Europeans: Can you believe Americans have the nerve to complain about petrol prices?

Question

They pay about 80 cents per litre. Thats 43 pence or 63 eurocents. It's absolutely shocking when you can pay 1 pound per litre in the UK. I hope Americans are reading this too and realising quite how insane you are to complain.

Just fyi. I'm not jealous. I'm glad we pay so much. Most of the cost of the petrol here is tax, tax that goes to pay for healthcare for everyone and an education system that turns out people with brains and critical thinking, instead of the crap that I see on this website. I'm also glad it costs so much because we Europeans actually care about the environment and are not blind to global warming.

Answer 1

I do not complain. I may not like it, but I deal with it. I worked for many years in a gas station and always had to laugh at the people that would b**ch about paying 2.00 a gallon for gas but never said a word about the 1.49 they just paid for a quart of WATER! Which falls from the sky for free.

The next time you cringe at the price for gas remember it does not come free. It must be puled from the ground by people who work under dangerous conditions at times, them refined to make it into Gas and shipped all over in huge trucks that if were ever to go out of control would be like drivind a huge bomb on wheels. And some of those workers get paid less than those who complain about the price!

Supply and demand have to come into play somewhere. We here in America drive more big SUV's and trucks than almost anywhere else in the world. The energy crunch in the 70's taught us to drive more economical cars and that's where Japan's export bussiness went way up. But we have become lax nowdays and most 20 - 30 year olds don't remember or weren't even born during that time so they don't remember the "out of gas" signs at the stations or the long lines at the stations that had gas.

Some estimates say we have already used 1/3 to 1/2 of the entire earth's oil supply since it's discovery. And we are using it a heck of alot faster these days so if we do not slow it down we will run out and it took millions of years to create the oil we do have.

Answer 2

If you take a look at the economic history of the United States and figure in the traditional rates of fuel cost, then of course people are going to complain. Americans aren't used spending a lot to get around by car- that's why the public transportation sucks; it has been, until very recently, easier and more affordable to travel by auto.
As far as critical thinking goes, I'm glad to see that you can take a break from your tea drinking to criticize Americans and contribute to this site, rather than actually doing something to get your poser PM off GW's lap. I'm so tired of pompous Brits criticizing the U.S because obviously, when it comes down to it, there are powerful, rich bastards in your country who have supported every single mistake the US has made in the last 5 years. Stop slinging around your washboard generalizations and take a look at the fact the Bush hardly won office by 1% in both elections. Not all Americans support him, not all Americans complain about fuel prices and not all Americans smite the environment. By the way, I've spent plenty of time traveling in the UK and Europe, and I can assure you that geographical location has absolutely nothing to do with the population ratio of uneducated, slack-slack-jawed, imbeciles; one word: Liverpool.

Answer 3

It's unfortunate that the majority of US urban development has evolved to suit car driving.

When the gas availability eventually dries up, the US lifestyle is woefully inappropriate to cope; people live in spread out communities with long distances to work, school, shopping etc.

Alternative fuel cars will evolve. But you can bet your bottom dollar they won't offer the same level of cost-effectiveness as gas.

Americans may not be complaining about the gas prices now. They may complain when they have to sit on a bus along with everyone else. (That's if there is fuel for a bus?).

Answer 4

You're making the mistake that unfortunately too many make - attributing a media report to the general populous. Just because gas prices are in our news all the time doesn't mean we all feel that way. I'm personally not concerned with gas prices because I understand the situation pretty well - prices are still historically pretty low when adjusting for inflation. It's most American's own fault that gas prices shot up so high because SUVs became fashion statements.

Answer 5

Take this into consideration. We are currently paying anywhere from $2.75-3.50 for one gallon of gas. I am only 19 years old, and when I first got my driving permit, I was paying $1.75-2.25 for a gallon of gas. The prices have risen so steeply in the past couple of years. We have every right to complain. The prices went up, the cost of living has gone up, but wages have stayed the same. Some people just can't afford it.

Answer 6

Oh, I'm Usanian and I totally agree. My country is whiny and wasteful.
We needed this "energy crisis" for our auto maker and consumers to wake up and smell the roses- and become more environmentally friendly anyway- like we should have been doing all along if we ACTUALLY cared about the environment...
I have told my husband numerous times it's good that gas prices are up "so high". Even though it costs a lot more than it used to for us personally, our society and industry needed it.
Glad you brought this up.
-Meg

Answer 7

Hey, I'm American, and I don't complain. I know very, very well that we still pay for cheap gas.
It's amazing that Americans spend money on a bunch of useless crap (or rubbish, as you would say) and complain about the gas.
Believe it or not, there are reasonable people among us across the pond.

Answer 8

The thing is that it is all relative. Americans are very used to having cars and very used to paying lower prices. I have a cousin in South America -- in Uruguay -- as far south as you can get almost. She has told me that they have always paid about twice what we pay! We're still going to complain because we CAN!!! God bless America!

Answer 9

Sounds to me as though Europeans should be complaining even more. How are you ever going to make things better if you just go along with everything?

Answer 10

How much does a couple of hundreds of millions of years of making the crude oil really cost. Its a process that cannot be replicated in a lab.