Gas prices may hit $5/gal by Memorial Day

C

CaptMac

New member
CBS Atlanta: $5 A Gallon Gas By Memorial Day?

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told an Ohio audience Monday that big-city Americans should brace themselves for $5-a-gallon gas. According to AAA’s daily fuel gauge, a gallon of regular gas was approaching $4 in some places and even topped it in California.

The increase in gas prices is tied to the rise in oil prices, which have climbed as much as 11 percent due to tensions with Iran, cold weather in Europe and increasing demand from developing nations, the AP said.

http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2012/02/20/5-a-gallon-gas-by-memorial-day/

CNN: The price of unleaded gasoline in the U.S. will likely hit a nationwide average of $4 by this summer, said Dan Dicker, oil trader and author of "Oil's Endless Bid." The last time prices topped $4 was 2008 and Dicker said there's a one in three chance that gas could reach $5 a gallon.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/20/markets/oil_gas_iran/index.htm?hpt=hp_c1

It's a good time to own a C-Dory. :wink: :thup
 
Yes, I totally agree. I think largely and very unfortunately for the Country the flip side of the coin. Our good friend Nancy has been accused of it. Just wonder how much insider speculation from our illustrious leaders (not to mention their friends) helps to artificially drive up the price. I am getting old and senile but do I remember price freezes at some point on certain things?
 
Interesting result if you go to the Gasbuddy charts mentioned earlier by Capt Mac, take a 3 year base and and plot for USA, WA and Canada all on the same graph. Shows a pretty consistant difference per gallon which at least says we are all being ripped off together. Eh!

M
 
CaptMac":28qbd6o5 said:
rogerbum":28qbd6o5 said:
And if Santorum says it, it must be true.
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:roll: Instead of a political vantage googling some key words should determine the truthfulness. By doing so lots of similar projections from reliable sources were found among this gas increase graph at gas buddy, http://gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx?time=3:
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And that gas buddy graph shows that gasoline will cost $5 a gallon this summer when the consensus estimates from experts is lower? The point of my comment was that it's the candidate that's making that projection and I hardly think he's the expert nor is he unbiased in trying to create fear. When the post starts with projections from a political candidate, I think it's reasonable to question the source of the prediction. Regardless though, gas prices are highly unpredictable (other than that they will go up in the future) due to a wide variety of social and political factors. Many of the latter (unrest in the middle east etc), we have very little control over.

As for gas prices in Canada being higher overall - that's largely due to higher taxes on gasoline which in turn is an intentional attempt by the government there to use taxes more aggressively to encourage increased fuel efficiency and conservation. The same is true in much of Europe. One can argue over whether that's the best approach to encourage conservation and improved efficiency, but I don't think it's reasonable to assume that Canadians are being "ripped off" on gas prices. It is hower (IMHO) worth noting that in Europe cars, vans and small trucks have much higher fuel efficiency ratings than in the U.S. and Canada so at least there, higher taxes on fuel seems to achieve the intended result.

However, regardless of fuel prices, I'm still boating. I do drive a lot less though now, carpool, walk or bike when possible, and I try to do our driving in a fuel efficient vehicle when possible. Our VW TDI Jetta averaged 47MPG this weekend on a trip to Tofino and back. Since we in the US are a significant fraction of the total market, if we all cut back on fuel usage by about 10% (either by conservation or increased fuel economy), the cost of gasoline would rise much more slowly.
 
Over the course of the last few years, whenever I mentioned that my boat got over 5 miles per gallon -- first our CD-16 Cruiser, and now a Marinaut 215 -- people looked at me with a slight, condescending smile. It's as much to say that, well, boating is a wealthy person's hobby, and if you can't afford the fuel, then you should not be in boating. This attitude is simply fodder. Not even wealthy people get wealthy by wasting their money. The price of gasoline will absolutely reach ten dollars per gallon someday; when it reaches that level is anyone's guess, but even normal inflation will cause it to be at that level in approximately 20 years. I happen to think it will be a lot sooner than that, because oil is a diminishing resource with ever-increasing demand. More than anything, it is the demand side that is doing it. Look at the choices people are making in America: large inefficient automobiles, boat engines and other equipment. My wife and I have a 2004 Honda Accord 4 Cylinder. People with big SUV's laughed at us when we bought that car, too, but that car gets 34 MPG on the highway and it has 160 horsepower under the hood. Believe me -- that car moves! People's perception, however, is that it is slow because it has only 4 cylinders. It shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the relevancy of horsepower. As a people in this country, we have not been thinking of efficiency. We have been wasteful, and in the end, it will destroy us financially.

So getting back to boats, we purposely selected the Marinaut/Honda combination so that when gas goes to $5 or more, we can afford to stay in boating. For example, a round trip of a 125 miles for us could consume approximately 26 gallons of fuel. In a typical gasoline-powered cruiser of our size, consumption would be around 57 gallons. Even if the price of fuel were to go to $10 per gallon, it would still be less expensive for us to run our boat, then what that gas cruiser would cost today at $5 per gallon.

I personally think that C-Dory owners for the most part are highly intelligent, and have a more realistic, practical nature. We're not taken in by glitz, and we look for safety and efficiency. Gas-powered C-Dory's, and our Marinaut, are among the most efficient boats in their class, and we will still enjoy boating (perhaps not as often) when the price of gas reaches high levels, while our more inefficient peers will be sitting at the docks.
 
It is true that gas prices in EU are high and that is mostly due to the same reason as Canada = higher taxes. I consider that being ripped off IF the taxes are not being used for their original purpose.

It is equally true that there are many much more fuel efficient vehicles in EU but a lot of that extra efficiency is (or was) simply due to the absence of many of the emissions control devices that are used in the USA. Anyone who can remember the SMOG days of the 50's 60's in UK will welcome the fact that emissions are now much less.


M
 
We paid about $5 a gallon in the Keys, and over $4 a gallon for diesel last week. I would not be surprised to see boat gas/diesel at $5.00 a gallon. We also paid about $6.00 an imperial gallon a few years ago in the Broughtons. It is the cost of doing business--and maybe we will go a little slower this year...
 
dotnmarty":2c8mq0ky said:
Apparently gas is the U.S.'s biggest export for the first time since the 1949. Go figure! Well, maybe not. I guess we need that pipeline to the Texas refineries so big oil can then ship the product to China and India.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industrie ... 52298812/1
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I read somewhere that US gas and oil consumption are down because of the economy. Not too long ago there was a shortage of refinery capacity but now with weak demand it's being exported . There is obviously still big demand in rapidly growing economies like China and India. Let's hope we don't wind up at war with Iran for multiple reasons.
 
It is true that gas prices in EU are high and that is mostly due to the same reason as Canada = higher taxes.
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And I don't think the U.S. should look towards Europe as something to emulate. It appears their socialist "utopia" is imploding as we speak. They have issues, both socially & economically, that they now are having to deal with, and it's not pretty.

I just filled the F-250 up last week @ our local Safeway; paid $3.94/gallon and that was AFTER a $.10 per gallon discount. Thank God I rarely drive that thing. I usually only fill up once a month.

I'd hate to buy another car for Meredith, as both our vehicles are paid off. But if it continues like it appears it will, we will have to consider something more efficient for her daily driver. Issue then is what? I will not do an electric; paying >$30K for a small Nissan Leaf is crazy and it only gets about 30 miles per charge. Hybrid? Don't know. I'd love a Jetta TDI (mpg in the 40's) but the last new VW we had was a pile of crap. So....no simple answers.
 
localboy":1u8gbfsp said:
It is true that gas prices in EU are high and that is mostly due to the same reason as Canada = higher taxes.
Click to expand...

And I don't think the U.S. should look towards Europe as something to emulate. It appears their socialist "utopia" is imploding as we speak. They have issues, both socially & economically, that they now are having to deal with, and it's not pretty.

I just filled the F-250 up last week @ our local Safeway; paid $3.94/gallon and that was AFTER a $.10 per gallon discount. Thank God I rarely drive that thing. I usually only fill up once a month.

I'd hate to buy another car for Meredith, as both our vehicles are paid off. But if it continues like it appears it will, we will have to consider something more efficient for her daily driver. Issue then is what? I will not do an electric; paying >$30K for a small Nissan Leaf is crazy and it only gets about 30 miles per charge. Hybrid? Don't know. I'd love a Jetta TDI (mpg in the 40's) but the last new VW we had was a pile of crap. So....no simple answers.
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There is a simple answer ( temporary at best though, till others money runs out) sit home like the other 1/2 and collect free money
 
localboy":3g825f8i said:
It is true that gas prices in EU are high and that is mostly due to the same reason as Canada = higher taxes.
Click to expand...

And I don't think the U.S. should look towards Europe as something to emulate. It appears their socialist "utopia" is imploding as we speak. They have issues, both socially & economically, that they now are having to deal with, and it's not pretty.
Click to expand...
It all depends on what part of Europe you look at. The Brits, the Germans, much of Scandanavia appear to be better off than we in many regards. I personally think we also have issues both socially and economically and it's not pretty either. The idea that we can't learn somethings (both what to do and what NOT to do) from other countries, is IMHO a big myth that often prevents us from making progress in some areas. I personally think we could learn a lot from really looking at how other countries do things but we'd have to really look at things with an open mind. Once we paint a whole continent as a socialist dystopia, then we don't really have a chance of identifying what is and isn't working and what is and is not applicable to our own situation.
 
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