When will gas hit $3.00 again, and how high will it go?

+1

yea ... folks in Asia & the EU haven't seen sub $3 gas for many years. Many areas in CA are also still above $3. If fuel wasn't subsidized by the Feds the way it is, WE'D ALL have much higher prices too. Yea ... who'd want the cost of our massive military figured into gas prices. Gee ... wouldn't that be a shame ... we as a nation - we would have to build a massive / working public transit system like other countries, if our gas wasn't subsidized. And that's crazy talk.



.

 

Yes sorry

 

I paid $2.89 this morning. Can't wait until it hits $4. I can afford $10 per gal driving the prius. I can't wait to see the big hogs off the road.

 

You must be nuts wishing for higher gas prices, it wont just be the cost of driving a car that wil change dramatically with high gas prices. $10 a gallon I really don't think you would like the results if you got your wish.

Think about what we just went thru the last 18 months, $10 a gallon gas would have a similar impact if not worse given the current fragile nature of the economy. Even $4 a gallon would be real bad right now given the weakness of the current recovery. Even $4 a gallon will have a renewed negative impact on the currently bleak employment situation.

I submit to you $10 a gallon gas would for example drive up your cost to eat significantly. Would you like $7 a gallon milk and $6 a loaf bread prices and $10 a pound hamburger to go with your $10 a gallon gas?

 

Seeing the simple minded gas hog drivers off the road is well worth the cost. I am in favor of legislating higher prices for gas in the form of a tax that would benefit the people that innovate and buy the innovations that get us off of foreign oil. I would be in favor of a law that would prevent oil importation. In fact I would support building a wall around the country in the form of tariffs levied on countries that do not meet our environmental laws and our worker safety standards.

 

What part of Ohio are you from mindmachine?

 

I don't like the gas hogs either but there are more common sense solutions than those you suggest. I understand your mindset now though. There are however other ways to get the gas hogs off the road other than inflating everything else for those that don't drive them.

I think your going to get your wish though and its going to be a double whammy, Obama is working on getting a carbon tax which will push up the tax on gas as well as the cost of almost everything and the price of commodities are already increasing on the prospects that the economy is recovering. Of course all of that is going to be highly inflationary and the recovery may peter-out. But i suspect the tax will be in place first and we will be stuck with it along with higher yet unemployment numbers because spendable income will drop along with employment numbers. Of course we will also be paying more to keep warm, light our houses, cook our food, ect, ect....

I live in central Ohio where the price of gas is now $2.75.

 

My idea of a tariff would solve the job/economy problem very quickly. China and others would not comply with our regs and soon we would be working again manufacturing. As Pat Buchanan has said “free trade will be the death of America.”

 

No one credible is proposing an increase in federal gas tax or a surcharge on high-mileage drivers. A carbon tax is equally unlikely. The President has expressed his support of a cap-and-trade system, which has passed the House but has stalled in the Senate. Even if it was passed and signed today, it wouldn't start until 2012.

 

Well I like Pat Buchanan and I would vote for him, I agree with a lot of his philosophy, but the big problem now is we have gone way too far down the road of a global free trade economy. Also whats is worse is our national debt is owned mostly by foreign powers like China which is one of the biggest holders. if they stop supporting our debt the dollar is going to crash big time and your idea is not going to work but would actually bring about an even bigger problem. Don't get me wrong i feel a lot the way you do, but the solution is very complex and years of mistakes have put our country between a rock and a hard spot, and i do mean big time a lot bigger then most of us average Americans can possibly imagine.

I don't claim to know the answer, but i do believe the problem is complex and very big. A soft landing seems nigh on to impossible to me.

 

snopes.com: A Tale of Two Houses

 

For the sake of the world economy. I hope gas prices never spike again like they did a year and a half ago.

You folks do realize gas prices influence more than making people switch to smaller vehicles dont you?

After reading some of the posts in this thread Im gonna say no.

When fuel prices rise costs of everything else rise along with it. Food costs skyrocket. Prices of goods skyrocket. Among many other things.

The rise in fuel prices a year and a half ago nearly bankrupted the farming and shipping industries.

The Fannie/Freddie issues and the spike in fuel prices at the same time are the reason the world is in the current economic mess.

Liberals cant see beyond the end of their damn noses

 

The world economy simply cannot handle another spike in fuel prices here like we had previously. It would be the worst possible thing that could happen at this point

 

Then isn't it fair to say this type of thing will cause the shipping companies to find cheaper alternatives? Maybe they will start looking into shipping with natural-gas powered trucks, or electric vehicles, or hybrids. The point is, whichever shipping company can figure out a way to reduce the cost by moving away from gasoline/diesel, will survive.

I definitely support an increase in the price of gas. BUT - I think we need to find that sweet spot where it is just high enough make alternate energy more attractive to consumers and businesses, but not so high as to put people out of business and destroy the economy. I think that sweet spot is probably somewhere in that area between $3 and $4 per gallon national average. So I expect we'll be at that spot again not too long from now. Fortunately, the gas prices of a year ago were a wake-up call to the auto-industry and the government to get their butts moving on alternate energy and fuel-efficient cars. So when the next big wave of high fuel prices arrive, we'll be better prepared and some companies will benefit greatly from their planning.

 

Anything much higher than $3 will bankrupt the US farming industry and shipping industries. I dont know about you. But prices of food and goods were insane when it happened last time. And a finally starting to come back down

As to your argument about shipping alternatives. At this point the railroad is the only viable alternative we have. And it is used widely.

Electric trucks LOL we are a long way away from that ever being practical. Hybrid trucks would be great I agree. But the battery and drive technology thats practical doesnt exist and most likely wont until battery technology improves immensely.

Not to mention the technology is cost prohibitive at this point

 

I guess all those hybrid buses I see are just illusions, then?

The technology exists. Volvo makes a hybrid truck.

 

Gas has already hit $3 in the SD area. I am not petty or stupid enough to wish for higher gas prices. These will be such a huge negative impact on our economy, shipping, UPS, groceries, mass transit and infrastructures will all falter. Small businessmen like contractors, plumbers and local movers. There a lot of folks with older vehicle that simply cannot afford a more fuel efficient vehicle and will end up being unable to afford gas for the vehicle they have, can't get to work, lose job lose homes.......

Gas prices and the economy is not a simple thing, there are too many what ifs.

 

Hybrid buses are one thing. They dont have to be able to handle nearly the load of a class 8 truck.

As to the volvo hybrid truck. You do realize its only in concept stages right not dont you? The only fuel savings would be essentially at idle. Truckers dont spend much time idling these days. They cant afford to

 

You asserted that hybrid heavy-duty vehicles don't exist and are impossible to manufacture. The point of my post was to point out that they do exist.

There is plenty of hauling in this country that is carried out using lower weight rating vehicles.

 

Interesting that you chose *my* post to quote. Hope you're not lumping me in with all those liberals you mentioned in your last line.



Chuck