down to sub $2 levels again and I think another gas "shock" so close to the last one is going to change a lot of peoples car buying decisions.

That's if people buy cars the industry could be stagnant with no growth.

FYI we import most of our oil from CANADA not the middle east.