dracflamloc on 15/4/2006 at 15:53
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
You would think that, because you've been conditioned into believing that your petrol should be cheaper than lemonade.
Prices here begin at around $6 a (US) gallon, and people still manage to drive their cars from A to B.
But then, the cost to the environment is far greater than that to the consumer, whatever they charge.
Heh, your country is also tiny. What I drive in a week commuting to work (by necessity) would take me across your country (and maybe back).
You have less to drive and therefore your gas consumption is lower, which helps cause your gas prices to be higher since the companies can't make as much selling at american prices.
And don't blame us for your governments absurd tax rate on gas.
tungsten on 15/4/2006 at 16:00
Quote Posted by dracflamloc
Heh, your country is also tiny. What I drive in a week commuting to work (by necessity) would take me across your country (and maybe back).
You have less to drive and therefore your gas consumption is lower, which helps cause your gas prices to be higher since the companies can't make as much selling at american prices.
And don't blame us for your governments absurd tax rate on gas.
That's a great post! Your comedy made my day, thank you!
SD on 15/4/2006 at 16:12
Quote Posted by dracflamloc
Heh, your country is also tiny. What I drive in a week commuting to work (by necessity) would take me across your country (and maybe back).
I suppose it's too much to ask that you live within sensible range of your place of work, or use public transport (and internal flights are as easy to catch as buses in the US, so don't give me any of that I NEED A CAR horseshit).
Quote:
You have less to drive and therefore your gas consumption is lower, which helps cause your gas prices to be higher since the companies can't make as much selling at american prices.
And don't blame us for your governments absurd tax rate on gas.
Are you blaming the companies charging more for petrol, or the government taxing it more ruthlessly? Make your friggin' mind up.
Also, I see nothing absurd about the tax we levy on petrol. It reflects the damage done to the environment, and the costs of reversing and minimising that damage. And who was blaming the US for our tax rates anyway? Way to put words in my mouth, chump.
Wyclef on 15/4/2006 at 16:17
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
(and internal flights are as easy to catch as buses in the US, so don't give me any of that I NEED A CAR horseshit).
Driving from, say, Pittsburgh to Philadelphia is an order of magnitude less costly than flying.
SD on 15/4/2006 at 16:26
Yeah, but there's only 250 miles or so between those cities, right? I got the impression that dracflamloc was talking about greater distances than that.
aguywhoplaysthief on 15/4/2006 at 16:31
Yeah, and last time I checked airplanes ran on lots and lots of petroleum-based products.
Cerebration on 15/4/2006 at 16:36
The original post said that buyers should control the marketplace, not sellers. However, that only works if the customer actually threatens to go to an alternative seller, or just decides they don't want the product enough. Protesting against high fuel prices while at the same time dismissing any kind of transport other than the car isn't exactly going to get the likes of Exxon and Mobil filling their boots.
Starrfall on 15/4/2006 at 16:44
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
I suppose it's too much to ask that you live within sensible range of your place of work, or use public transport (and internal flights are as easy to catch as buses in the US, so don't give me any of that I NEED A CAR horseshit).
My work is on a lake 25 miles away. There is no public transportation that goes there that early (and probably none to begin with). While we have daydreamed about the possibility of using a helicopter to get there, none of us know how to fly one. :( There are three of us who carpool 99% of the days, but it's still a noticable cost increase.
And that's not to mention the poor bastards who need to work in the bay area, but can't afford to live there. Tracy is a big commuter town, and it's about 40-60 miles from various parts of the bay area. I'm not sure what the current availability of public transportation is, but it probably involves some combination selected from car, train, bus, ferry, and taxi. And no matter how you go it probably takes at least 90 minutes each way. I don't think anyone would make such a commute if they had a better option.
Somewhere along the line this morphs from any semblance of an argument into a sincere hope never to have to do that because boy I bet it blows.
Anyways, the main thing is that gasoline shouldn't be viewed as a luxury item. It's not like a CD. If CDs were $30 each, people would just stop buying them. But for many people the option of not buying gasoline isn't really possible. For others it probably is, and others are probably in the middle.
But presumably, a certain amount of gasoline WILL be bought, no matter what the price, even if everyone is using as little as they possibly can. The companies probably are well aware of this, and will continue to make record profits as they bask in the security of garunteed demand.
Myoldnamebroke on 15/4/2006 at 16:57
But those are hardly long-distance commutes. The point was that the USA is much much larger than the UK so needs more petrol for all that there drivin'. Those distances wouldn't be outrageous here.
Also, despite it not being a luxury item, people still use more of it than they need to. There is presumably a point at which people actively try and reduce their use of fuel as it costs too much to be slapdash, but not past which they can't afford to go to work. That's presumably the point of our rates on petrol.
Anyway, I'm not really sure what the point is, or who's arguing what. So, um.
Starrfall on 15/4/2006 at 19:09
I wasn't talking about that guy, I was just talking about commutes sometimes being unavoidable. (And the most important thing is if you're spending 3+ hours a day traveling to and from work, then you're a poor bastard) But there are some people who do it anyways.
If you're talking about a commute, it probably doesn't make sense to argue that there's a big difference between countries, because there's only so far people are generally willing to go, and it's probably similar. It's POSSIBLE to commute 300 miles one way in either country, but it doesn't mean anyone DOES it every day.
