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Fuel Prices
Category: ChitChatI spend a lot of time on the internet with both my day job and business interests. Day to day I speak with people from USA, UK, Europe and Asia. One of the main topics that everyone is speaking about is the price of fuel. Whether you call it gasoline, petrol, fuel or something else, it affects all of us. Those of us without cars, still see the effects as all goods that we buy are transported and all means of transportation require fuel. As costs go up so are they passed on to the consumer.
Australia does produce oil, although only in small quantities. We produce far more LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) and thousands of motorists use it day to day.
It is interesting to hear how much American’s complain about the price of fuel compared to the rest of us. I’m not bashing American’s, I’m married to one and will be moving there in the very near future. This is more a comment on relative prices. I remember the outcry when gas hit $2 a gallon, and then a few short months later it was over $3 with calls for the government to step in and “Fix It”.
To Put things in perspective, Fuel prices are in the news a lot here at the moment and with a long weekend the oil companies have pumped up the price by 10c a litre. That equates to 40c a gallon. The equivalent price per gallon in Australia is very close to $6 or nearly double what most Americans are paying at the pump. What makes this even more interesting is that we in Australia are quite lucky in that we are paying less than most of the rest of the world.
I guess in the whole scheme of things, no matter how bad you think you have it, there is always someone out there doing it that little bit tougher.
Now where did i put my car keys.
Shane
The rising cost of gas is tough on everyone. Many people live paycheck-to-paycheck, and when the price of transportation goes up 150%, some have to make a choice of paying for gas or food or clothes.
GM and Ford are trying to stay profitable selling the SUV’s that provide more profit than the smaller cars that are more efficient on gasoline.
The excerpt below is from Yahoo News
http://au.news.yahoo.com/060601/19/z7i7.html
Ford Motor Co. took the offensive Thursday by offering vehicle buyers a 1,000-dollar gift card for gasoline (petrol) for a year along with zero percent financing.
Ford’s incentive follows a gasoline “price-cap” deal rival General Motors Corp. offered some customers in Florida and California that gave new car buyers pre-paid gasoline cards that compensate them when pump prices exceeded 1.99 dollars per gallon.
Aw, now, come on Shane. You know we Americans are the ‘Walmart’ of the world economy. Just like Walmart, we expect lower prices because we are the world’s largest consumer. So, of course, we are going to complain when our costs of gasoline doubles.
I don’t consider it arrogant of us, either. We are a strong capitalistic society. Some would call THAT the problem, too. But until the world changes, the bear who eats the most will get the lowest price.
My beef in all this is that I do not think the necessities of life should be priced out of reach of anyone. Now, when we get to the point when everyone has food, shelter and health care, I’ll be happy to continue to pay these high prices. Heck, I wouldn’t care now if the extra was going to help those who do not have the bare necessities.
But what blisters me is that it is all just some political ploy that makes some king or sultan that much richer!
Shame on them!!