Gas Prices and who is getting rich now

Gas prices STINK

hum????????? good q.

Joy- Thanks for the links. The prices here have been over $3.00 for awhile now. We've got a smaller car, a hyundai Elantra, but we also try to do more than one thing when we do go out - grocerys after a Dr's appt. - things like that. Our son, who's got a Jeep SUV, is a different story. He's got a 65 gallon gas tank and it takes a LOT to fill it up.
Who's getting rich? The oil companies and anyone (like maybe the government?) who owns stock in them!
Marilyn

Gas prices are cheaper here than almost anywhere else on earth...Mexico, Venezuela and parts of the Middle East are the only exceptions I know of.
I recently read that gas prices in England are over $6/US gallon. Most of Europe is similar. Gas is ridiculously cheap here, subsidized by bloated oil depletion allowances and tax breaks to the oil industry. Gas should cost TWICE as much as it does! And the nation should have a decent mass transit system and much, much more efficient vehicles. The ideal urban transportation vehicle (if mass transit is not available) is a battery-powered electric car. It is far more efficient in energy usage, nonpolluting, and it could be built today with a 150 mile range between charges.
Not far enough, you say? How often do you take trips longer than that? If it's more than a few times a year, then maybe you need a hybrid...preferably a pluggable hybrid that can do must of the short-haul trips without even starting the engine. Over 90% of most people's trips are less than 50 miles. When you do need longer range, for a vacation trip, etc...it would make a lot of economic sense to rent a vehicle.
Okay, this doesn't solve your immediate budget problem, I know. But this is where we should be headed. Are we? Hell no, not as long as Bush and the Oil Patch are running the country. You can count on them to extract every last dime of possible profit from you before they do more than pay lip service to any sensible, responsible approach to the problem.

Bert is right, and adjusted for inflation, gas is cheaper now than it was many years ago. The only problem is that wages have not grown in many instances, and are actually shrinking for many.

gas prices are soooo high now!

Give me a break Bert....we had these problems long before Bush.... Why are the auto makers not doing more? Because the public doesn't demand it. Over seas, they have smaller cars with better gas milage. We Americans like our big SUVs and cars.

they can charge high prices because in order to move around you need gas. They have us over the barrel..

Bert's point about the relativity of gas prices in the US as opposed to Europe is well taken. The difference is that European countries have a value added tax on their gas which we do not have in the US. When you factor that in - the gas prices in the US are pretty high. Whoever mentioned that wages have been stagnant regardless of inflation is making a great point.

Gas is ridiculously cheap, in Iraq maybe.
Gas has been more in other countries for some time now, even with the very small cars. They've been getting ripped off.
The drive smaller cars and use less gas per vehicle (most vehicles anyway), but the oil companies said, "Hey wait an minute, they're going to use less gas, let's raise their prices".
Now they're saying, "Oh wait, we've been getting away with this over here......Let's do this in America". It's crap.
I drive a mid size car, because I need to so I can fit my family inside.
(I have three children. My 12 yr old son is 5'9 and my 18 yr old 5'11.) I don't take extra trips or waste gas. I drive the speed limit and do mostly freeway driving.
I don't drive a Hummer or SUV. My husband goes to work at 5am, to early for ride sharing.

I would love to have an electric car or hybrid. I just cannot buy one right now.
We made sure our cars were paid for in full, so we own what we have. (No car payments) Not everyone can afford to buy new.
We may sell one car and buy a geo metro with the cash. Our cars are not big so it probably would not make much difference.

Cost of living being what it is and wages being stagnant are excellent points.
I was born and still live in California. We do not make enough to buy a home at the price of things here.We are working hard and getting by.
That becomes harder when you can barely afford gas to get yourself to work.

Thank you for reading and replying everyone. I really enjoy hearing other points of view.

Janet...first, you are right. The current administration is just the latest in a long line that have done little more than pay lip service to the problem. The last president who actually made it a national priority and tried to do something about it was Jimmy Carter, and the first thing Reagan did when he took office was to torpedo all of Carter's plans to get us off oil. Where would we be today if Carter's plans had been carried out? It is a very, very sad question to ask, isn't it? How many hundred billion...no trillions...of dollars have we wasted? How many lives lost in wars?

But Bush has substantially increased oil company subsidies...along with reducing corporate taxes. What that does, besides making the oil companies obscenely rich, is to ENCOURAGE CONSUMPTION! I know there are people who are really cramped by the current run-up in prices, but I know that there are a LOT of people driving huge SUV's and 4WD pickups, and I see the soccer moms going to school to pick up Johnny in them, and leaving them running with the A/C on while they wait!
I think gas prices should be doubled! And then, some of that money should probably go back to low-income people in the form of a tax credit or something. But nobody should be able to afford to waste gasoline!

If gas prices doubled there would be no use in me being employed.
After day care cost and gas there would be nothing left. That is no joke.

DB10

Good article.

I am glad the prices are FINALLY going down (although not low enough!)