The article is a little extreme. We all know that gas is more expensive in places such as london, europe and so on. But the US is a very large place and there are many people that just dont have the circumstances to be able to bike or use public transportation. Many people are increasingly being pushed out of their own income bracket becuase gas keeps going up but salary stays the same. It’s not like you can telecommute to a construction site or retail store.

Also, and what I agree with most is how bad it is to spike this quick. Yes prices were inevitable to rise. But to rise so quickly puts to hard of a strain on the common folk just trying to make it through. Good for big companies being forced to make changes, but it is much harder for someone making minimum wage or around their to absorb those costs.

Changes need to be made both at the enduser and the mfgs. But something this drastic has a really negative effect on many other economic areas.

- car: BWM 320d (diesel)
- fuel: 60liters

Just fill it up today morning = 85€ (US$ 131,75)

Cheer up

Frankly, as expensive as gas is now, I have oil heat and am way more concerned with how expensive it is going to be to heat my home come winter.

Here in Scotland we are currently at £1.25 and climbing for a litre of diesel.
My last fill up was £75.00, lets call that $150 for arguments sake !
The bulk of that goes to the government in tax, but it is coming out of my pocket !

Ross

“1.RIP for the internal-combustion engine – There should be some sort of Moore’s law for fuel efficiency. ”

This is naive to point of ridiculousness. For one thing, most of fuel efficiency is spent pushing a column of air around. There’s only so much you can do to make it more efficient, and that has mostly been done. Anyway, without internal combustion, that power would have to come from somewhere, and there is no better source than petroleum, period.

“3. Wither the Middle East’s clout
This region that’s contributed little to modern civilization exercises inordinate sway over the world because of its one significant contribution.”

Well, little if you don’t count things like rule of law, architectural fundamentals that keep our buildings standing, algebra, nearly all of our domesticated wheat crop varieties, beer, not to mention that pesky little thing called civilization itself. I know, I know, but what have they done for us *lately*, but still…

“4. Deflating oil potentates
On a similar note, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently gained a platform on the world stage because of their nations’ sudden oil wealth. Without it, they would face the difficult task of building fair and just economies and societies on some other basis.
How far would their message resonate — and how long would they even stay in power — if they were unable to buy off the temporary allegiance of their people with vast oil revenues? ”

Yeah, it well and truly sucks to see the little people of Venezuela get a leg up in life.

“6. An antidote to sprawl”

Don’t even get me started. I don’t *want* to move to a city. I don’t *want* to live near all of your crime, pollution, noise, lights, stress and everything else that sucks about living in cities.

“8. Easing global tensions”

This one is perhaps the most naive of them all. As if the $2500 Tata in India would translate to a $2500 car in the US. He’s erroneously comparing two completely different things. But beyond that, what he is suggesting here is tantamount to saying “Let’s just give up on oil and leave it all to the Chinese and Indians.”. But maybe he’s right. Maybe they will be kind and benevolent masters when they ultimately surpass us. Also nevermind the fact that he’s saying the Indians and Chinese should get the increased standard of living, but not the Venezuelans. That strikes me as contradictory. Why does he hate Hugo Chavez so much? The Chinese government is far worse.

I *enjoy* our higher standard of living, and I’m sure as hell not going to celebrate when we have to abandon it. In fact, if it happens in such short order, I think its going to be downright catastrophic. $8 a gallon gas might be a good thing IF we had 25 years to transition to it, but the way things are looking, we’re probably going to get 2-3 years at most. That shouldn’t make you celebrate, it should make you afraid.

Over here in Europe I pay about 124$ for a fill (Mercedes A170CDI, compact Car). That is only 50 liter Diesel for a distance of 850km.

In a year or two you may pay the same.

While not totally responsible for the exising pain at the pump the US copious demand for gasoline (and other excesses) has helped cause the poor to suffer locally as well as internationally because many of us want to drive trucks and SUVs that get us 10 mpg. Now with demand exceeding supply high food prices are one result of this problem which force families in developing countries to eat one meal per day instead of two.
High gas prices throughout the world will lower demand and eventually temper the high per barrel oil price.

If I was not a local management consultant with clients around the metroplex, then I could consider public transportation. Mass transit is not a forte here, especially the areas I travel to.

Riding and walking to work…not an option.

Car pooling is potentially an option but invariably schedules do not align. More investigation needed – probably the best bet.

Kimberly Amadeo has an interesting article that exposes other greedy individuals at the root of our oil situation.

We all know somebody somewhere is being very greedy, but it may not be the American consumer, the oil execs, or OPEC alone.

“Crude oil prices have increased 25% in the first quarter of 2008. According to most news sources, this is a result of surging demand from China and India, and a curtailment of oil supply from Nigeria and Iraq….the price of oil is being affected by more than supply and demand. In fact, the data shows global demand is down and global supply is up. Oil consumption decreased from 86.66 million barrels per day (bpd) in Q4 2007 to 85.73 million bpd as of this quarter. During this same time period, supply has increased from 85.49 to 86.17 million bpd. According to the laws of supply and demand, prices should have decreased.”

The EIA says look to commodities traders for part of the blame.

Please, don’t believe the fad theory that is Peak Oil. Surging demand from India and China along with the destabilization of the M.E. is to blame

And well, cheap oil too! No need to economize and conserve when oil is cheap.

The one thing inflation adjustments don’t seem to take into consideration is the lifestyle differences that have taken place in the time since, in your example, the Model T. Prior to the Model T, there weren’t a lot of people with autos and they weren’t as virtually indispensable as they are now. Therefore, very few people were spending any money on gasoline for transportation to and from work. And work was usually performed locally in those days, so you were walking to work, taking public transit of some sort more than likely in those days. And if you consider that just fuel alone is 20% more today than in 1910 for instance, those items that need to be transported today are probably on the order of 20% higher as well. All those 20% increases add up pretty quickly and place added burdens on a family’s budget. So I wouldn’t be too quick in dismissing the effects of a 20% increase in any item that needs to be purchased.

No offense to anyone. I’m not rich and I am familiar with the anger of feeling squeezed.

http://tinyurl.com/428os2

I’m all for anything that will make people think twice before jumping in a car. Carpool, take a bus, ride there, walk there. So many options that are better for congestion, better for our lungs, and better for our environment.

But that’s as it should be. How often do you still see people just idling in long lines that aren’t going anywhere for awhile, or leaving their car running to go into the store? As long as that’s still going on, gas is still too cheap.

My motorcycle gets 50 MPG, and that’s the sporty one. The other gets 80 MPG.

(Naturally the neighbors who do work at msft don’t take the bus.)

Oh, well. I don’t think that we will have a crisis unless the government interferes. Our economy will adapt over time. I’m not worried. Just think about how much of our transportation used to be dependent on horses, wood, coal, human power, etc.

Greenspan gave a speech back in 2004 about oil in which he describe the declining “oil intensity” of the US economy:
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2004/200410152/default.htm

As a smart guy who likes to think about the world, I can understand why higher fuel prices could be beneficial. As a consumer, I want gas prices to drop! I don’t drive much, especially since I’m working from home, but I still think it’s crazy to pay more than $20 to fill up my car. And $40? Yikes!

p.s. Yeah, I know this cover was actually a commentary on the state of the economy in 1978. I was just trying to make it relevant to today!

Maybe because I don’t spend that much total for gas, I also see some positives in high prices. It makes people conserve more; it provides incentive for car manufacturers to produce more efficient cars; it makes people buy smaller cars. Even though extra cost isn’t a huge deal to me, I still started to car pool with a friend a couple of days a week, and work from home more. Why not reduce consumption if we can?

Pixel Kid – I do know what you are talking about. I have a cousin who lives in Germany. A couple of years ago we went to Sicily together and rented a car. A really tiny one compared to which my Honda Civic is huge, and with manual transmission too (my cousin can drive those, I can’t). We alternated paying for gas, and was I surprised when I paid 50 Euro to fill up this tiny thing. Wonder how much it would’ve been now.