PRICES LOWER THAN WW I ??

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=003IrX

Midwest Motorists Seethe at Gasoline Supply Crisis

By Richard Valdmanis

NEW

U.S. drivers may feel they are paying through the nose for their fuel, but if they looked beyond their noses they'd see their prices are among the lowest on the globe. In countries like England, Italy, France and Sweden, for example, the taxman often takes up to 80 percent of the full charge for retail gasoline as a favorite form of government revenue raising. British drivers last year paid an average of $4.26 per U.S. gallon compared to the U.S. average of $1.16. Furthermore, when adjusted for inflation, U.S. gasoline prices work out to be about 80 cents a gallon lower than they were in 1980 following the supply disruption created during the Iranian Revolution. ``In real terms, consumers today are paying considerably less for gasoline than they did during World War I,'' said Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize winning author and oil analyst for Cambridge Energy research Associates. -- Hawk (flyin@hi.again), June 09, 2000

-- cpr (buytexas@swbell.net), June 10, 2000

Answers

This aint really my little buddy CEEP. He would know that the cost is less important than the rate of change in the cost. The US could live with 4 dollar gas but if the ramp is too steep, well, hang on. Wait, that sounds like cascading dominos stuff. Never mind.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), June 10, 2000.

cpr,

So because oil and gasoline aren't going down in today's dollars, you trot out this inflation-adjusted mumbo-jumbo to obscure the point?

I have a better idea for you. Say, "I have been WRONG so far, oil and gasoline have NOT gone down in price like I said they would". This would still allow you to save face and be right if oil and gasoline does go back down in the future. More importantly, it would show the forum that you can admit to being wrong when you are.

-- J (Y2J@home.comm), June 10, 2000.

CPR certainly hit the nail on the head that time. Gasoline prices are not only lower than they were during World War I, but they're lower than they were during the Civil War, and the Revolutionary War too. In fact, they're even lower than they were during the dark ages! So there's nothing to worry about at all.

-- Sergeant Friday (just.The@facts.Maam), June 10, 2000.

Is this supposed to make us feel good?

-- Lurker2 (lots@to.lurk.for), June 10, 2000.

well i think i can say there are problems when it rises this fast. In Nov 99 i was paying $1.39 a gallon, 7 months later it $2.19 (cheap stuff) (premium is $2.39). britain is a small island and theydont use as much fuel. Fuel prices in this large % of increase could have a sharp troubles in the U.S. economy.

-- boo (boo@home.com), June 10, 2000.

Get real, who gives a shit about WWI? The only thing Americans care about is how much more it takes out of this paycheck as compared to our last one.

"This time last year, the nationwide average price was just $1.11 a gallon. Now, it's $1.56, a 44 percent increasemore than ten times the overall inflation rate. And an oil industry report released Friday says not to expect a turnaround anytime soon, reports CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers."

CPR, did you read that? It said ...

A 44% INCREASE IN ONE YEAR!

-- Hawk (flyin@hi.again), June 11, 2000.

We're lucky!!! Oil went up 300% !!!

-- fg (a@t.k), June 11, 2000.

Carlos, Lets just hope we are as WRONG about this as we were about the embedded chips! Still, I'm relocating and prepping to the max.

-- Just In Case (Carlos@is.right), June 11, 2000.

Prices are too high. They're zooming, and there's got to be reasons why. BILL RICHARDSON Energy Secretary

-- Wisconsin Gas Prices (Are Skyrocketing@here.com), June 11, 2000.

LOL. CPR gets the 'Flint' award for waffling.

-- CPR is a moron (maybe@he's.Flint), June 12, 2000.

I was talking to an Englishman the other day, he's a friend of my girlfriends friend. Anyway, the price of gas came up and he said, "we pay so much more over in England, you should consider yourself lucky". I preceded to educate him on how much of their gas was tax to support there quasi-socialistic form of welfare govt.

I then asked him how much he payed for a pint of beer at the local pub. He answered. (don't remember what)

I asked, "well how would you have liked it if that price had doubled in one year?"

He replied, "There'd be riots in the streets!"

I said, "Yeah but you'd still be paying only have as much as we do for a pint".

Perspective!

-- Who gives a crap about them? (gasguzzler@usa.drive), June 12, 2000.

Lets not forget that taxes were incredibly less back in the good ole days. How much do YOU pay today compared with what your parents did when you were a kid? Remember when gasoline was $.23 a gallon?

-- Inflation Hunter (taxes@inflation.rob.the.common.people), June 13, 2000.