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Musings on the Price of Gas | 65 comments (65 topical)

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Well then (5.00 / 2) (#10)
by facta non verba on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 12:11:58 PM EST
by that measure a pack of cigarettes (Marlboro) has kept up a gallon of gas in SF, both run about $4.00.

I work on peak oil. Oil is now at $115/barrel. At the beginning of the year, I predict it would hit $120 by June. Now my sense we will get close to $140 by year's end. You ain't seen nothing yet.

While the rising prices is a good thing in the long-run, in the short-term it will be painful.

I'd like to know (5.00 / 1) (#11)
by Dave B on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 12:16:12 PM EST
How is it good for low income and retired people.

My mom lives on social security and her utilities and gas now consume about half her income.

Those are the real victims.  There is no making the transition for them, they just get buried.  And so do the kids that have to try and keep them afloat.

[ Parent ]

the truth is (5.00 / 1) (#24)
by Jeralyn on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 12:36:49 PM EST
they better not live too long. Nursing homes (not assisted living) run $6 to $8k a month around here for room and board. Even long term care insurance benefits are just a drop in the bucket.

[ Parent ]
We'll go back to the good old days. (5.00 / 1) (#31)
by Fabian on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 12:51:25 PM EST
Those idyllic extended families?

They'll come back.  Adult kids living with their parents because it helps everyone afford a place to stay.  Grandma and Gramps living with their kids because it's a whole lot cheaper than living on their own.

Financial independence will be replaced with financial codependence.  Doing what you want, when you want to will become something only the rich can afford to do.  Organized sports?  Too expensive and who can afford the gas to run the kids back and forth!

I'll ask my mother how her family lived.  Might as well get used to going back to the future - or forwards to the past.

[ Parent ]

I remember it well... (5.00 / 2) (#35)
by oldpro on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 01:10:56 PM EST
My grandmother and my aunt (mother's divorced sister - what a scandel in those days!) lived with us until grandma died and aunty (finally) got married again.

The culture for our kids has changed so much that I doubt they would 'take in' their parents...values totally different...wants have become needs and sacrifice an unknown concept.

[ Parent ]

My sister and I (5.00 / 2) (#54)
by magisterludi on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:48:37 PM EST
have talked about combining our families and living together on my mothers land. There's plenty of room to build and have a very large garden. And we can have goats and chickens (my life-long dream)!

[ Parent ]
Becaue it will change how we think (5.00 / 2) (#38)
by dianem on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 01:17:50 PM EST
Right now, we have a "One person, one car" standard in the U.S.  Low and fixed income people have to live up to that standard, or they will be isolated from society. What happens when the car breaks down? Or when a person can't drive anymore? It is tragic. They can't function as full members of society. Thta is why we are seeing more indicences of people in their 80's and 90's getting into trouble driving. They don't want to give it up.  We have to change the rules. Better public tranportation, more senior independent living housing.  The rest of us need more flexible work hours, more telecommuting so that we can spend less time on the road and more actually working and living. This will also free us up to help out people in our neighborhoods who have mobility issues.

And they will benefit in more immediate ways. Higher fuel prices mean Fewer SUV's, more carpooling, less miles driven, which means cleaner air. This is a big issue in urban areas where many senior's live.  

[ Parent ]

It is good in the long-run (5.00 / 2) (#62)
by facta non verba on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 07:35:28 PM EST
not the short-term. It will be extremely painful. It already is. We had have food riots in Egypt, Haiti, India, Burma this year. This is all related.

The long-term is a twenty year or more horizon and frankly apart from Iceland, Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland and Cuba, the road off oil has not been broached.

To broach this subject in the US requires a political leadership that is wholly missing apart from a few on the margin. To not tackle the complex energy issues that confront is to sign our death warrants.

The fact is that we eat petroleum, it permeates every aspect of modern civilization. Without it, I could not send this message to you. We have peaked petroleum and while we can replace parts of it, for some uses there is no substitute. Our grandfathers produced 40 bushels of corn per acre. We can produce 200 bushels per acre because of petroleum based fertilizers and pesticides. When that's gone we will be able to feed maybe 3 billion people, other estimates are in the range of a billion to two. How we get there will matter thus I say those who come after us will curse us.

[ Parent ]

cigarettes are 4 bucks?!! (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by nycstray on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 12:25:45 PM EST
They are $7.50 min in NYC. We match you on gas prices though.

[ Parent ]
and it's gonna go up (none / 0) (#21)
by stillife on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 12:33:13 PM EST
a buck a pack, I heard.

[ Parent ]
I thought I heard something about (none / 0) (#25)
by nycstray on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 12:39:10 PM EST
that. Didn't catch the reason though, I was too busy crying over the price of milk and eggs!

[ Parent ]
Up more than a buck (none / 0) (#34)
by RTwilight on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 01:01:46 PM EST
now the highest cig taxes in the US...the stated reasons where all the same...and as usual they don't mention that it is a tax that disproportionatly hits the poor.

[ Parent ]
Yep.... (none / 0) (#64)
by kdog on Sun Apr 20, 2008 at 11:17:13 AM EST
the old "for your won good" tax.  I love Big Brother:)

I've got half a mind to quit my job, rent a U-Haul, and drive to Virginia for 20 dolla cartons you could flip for 40 in a heartbeat.  Even with the price of gas you could make a killng.

[ Parent ]

One of the many reasons (none / 0) (#29)
by andgarden on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 12:48:31 PM EST
I'm glad I don't smoke.

[ Parent ]
It's hard to quit, though (5.00 / 2) (#40)
by dianem on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 01:19:30 PM EST
I can't be too smug about the fact that I don't smoke, because I used to, and I know how hard it is to quit. Some people can do it easily, but others truly suffer and some even have long term issues as a result of quitting.

[ Parent ]
NYState now offers assitance to help people (none / 0) (#45)
by jawbone on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:14:03 PM EST
who have tried to quit and can't...guess it takes some measure of trying to cold turkey it...but they now help people get prescription assistance to quit. 800 number, etc.

Have had a series of ads which are very hard hitting.  They guy with smoking related throat cancer who lost his voice box and using one of those speaking aids sticks with me.  He must be very careful around water, since water getting into the opening in his throat could cause him to drown.

One scene has him watching people swimming on a hot day and talking about how swimming was his favorite thing to do. And he cannot swim now.

I may have details slightly off, but it does really stick with me.

Another one has a smoker saying he/she wanted to quit, but was dying for a smoke and couldn't give it up. Next scene is the doc looking at the images of the person's cancer, saying he wanted so much to operate but the cancer was too advanced.

[ Parent ]

It's not about prescriptions or ads (none / 0) (#49)
by dianem on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:28:08 PM EST
People who smoke know that it's dangerous, and if they can afford cigarettes they can afford quit smoking aids. Even with all of that it can be incredibly difficult to quit. It's a serious addiction. As bad a heroin. Some say worse. I don't want to go into details of what happened to me when I quit, but let's just say that it changed my life in ways that were good and in other ways that were not good at all. Please don't judge smoker's who don't quite too harshly.

[ Parent ]
Believe me, I don't judge them harshly! (5.00 / 1) (#53)
by jawbone on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:46:11 PM EST
And I have great respect for people who quit. I also know it's harder for (many) women to quit than for (most) men.

My father quit overnight. I was so glad bcz I hated the smell of smoke in the car.  I would try to not breathe bcz I didn't want to hurt him by telling him it bothered me.

When I tried to smoke, to be sophisticated, I literally couldn't.

I also understand why Bill Clinton, someone with allergies, could say he didn't inhale! It was along time before I could inhale, even a bit, without a prolonged coughing fit. Talk about harshing a buzz.

[ Parent ]

Musings on the Price of Gas | 65 comments (65 topical)

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