Gas Prices Set Record

[Ron61]

Gas strikes 9th straight record high at $3.787 a gallon
Friday May 16, 6:25 am ET

Retail gas prices hit record highs for the ninth day in a row, auto group AAA's Web site showed Friday.
The nationwide average for a gallon of regular unleaded hit $3.787, up from the previous high of $3.776.

Gas prices have now risen for 10 straight days. The pinch on consumers at the pump comes just ahead of the summer driving season, which kicks off with Memorial Day weekend.

The AAA national average shows gas prices up 11% over the past month and up nearly 22% from year-ago levels.

Two states have passed the $4 a gallon threshold. According to the AAA, the average price for a gallon of gas in Alaska is $4.042.

Connecticut is the second most expensive state to purchase gas in with an average price of $4.008 a gallon.

The least expensive state for drivers is Arizona, where a gallon of regular unleaded will set consumers back $3.565, well below the national average.

The second least expensive state to purchase gas in is Wyoming, where a gallon of gas averages $3.580.

Retail gas prices have been pushed up by crude oil prices, which have doubled in the last 12 months.

Ron

[bdeutsch]

One week ago today, moved freshman son home from college dorms in Los Angeles. Took the 405 to the 5, then to 50 and home.

Particularly on the 5, we noted there seemed to be far fewer cars than would be normal for a Friday afternoon here in California. In fact, even my wife noticed which is not something she would normally alert on.

Latest prices here in Sacramento region for premium are hitting $4.16/gallon at some locations.

Starting to look to me that magic $ number is around the $4.00 mark, meaning that at this point, driving starts getting viewed as a luxury versus something that you just do.

[HI Cobra]

We have been over $4 in Hawaii for a while now, especially outer islands.
Diesel is about $4.50 and up.

[imagine2frolic]

Unfortunately this is probably only the beginning.......

[427 S/O]

It's gonna hit a breaking point, just don't know where it is?. Lots of small to medium size businesses are closing down in my area.

[GlynMeek]

I have ranted about this before, but let me say two things again...a) Hubbert Peak for oil is less than 5 years away b) $10 a gallon gas by the end of the decade!!!

If you ever want to read about what will REALLY happen to Western civilization over the next 20-50 years, read a little book called 'Out of gas'! Much as all the eco-do-gooders will talk about how we can reverse or slow or stop global warming, or that driving a Prius will make one iota's worth of difference, it is all horses**t. There is NO way to convert the western economies to a non oil-based economy in the time we need to before we are REALLY in the middle of the upcoming oil crisis, and consequently "there WILL be blood" as the western economies struggle to deal with depleting oil supplies...my recommendation is to put your foot down on the gas pedal and enjoy it TODAY, 80% of the world's population will be dead before the end of this century, there is NO tomorrow, and we are living at the zenith of human civilization. Eat, drink, be merry...for tomorrow we die!

[Ron61]

Glyn,

Sadly I agree with you on most points. However I am not sure that we are going to have to worry about the end of the century as the way things are going the world over, I wonder if the race will still be on the planet by then. As for converting from an oil based economy, I don't see any way as other nations are just now starting to use huge amounts of it and even if we could that would not stop the inevitable.

Ron

[Scott S]

$3.956 is the price I payed last week for non tax industrial diesel for nearly 1800 gallons.

I will believe in alternative fuels when I see plows pushed by the wind.

Drill now and often!

Scott S

[Ron61]

Scott,

I haven't seen any alternative fuel so far that I think will be able to replace oil and the electric power is also going to go away soon as we are running out here and have had brown outs for several years. Now a few generating plants are having to shut down generators because of low water and it warming the water so the dam fish die. They are cutting back supplies to farmers, so there won't be as much food. Shasta Lake is at its lowest for this time of year since 1972 and it will get much lower as the unusual heat wave has already melted what snow pack they had to where it is far less than needed. Back to the horse and buggy days.

Ron

[4RE KLR]

$4.69 for diesel, this is blinking rediculas!

$128.00 to fill up.

[392cobra]

Steve,
When we were at the Harley Dealer you were asking mpg....

My Road King averaged over 50 mpg over the 4,400 miles oo my Backroads Tour.Fast,slow,loaded down,unloaded.

[4RE KLR]

Yea I am think I need to get me a nice bike. I have wanted one for many years but just hadn't pulled the trigger. I do not want a small one.

I want one just exactly like Tom's (ERA600HP). I even like tat color. I just am not ready to shell out $35-39K for a bike.

[nevermind65]

Here's the killer in all this. While we are giving huge tax breaks to farmers for attempting to grow corn for ethanol, Brazil is growing sugar cane, which if I recall, gets about 2.5 times more ethanol per acre than corn and 8-10 times the energy. Our politicians are so beholden to the corn industry that we tax Brazilian ethanol at 54 cents a gallon, making it too expensive to import even though Brazil has a huge excess.

It wouldn't cure the problem of course, but it would make a hell of a dent in prices. They give tax breaks for Flexfuel cars, but you can't even find the stuff half of the time.

[392cobra]

I agree,this whole thing is an expensive joke.

I also have a problem with putting our food supply in our gas tanks.

[Ron61]

Fred,

Don't worry. With the cut backs in water and the less food we grow, our Govt. will be selling it to other countries to raise money for their big annual pay raises. I don't even look at the meat section any more when I go to the local market. They can't get the price on a piece and those bar codes can be changed from the time you get it and get to the counter. Last Friday I bought a few things and four of them they had to call and get the new price on as they had gone up since the code was stamped on them. And I ate all 6 of the baskets of strawberries that I bought from that woman. But they tasted great and were the size of golf balls. And she heaped the flat up until they were spilling over. I looked in the store at the cardboard tasting ones they have and the same amount would have cost me over $25. She charged me $10. More eating out in my future.

Ron

[bomelia]

Peak Oil News (learn about Hubbert Curve that Glynn was referring to)

Mike

[Ron61]

Mike,

That was an interesting post and I watched a show on TV about two months ago about Hubbert and his predictions and the way they discredited him. It seems to me that any person would know that there has to come a time when you are going to use more of a natural resource than can be replaced and once you pass the half way point it goes down on a faster scale as more and more countries start using more of that resource.

Ron

[J. T. Toad]

so much for the "republic" yay for democracy! (I wish there was a vomit smilie)

FOXNews.com - Bush Will Sign Bill Halting Strategic Oil Stockpile - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum


Well, as gas goes up look at the bright side; Gas has been too cheap for too long!
1) not nearly as many drivers - not as much smog (if you believe that is the cause)
2) Commuting becomes too expensive - less sprawl inner city (dilapidated) Real Estate values go up
3) Drive by shooting will decrease - or change to bike by shootings
4) More open freeways - better 'tracks' for the cobra
5) Vacation Destinations, return to vacation destinations
6) ever see Mad Max?
7) Public Transportation may finally turn a profit

8) consumerism... may get a "checking" from being allow to run amok for decades.

[Ron61]

Bill,

You mean like this?

Ron

[Joe Wicked]

I like this one better