Gas prices

[TruckDaddy]

Gas was 99 cents locally in December 2018. I traded my Prius for a Cadillac that month.

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[Old Pro]

This is "The Beast", he's a Ford E250. It gets about 13-14 mpg with gas prices now over $6 per gallon, I'm right there with you, a 360 mile trip is just over $150. On our family vacations with 5-6 adults and all our toys, The beast is a must. Our family dynamic is getting to where only 4 of our 6 adults want to go on vacations, and the CT will come in handy.
Bring on the Cybertruck.

I have a Ford E-350 Winnebago Minnie Winnie 22R. If one owns an RV...it comes with the territory.
I will poy $6 a gallon anytime rather than spending my time mowing the lawn and picking up dog "stuff" in my backyard!

 

[HaulingAss]

According to AAA, national average price of a gallon of regular is now $4.24. According to the above chart (using the inflation adjusted line), that's about $0.30 more than the peak during the Bush administration, $0.25 more than the peak during the Obama administration (highest in history until now), and $1.55 more than the peak during the Trump administration.

Average price when this administration took office was $2.40. At $4.24, gas is up 76% during the 14 months of this administration. It is the highest price in the last century (using the inflation adjusted line). While it's hard to read the graph, it also appears to be the fastest price increase ever - don't see any year when prices increased $1.80 in just over a year.

AAA Gas Prices

I'm confused.

Are you trying to say the current high gas prices are the result of the policies of the current U.S. administration? And that gas prices haven't risen in other countries?

I'm no fan of the current administration but I don't blame them for the high gas prices. I actually LIKE the current high price of gas but, even if I didn't, I wouldn't blame politicians. Look towards big oil, Russia, OPEC, war in the Ukraine.

 

[Sirfun]

I have a Ford E-350 Winnebago Minnie Winnie 22R. If one owns an RV...it comes with the territory.
I will poy $6 a gallon anytime rather than spending my time mowing the lawn and picking up dog "stuff" in my backyard!

I hear ya, it's one thing to say $6 a gallon. It really hits home, when you pump 25 gallons into the tank and see $150 roll up at the pump though. Still, it is what it is for now. You wanna play, you gotta pay!

 

[datechboss101]

The prices were almost as high during the Trump Administration and higher during the Bush Administration and no higher in the Obama Administration.

Also, prices went up world-wide. The Administration doesn't have that level of power, especially for only being in office for a year.

-Crissa

(This graphic ends in 2020, so it isn't quite correct but the point is made.)

I'm confused.

Are you trying to say the current high gas prices are the result of the policies of the current U.S. administration? And that gas prices haven't risen in other countries?

I'm no fan of the current administration but I don't blame them for the high gas prices. I actually LIKE the current high price of gas but, even if I didn't, I wouldn't blame politicians. Look towards big oil, Russia, OPEC, war in the Ukraine.

I actually beg to differ on your point here. Gas prices literally did jump $2 last year alone between the beginning of the year to the end of the year, especially in the state of FL. I bring up FL a lot because we used to have the cheapest fuel prices in the country. Saying that this was a result of a war, please tell me, which war existed in 2021 other than the pandemic; because I would love to learn about that new war that was never brought up. I also wouldn't just blame big oil; they are just a bunch of executives who loves to line their pockets with money, and yet this year is the highest they've seen in record profits in a single year. It's again piss-poor policies and lack of short-term and long-term analysis. We were energy independent prior to this administration just an FYI. Also, I'm waiting for a full on BEV that has a range of 600 miles within a $50k price range, to even bother thinking about switching to an EV, since Tesla constantly delays the product of the CT (which now I can afford in cash).

I only got my license end of 2017 but since 2018 I have been tracking my fuel expenses, and this is from hard data (mind you 40k miles driven in 2019, 37k miles driven in 2021). An administration is to blame here, because even when Gov. Desantis did use tax payer money (which I believe was $1 billion) to lower the gas prices, yet prices went from high $1/gal-low $2/gal to low $4/gal last year alone. This year we only saw price increases every single day. NO price decreases at all. Last year was the first time I ever paid over $4/gal in my driving history (and I drove 100k miles till end of 2021).

2019 was the only year where I went and filled up at Shell, Chevron, Wal-Mart, 7/11. Those places are typically stupidly expensive when it comes to gas prices. But again, FL having dirt cheap prices that year and all of 2020, I barely paid anything over $2.50/gal that year.

Filling up at 3/4 empty, its costing a lot these days. Typically $60 would yield me two full tanks under the previous administration. Also, $1000 would have lasted me more than 4 months under the previous admin too just thinking about it. Frankly, its literally this administration mostly that lacks an understanding in almost everything (especially in economics); even Elon Musk supported to start fracking even though it will hurt the sales of Tesla, since we as life beings on the planet cannot fully sustain a proper green environment yet (this is due to geographics).

I am not sure if you have seen how much more truckers have to pay in fuel (I know a few friends that drives semi's for a living) and unfortunately, their fuel costs gets passed down to us consumers. I'm seeing diesel costing $5/gal these days, where it used be around $3/gal. Everything is increasing honestly because of this admin's poor decision choices. Also, not everyone's wages are increasing but products such as EVs, cars, utilities, food, water, etc., is increasing day-by-day. I honestly will end my rambling here, but I wanted to get a point across.

 

[firsttruck]

...
even Elon Musk supported to start fracking even though it will hurt the sales of Tesla

Elon Musk said restart already existing nuclear power plants and temporarily pump more crude oil.

I have not seen anyplace Elon mention fracking.

Where did you see Elon say to increase fracking?

 

[firsttruck]

The oil companies want a shortage. They make much more money with lower volume with very high prices than high volume with low prices.

Any increase in natural gas from fracking in U.S. can not help Europe because there is not enough shipping capacity to move the natural gas to Europe. The Russian natural gas pipeline moves much more natural gas. Takes years to build shipping infrastructure and prices will probably collapse back to normal before investors could get good return on their investment.

--------------------------------

America Is the World’s Largest Oil Producer. So Why Is Losing Russia’s Oil Such a Big Deal? The U.S. might be “energy independent,” but it still can’t control production.
By Robinson Meyer
March 8, 2022
https://www.theatlantic.com/science...l-gas-price-surge-energy-independence/626979/

.....
Texas’s easy-to-reach resources have since dried up, so the commission no longer plays its price-setting role. Now Texas oil comes from modern horizontal fracking wells, which take six to eight months to produce their first drop of oil.

.....
This has exposed every fracking company to the volatility of the global oil market. Twice over the past decade, oil prices surged enough that frackers responded by drilling more wells and putting more oil on the global market. Each time, they drilled so much oil that prices crashed again, ruining their investment and driving a wave of consolidation in the industry. By far the worst of these bust cycles happened during the pandemic. Today, the U.S. fracking industry, which used to comprise hundreds of firms, has been whittled down to several dozen companies. The industry, which has twice betrayed its investors, now has financial PTSD. Fracking companies are so worried about shanking their investors that they have barely drilled new wells as prices have climbed. (Last week, as Russian oil fell off the global market, the number of fracking wells in the U.S. actually went down.) This new “capital discipline” has turned the industry into something of a cartel. Scott Sheffield, the head of Pioneer Natural Resources, the country’s biggest shale company, declared last year that no fracking company would drill a new well even if the price of oil went above $100 a barrel—which it has. “All the shareholders that I’ve talked to said that if anybody goes back to growth, they will punish those companies,” he said.

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[HaulingAss]

I actually beg to differ on your point here. Gas prices literally did jump $2 last year alone between the beginning of the year to the end of the year, especially in the state of FL. I bring up FL a lot because we used to have the cheapest fuel prices in the country. Saying that this was a result of a war, please tell me, which war existed in 2021 other than the pandemic; because I would love to learn about that new war that was never brought up. I also wouldn't just blame big oil; they are just a bunch of executives who loves to line their pockets with money, and yet this year is the highest they've seen in record profits in a single year. It's again piss-poor policies and lack of short-term and long-term analysis. We were energy independent prior to this administration just an FYI. Also, I'm waiting for a full on BEV that has a range of 600 miles within a $50k price range, to even bother thinking about switching to an EV, since Tesla constantly delays the product of the CT (which now I can afford in cash).

I only got my license end of 2017 but since 2018 I have been tracking my fuel expenses, and this is from hard data (mind you 40k miles driven in 2019, 37k miles driven in 2021). An administration is to blame here, because even when Gov. Desantis did use tax payer money (which I believe was $1 billion) to lower the gas prices, yet prices went from high $1/gal-low $2/gal to low $4/gal last year alone. This year we only saw price increases every single day. NO price decreases at all. Last year was the first time I ever paid over $4/gal in my driving history (and I drove 100k miles till end of 2021).

2019 was the only year where I went and filled up at Shell, Chevron, Wal-Mart, 7/11. Those places are typically stupidly expensive when it comes to gas prices. But again, FL having dirt cheap prices that year and all of 2020, I barely paid anything over $2.50/gal that year.

Filling up at 3/4 empty, its costing a lot these days. Typically $60 would yield me two full tanks under the previous administration. Also, $1000 would have lasted me more than 4 months under the previous admin too just thinking about it. Frankly, its literally this administration mostly that lacks an understanding in almost everything (especially in economics); even Elon Musk supported to start fracking even though it will hurt the sales of Tesla, since we as life beings on the planet cannot fully sustain a proper green environment yet (this is due to geographics).

I am not sure if you have seen how much more truckers have to pay in fuel (I know a few friends that drives semi's for a living) and unfortunately, their fuel costs gets passed down to us consumers. I'm seeing diesel costing $5/gal these days, where it used be around $3/gal. Everything is increasing honestly because of this admin's poor decision choices. Also, not everyone's wages are increasing but products such as EVs, cars, utilities, food, water, etc., is increasing day-by-day. I honestly will end my rambling here, but I wanted to get a point across.

You don't know me but I'm a pragmatic thinker that makes his living using analysis to make sense of the world we live in. I can't have a favorite horse in the race unless I want to be poor. Investing profitably requires one to make sense of complex and often inaccurate information without being led astray by personal bias. Having read your delightlful and naive diatribe, I can see that you have succumbed to what is commonly known as "confirmation bias". Don't worry it's very common.

The other funny thing here is that you seem to forget that I actually LIKE high gas prices. The higher the better. Since converting both my and my wife's personal transportation to EV's and replacing our gasoline lawn mower with a more powerful and quieter battery-electric lawn mower, I only need to buy about one gallon of gas per year (for my chainsaw). This means that high gas prices benefit me by discouraging wasteful driving and reducing the pollutants I must breathe for very little cost to me. It also reduces the amount I subsidize fossil fuels with my tax money by reducing production of gasoline.

To be honest, one of us does need to fill-up our pickup truck up about once a year and it comes to around $100 every year. But that is a small price to pay for the utility it provides and the high gas prices discouraging unnecessary driving by the millions of other motorists on the roadway.

The cleaner the air on our roadways, the better. ICE drivers are actually still not paying enough to compensate for the additional health costs of refining and burning all that fossil fuels. The asthma and cancer (amongst many other diseases that fossil pollution increases the rates of) is just the tip of the ICEberg. Consumers of ICE are heavily subsidized, much more so than EV drivers. Of course, the fact that fossil fuels are heavily subsidized worldwide is simply a giveaway to the wealthy owners of fossil fuel industries who are too willing to pick the pockets of ICE drivers as often as possible. And the more heavily their businesses are subsidized, the more room they have to pick your pocket.

I'm not going to try to reverse your confirmation bias, but I will suggest that many working Americans have made conscious choices to reduce their dependency upon gasoline to such an extent that they no longer worry much (or at all) about rising gasoline prices. This takes many forms, from living within bicycling distance to work, going carless, riding a small motorcycle, adopting EV's (or very fuel efficient cars), carpooling with co-workers, etc. IMO, for many people, moving to an EV is the best answer but the other options can be very powerful in the right situations.

The people most impacted by high gas prices are those who discounted the benefits of designing their life to avoid a reliance on large quantities of gasoline. Sometimes it takes the form of real stupidity like, "We like to have a lot of children and need a big, safe SUV to take them all to school many miles away because we like to live outside the city and away from shopping and work. We also like to waterski so we need the biggest engine to tow our boat hundreds of miles to the lake we prefer and we cant afford another car so we need to use the gas guzzling tow vehicle for the 100 mile daily commute."

I have no sympathy when people complain about high gas prices in the US. Our gas is around half the price of gas in many other nations. You designed your life around needing large quantities of gas, deal with your choices. And realize even with the 'high" prices, the government is subsidizing your choices.

 

[hridge2020]

Los Alamos , CA

 

[JBee]

You don't know me but I'm a pragmatic thinker that makes his living using analysis to make sense of the world we live in. I can't have a favorite horse in the race unless I want to be poor. Investing profitably requires one to make sense of complex and often inccurate information without being led astray by personal bias. Having read your delightlful and naive diatribe, I can see that you have succumbed to what is commonly known as "confirmation bias". Don't worry it's very common.

The other funny thing here is that you seem to forget that I actually LIKE high gas prices. The higher the better. Since converting both my and my wife's personal transportation to EV's and replacing our gasoline lawn mower with a more powerful and quieter battery-electric lawn mower, I only need to buy about one gallon of gas per year (for my chainsaw). This means that high gas prices benefit me by discouraging wasteful driving and reducing the pollutants I must breathe for very little cost to me. It also reduces the amount I subsidize fossil fuels with my tax money by reducing production of gasoline.

To be honest, one of us does need to fill-up our pickup truck up about once a year and it comes to around $100 every year. But that is a small price to pay for the utility it provides and the high gas prices discouraging unnecessary driving by the millions of other motorists on the roadway.

The cleaner the air on our roadways, the better. ICE drivers are actually still not paying enough to compensate for the additional health costs of refining and burning all that fossil fuels. The asthma and cancer (amongst many other diseases that fossil pollution increases the rates of) is just the tip of the ICEberg. Consumers of ICE are heavily subsidized, much more so than EV drivers. Of course, the fact that fossil fuels are heavily subsidized worldwide is simply a giveaway to the wealthy owners of fossil fuel industries who are too willing to pick the pockets of ICE drivers as often as possible. And the more heavily their businesses are subsidized, the more room they have to pick your pocket.

I'm not going to try to reverse your confirmation bias, but I will suggest that many working Americans have made conscious choices to reduce their dependency upon gasoline to such an extent that they no longer worry much (or at all) about rising gasoline prices. This takes many forms, from living within bicycling distance to work, going carless, riding a small motorcycle, adopting EV's (or very fuel efficient cars), carpooling with co-workers, etc. IMO, for many people, moving to an EV is the best answer but the other options can be very powerful in the right situations.

The people most impacted by high gas prices are those who discounted the benefits of designing their life to avoid a reliance on large quantities of gasoline. Sometimes it takes the form of real stupidity like, "We like to have a lot of children and need a big, safe SUV to take them all to school many miles away because we like to live outside the city and away from shopping and work. We also like to waterski so we need the biggest engine to tow our boat hundreds of miles to the lake we prefer and we cant afford another car so we need to use the gas guzzling tow vehicle for the 100 mile daily commute."

I have no sympathy when people complain about high gas prices in the US. Our gas is around half the price of gas in many other nations. You designed your life around needing large quantities of gas, deal with your choices. And realize even with the 'high" prices, the government is subsidizing your choices.

Um Haulingass I think you need to look up externalities, and figure out where your food comes from and what fertilises it. Let alone a gazillion other things. If you were so concerned then do us a favour and get off the internet that uses 10% of the worlds energy by itself. Lol

Its simply a bogus argument to say you "want" higher fuel costs because you have 2 EV's and an electric mower. I mean come on man, selfish much, or are you just virtue signalling? You obviously have no idea how much fossil fuel you are indirectly using through anything you buy, including your EV or mower, let alone just using currency and fail to recognise how dependant food security is on fuel supply.

Whilst I might partially agree with some of the arguements to have fossil fuel foot its own environmental bill, we are by no extent of the imagination anywhere close to not being reliant on fossil fuel to keep civilisation running. Withoit civilisation you will have to start hunting and gathering again, and will only have one last drive left in your EV. ?

As for who is subsidizing what, its you that is paying for it too, or don't you pay taxes? I'm not sure how to respond to your "have to have lots of children" comment. Are you sure you can win that argument?

 

[Old Pro]

Man! Where is that? LA County? Malibu?

 

[hridge2020]

Man! Where is that? LA County? Malibu?

Los Alamos, CA

 

[happy intruder]

Man! Where is that? LA County? Malibu?

its almost $8 in some places in LA

 

[Crissa]

I actually beg to differ on your point here. Gas prices literally did jump $2 last year alone between the beginning of the year to the end of the year, especially...

...

Everything is increasing honestly because of this admin's poor decision choices. Also, not everyone's wages are increasing but products such as EVs, cars, utilities, food, water, etc., is increasing day-by-day.I honestly will end my rambling here, but I wanted to get a point across.

What was your point? What did the administration supposedly do? What is constraining the supply?

When the economy does better, prices go up. When it does worse, prices go down. Are you saying you wanted the economy to do worse?

During the pandemic, just like the automakers decided to order less parts (assuming demand would drop permanently), oil producers shuttered production. They did have a good excuse: They couldn't just park their oil in empty lots and wait for the pandemic to end. But when the pandemic started ending, did they make plans to bring production back up? Well... no, they took the profit and stuffed their execs pockets.

What does the administration have to do with that?

-Crissa

 

[John K]

When the Feds dropped interest rate to near Zero, a finger rested on the economy’s scale. Part of the inflation we feel today is the rebound from the event. Pandemic, supply chain shortfall, Putin’s war are also contributors.

There is a market difference in the current administration. This administration understands onus Is their responsibility.

My question to all including myself, what can we do to shoulder some of the improvement responsibility instead of investing in blame?

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