Gas prices around the world

Excert taken from CNN:


Think you pay a lot for gas? Perhaps you'd prefer to live in Venezuela.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) ? Gasoline prices in the United States,
which have recently hit record highs, are actually much lower
than in many countries. Drivers in some European cities,
like Amsterdam and Oslo, are paying nearly 3 times more than
those in the U.S.


http://tinyurl.com/3w6yl

 

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/living/travel/12486272.htm

"In Turkey, gasoline costs $7.50 a gallon, but the average wage is only about
$4,500 a year"

 

: Think you pay a lot for gas? Perhaps you'd prefer to live in Venezuela.

Man, I hate these comparisons. What's not so much the issue is how much
*I* personally pay for gas. What's important is what the economy pays for
gas on a larger scale. So many things are dependent on that number and
based around that number that fluctuations ripple up through the system.

I'm not debating that we shouldn't get used to higher gas prices, just
that it's foolish to say that we shouldn't complain because in country X
they pay $Y.

Justin
'02 Shadow VT750DC 45mpg
'02 Honda Civic LX 40mpg

 

Exactly! But the good news is that when Joe Average and his family go tits
up, I'll be there bottom feeding on his assets. It's "The ant and the
grasshopper" fable being played out.

 

Especially since the gas industry is on the Venezuelan government's tit,
meaning that in order to get these lower gas prices they are paying in
their hard-earned money in increased taxes.

 

I don't think anyone's saying that. But what they are saying is that
we're not going to garner a lot of sympathy overseas when we bitch about
the cost of petrol here.

While I'm happy to join in the party demonizing the SUV, the bigger
problem created by a century of cheap energy is that we have a housing
stock and strategy based on sprawl. You can trade your Expedition for a
Prius (or use your Prius for more of your trips), but there's damn
little you can do about reducing your commute.

Rich, Urban Biker

 

I wouldn't be too sure about that. If the oil under the ground was
seen as a public-owned resource (like our air, water, forests, BLM
land, etc. etc.), the cost at the pump would be based on the cost of
extraction, refining, transportation, etc. plus a fair profit. How
much would a gallon of gas cost then? I'm guessing about 50 cents.

-We- pay high gas taxes, federal state and local. And in figuring the
cost of gas in the US you also have to factor in the cost of a war in
the Gulf every ten years, not to mention about half of the CIA's black
budget.

 

http://www.shell.com/home/Framework.../petrol_pricing/prices/world_prices_0116.html

 

Please explain the UK's reasons for their gas tax rate.

http://www.shell.com/home/Framework.../petrol_pricing/prices/world_prices_0116.html

 

???

Rich, I normally see a lot more common sense in your posts I can only
think you're trying out a troll here...

Damn little one can do about reducing one's commute? How so? Still seems
like it's all about choices, once again.

Last week I used a total of 2 gallons of Chevron's finest 87 octane
commuting to work, my wife less than 1 gallon. I drive an F250 4wd, my
wife a Yukon XL.

I rode my bicycle to work 3 out of 5 days, my wife 3 out of 4.

I'm happy to join in the party demonizing the Prius, full of self
satisfied people who think they're "green" as they make their daily 110
mile round trip commute.

 

The high gas taxes are largely dedicated to highway construction and
maintenance, which are part of the true cost of automobility.


And in figuring the

This part is not paid by gas taxes and in that sense the use of vehicles
is being subsidized by the rest of the economy.

Rich, Urban Biker

 

We were talking about Venezuela. European countries (and Japan) tax
gas highly to discourage use because it hurts their balance of trade.

 

For starters it says, "All prices updated March, 2005." I'm paying
about twice as much for gas now as I was then. Did European prices go
up by the same percentage? I don't think so.

Did you read the part. "Many European nations tax gasoline heavily,
with taxes making up as much as 75 percent of the cost of a gallon of
gasoline, said a spokesperson for AirInc." That money goes to pay for
things that would come from income tax, Soc Sec and medicare in the US.
Have you looked at the deductions from your pay check lately?

Bruce

 

You're right, but some choices are easier to alter in response to price
changes than others. I can travel an extra mile to a gas station and
save 30¢/gallon compared to the closest gas station. That's an easy
one. I can use the bus or the bike instead of the car for a number of
trips -- that's relatively easy.

But if I had a job that was a long commute (I'm retired, so that's
theoretical, but on average, working Americans do have long commutes),
and had a working spouse and children in school, finding a combination
of a residence, two jobs and decent schools all in close proximity is
not a simple one.

Sounds like you've done a good job of insulating yourself from high gas
prices without going to economy cars.

My problem with SUVs has nothing to do with fuel economy. Their high
profile makes it impossible for me as a motorcyclist to see what the
vehicle ahead of the SUV ahead of me is doing, which is information that
I ned for my safety. SUVs parked on the street make it difficult for
traffic approaching an intersection or leaving a driveway to determine
the presence of cross-traffic. It's fortunately outside of my personal
experience, but the Brits just completed a study indicating that SUVs
are more dangerous to pedestrians as well.

The good news is that this generation of SUVs are morphing into a
revival of the station wagon.

As for the Prius, I think its chief contribution to the public good
comes from the innovations (continuously variable transmission,
regenerative braking) that will show up in the next generation of cars
and SUVs.

Rich, Urban Biker

 

I was using those examples in an ironic way. The Republicans see
public resources as their own private goods to be auctioned off to
campaign contributors. (Not to bash just Republicans here, Democrats
do it too, but the Repubs are worse).

I'm not sure I could find those figures. But I just find it hard to
believe that extraction and refining costs would have gone up 300% in
ten years or 1000% in 30 years. Energy is an oligopoly and prices are
set arbitrarily.

Not -price-, -cost-. The true COST of gas includes the cost of air
pollution, real estate used for roads and parking lots, runoff from
roads damaging lakes and rivers, even global climate change (if you
believe in that).

Just think of the number of days of work lost from respiratory
diseases. Air pollution from motor vehicles is a big contributor to
respiratory diseases. That cost is part of the true cost of gas.

When gas was 75 cents a gallon, this was a much bigger percentage of
the cost at the pump. How that the price has gone up, legislators
have an incentive to raise the taxes proportionately. 8^<

 

Interesting idea. Taxing gas so that eveyone pays the same amount of tax
no matter if you make 10k per year or 10k per month. I am still trying to
figure out the justification behind that idea.

pierce

 

Go read up on Venezuela's gas subsidy program which allows it's citizens
to pay pennies per gallon, then try answering it again.

 

Yes, well, MC Consumer News had an article a few months back that tried to
show how the prevalence of light-truck based vehicles has made the roads
more dangerous to motorcyclists. This is probably true, but if I had to
choose between a highway full of Tahoe's controlled by drivers who were
focused on the task at hand, and a highway full of Corolla's driven by the
typical cell-phone distracted fast-food chomping cd-changing numbskulls
that I too often encounter, I'd take the highway full of Tahoe's every
time.

 

WTF? You're not making any sense - again. Gas is
cheap in Venezuela because they have a lot of it,
and people are placed ahead of corporate greed and
profit.

-


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=peak+oil&btnG=Google+Search

"You're doin' a heckuva job, Brownie!" - bu$h, a few days
before his FEMA chief, Micheal Brown was forced to resign
because of his gross incomptence.

"The tools that enable Cuba save lives and preserve
human dignity during hurricanes are socialist values
and organization." - Dr. W.T. Whitney Jr

Ever wonder who benefits from the 150 MILLION
U.S. taxpayer dollars spent each DAY in Iraq?
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0223-08.htm
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=21

"They are waging a campaign of murder and destruction. And
there is no limit to the innocent lives they are willing to
take... men with blind hatred and armed with lethal weapons
who are capable of any atrocity... they respect no laws of
warfare or morality."
-bu$h describing his own war crimes in Iraq.
http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things
that matter." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

"God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them. And then
he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did."
-- George W. Bush

"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the
will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the
Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."
-- Adolf Hitler

"Brutal and sadistic? By what girly-man standards? Compared
to how Saddam treated his prisoners, a bit of humiliation was
a walk in the park. AFAIK, No one died or even lost any blood."
-Albert Nurick, a usenet kook, on the rape, torture and murder
at bu$h's Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
(http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0512-10.htm)


George W. Bush: "Intelligence gathered by this and other
governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues
to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever
devised." March 17, 2003.

http://www.commondreams.org/
http://www.truthout.org/
http://counterpunch.org/
http://thirdworldtraveler.com
http://responsiblewealth.org/
http://globalresearch.ca/
http://www.wsws.org/

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is
not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public."
-- Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"You know, when bu$h said that he's against nation building,
I didn't realize that he meant only the United States"
-- Al Franken

Don't let bu$h do to the United States what his very close
friend and top campaign contributor, Ken Lay, did to Enron...

 

You need to read up on Venezuela. Gas is cheap because
obscene corporate profits are taken out of the equation.
Socialist governments place the needs of The People ahead
of greed and extreme wealth for the elite few.
That's why Chavez is a popular hero throughout South
and Central America and the war criminals and corporate
thieves on the bu$h regime want him dead and supported
his failed overthrow in 2002. Not that we needed more,
but that was hard proof that bu$h does not support Democracy
or basic human rights...

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1004-22.htm

"President Chávez was elected in 1998 on a platform to more
fairly distribute the nation's oil wealth, and to bring the
country out of massive poverty and inequality. The traditional
elites fought back hard, organizing a coup in 2002 which the
US government was the only developed country to endorse. A
massive popular uprising brought him back to office within
48 hours. An oil strike/worker's lockout later that year
only served to hand over control of the massive oil company
from the traditional elites to the government. And a referendum
last year - organized by unrepentant coup leaders, financed
with support from the U.S. Government, and designed for his
ouster - instead consolidated Chávez's democratic mandate
in a 59% landslide."

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0927-25.htm

"Chávez has used oil revenues to finance infrastructure
development, conduct literacy programs and create scores
of small-scale workers' cooperatives in agriculture and
other sectors. In 2004 Venezuela's state oil company,
Petróleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) spent more than $3.7 billion
in housing for the poor, free medical clinics, schools,
and literacy programs. More than 1.2 million adults have
learned how to read since Chávez came into office, and
the country now has one of highest literacy rates (93.4
percent) in the hemisphere."


-


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=peak+oil&btnG=Google+Search

"You're doin' a heckuva job, Brownie!" - bu$h, a few days
before his FEMA chief, Micheal Brown was forced to resign
because of his gross incomptence.

"The tools that enable Cuba save lives and preserve
human dignity during hurricanes are socialist values
and organization." - Dr. W.T. Whitney Jr

Ever wonder who benefits from the 150 MILLION
U.S. taxpayer dollars spent each DAY in Iraq?
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0223-08.htm
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=21

"They are waging a campaign of murder and destruction. And
there is no limit to the innocent lives they are willing to
take... men with blind hatred and armed with lethal weapons
who are capable of any atrocity... they respect no laws of
warfare or morality."
-bu$h describing his own war crimes in Iraq.
http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things
that matter." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

"God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them. And then
he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did."
-- George W. Bush

"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the
will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the
Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."
-- Adolf Hitler

"Brutal and sadistic? By what girly-man standards? Compared
to how Saddam treated his prisoners, a bit of humiliation was
a walk in the park. AFAIK, No one died or even lost any blood."
-Albert Nurick, a usenet kook, on the rape, torture and murder
at bu$h's Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
(http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0512-10.htm)


George W. Bush: "Intelligence gathered by this and other
governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues
to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever
devised." March 17, 2003.

http://www.commondreams.org/
http://www.truthout.org/
http://counterpunch.org/
http://thirdworldtraveler.com
http://responsiblewealth.org/
http://globalresearch.ca/
http://www.wsws.org/

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is
not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public."
-- Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"You know, when bu$h said that he's against nation building,
I didn't realize that he meant only the United States"
-- Al Franken

Don't let bu$h do to the United States what his very close
friend and top campaign contributor, Ken Lay, did to Enron...