So gas just hit $3.99 a gallon here.....

Yup, until it gets over $5 a gallon, the actual price is more physiological than anything.

Sure, the gas station attendant in 1970 use to tell my Mom that she must have come in on fumes, we got $5.00 in her 1966 Imperial... but then again, she had the "good" job in the family, at $2.10 and hour, Dad was making $1.85/hr at the time. When he graduated tech school and became an apprentice electrician, that put us solidly in the middle class.

We are just trading more paper for that same gallon of gas.

Now, real estate prices on the other hand.. that's nuts. I have no idea how you folks on the coasts can survive with those prices.


JW

 

Hey, thanks for the good laugh. It works better than bleach. You should try it on tires. Not only is it good in the gas tank it’s good to use for burn outs also.

 

Codman, you’re just like the Climate crisis people, you cherry-pick data to fit your narrative. Showing me data from pre 2000.
So to add context to the other side of that coin because recent history is much more relevant, I was paying $1.69 in 2018-2019 and then it went to $4.89 plus in 2020 and currently at $4.69. My income has not increased at anything over 5%. Now that’s relevant IMO.

Add to that Oil companies report record
Profits the last 3 years and during the same reasonable gas price years of 2018-19 the US was energy independent, since 2020 we are again Oil dependent and produce none, this is in a country with the Worlds largest Oil reserves.

Also the average household taxes and living expenses have increased dramatically leaving little room for double and triple fuel costs. Over 75% of every dollar made goes to Taxes in one form another, whereas back in 1962 it was only 26%. Tough to swallow that statistic.

 

I think 2manybuicks post 38 pretty well vindicates my position. There is no "cherry picking". We are comparing the real price of gasoline in constant dollars. It is entirely possible that your family income hasn't kept up with inflation, and if that's the case I am sorry; but what we are speaking of has nothing to do with an individual's income, it has everything to do with the overall decline in the value of a dollar. In my case when I retired in 2008 I was making 15 times as much as I earned in 1962. Even living on retirement income, I am way better off then I was in 1962.
BTW: I don't challenge the tax burden figures that you posted, STAGE, but I couldn't find any total tax burden numbers; I'm wondering what is your source?

 

It’s easy to get there
Food and items you buy 9% daily
Fed income tax 20-30 %
State income tax 8%
Gas tax 26% avg.
Then there’s taxes on Cable TV, electrical, water, natural gas, insurance etc… %?
then in my state as in others Property tax 4 %
The list goes on and on easily reaching into that area. When I find the article I will share it.

 

Sources can be incorrect so it is really hard to pin down what is real and correct and what has been cooked up to feed to the masses.....i just see it in the kids i work with....they got no extra money for luxuries or discretionary spending. When i was their age i remember putting myself thru tech school and having money to live on and still being able to go out to the bars on the weekends and go skiing and such......but i did only go half days year around and work every day at the first Meijer's Thrifty Acres in Grand Rapids and i always had one or two side jobs.Heck....i even built the first version of TOPCAT during that time.....had it painted and had a motor built by Baker Engineered Racing engines in Grand Rapids.....i never remember having $$ worries.....i am really amazed i was able to do all that.....but i worked a lot harder than i see kids working today.....and i also did a heck of a lot cruising in TOPCAT

Peace WildBill

 

I’ll not bother to argue the point much more Codman, if you think your better off since 2020 then your in the lower percentile,but again it’s understandable being the Stock Market has doubled since you retired in 2008 so your investments and 401 is worth a lot more now, but the majority of America knows different every trip to the gas station and grocery store, when the tax bill comes on our homesand when we write the bills each month. Thing have increased 25-30% and wages only about 5%. It’s easy math really, and a daily commodity like fuel squeezes us hard when it costs twice as much since 2019.

 

Couple years ago I remember for some reason I bitched about 4 bags of groceries for 75$.. Why I bitched I don't know. just did... Two days ago 75$ one bag.......
Yep Codman's math is way off....

 

In 1975 I was making about 110.00/week at my full time job and about $20.00/week at my part time one. The part time job helped pay for the Mach 1's gas. Filling with 100 octane premium at $0.599/gallon cost around $10.00. Then prices went up a whole 5 cents per gallon!! We were stunned at such audacity.. In 1976 my full time job was reclassified, and my gross wage nearly doubled. Net was another story...

In my final year of working full time I was grossing around $1250.00/week. Local gas prices averaged $1.00/litre, or $4.54/Imperial gallon throughout the year. Filling my Navigator seldom cost more than $75.00. We probably bitched and whined about that.

Local gas prices have risen from $0.957 in December 2020 to $1.65/litre today.

I seldom worry as it's a waste of good oxygen to bitch and moan about it. I simply drive less.

At least home prices here remain relatively affordable. Closest sea coast is about 800 miles away, but you'll compete with polar bears for beach front. No hurricanes or earthquakes here either. Winters can suck though......

 

Gas prices in New Zealand have gone up yet again, 98 octane, which I use in my V8s, is now over $3.45 a litre, that is around $13.10 a gallon.

We are being well and truly shafted.

 

Maybe someone can post a pain at the pump chart?
The pain threshold, which no one can argue with, is well above the norm.
Not too many of us were driving cars in the teens and twenties.
Eighties and Nineties.. plenty of us.
Based on the"chart" it was quite affordable.
Couple years ago it was affordable for a good stretch of time, too.

"Well and truly shafted", as the gent above aptly states.

 

Actual US household income is down over nine percent since 2020 (this accounting for the effect of devaluing of the bucks in yer pocket). In the meantime US credit card debt topped one trillion dollars for the first time, ever. Source: Tom Sullivan radio show. A gallon of gas was thirty cents in 1964 - this trend started a long time ago.

 

I can attest to the costs as many of us can I’m sure.
I get paid every two weeks, it used to be weekly, it’s similar money wise as my last job but the every two weeks is bullshit.
Big lump sum every two weeks great! But I’m scraping by the second week..
I’d rather have 50% every week than 100% every two weeks, the timing is HORRIBLE!

 

It seems like NOW more and more people are paying attention to some of the obvious '' no need / created issues''. What are we going to do about it ????

 

Thanks Tom. Our next destination is Edmonton to meet my boys and Tess (Daughter-in-law) for a week of the mall, Fort Edmonton, Valley Zoo and hopefully, rest for us old geezers.

 

Ouch. I couldn't afford a drive around the block at that price.

 

His prices are in NZ$, that's US$ 6.73 for 1 US gallon.
So that's not even that bad compared with other places in the world.



Petrol is 2.07 Euro a litre in The Netherlands, that's US$ 2.26 a litre.

1 US gallon = 3.785 litre.

3.875 x 2.26 = US$ 8.55 for 1 US gallon...

Prices in this chart are from July 24th:

 

I think you have your dates or information wrong. In 2018-19, gas was not $1.69. It was closer to $3. It was when Covid hit and everything shut down, in 2020 that gas went way under $2. Oil company's couldn't give it away. They had freighters full of oil sitting offshore with nowhere offload it to. As to the higher gas prices in the last two to three weeks, remember back in May or June Saudi Arabia? said that in July or August, they were cutting 1 million barrels a day and other OPEC countries were going to cut production also.

 

It was $1.69 19-20 in Missouri. Went over $5.00 2021. Nitpick if you want, you get my point, because we stopped producing and became OPEC bitches again.

 

Very interesting.