Question about Gas prices?

Question

Does anyone else remember in the 1990's when Gas prices were a lot lower, But for those of us who lived paycheck to paycheck how hard it was to come up with $5.00 to put in your tank? But now the Gas prices are outrageous, yet it's nothing to whip out your bank card and fill up? Now $5.00 is nothing to scrape up... But $5.00 in my tank won't get me down the street... I'd say now it's hard to scrape up $30.00 to put in my tank.... But I still manage to do it. where as in the 90's I sometimes couldn't do that with $5.00...

Please refrain from the nasty comments.. This isn't a politically motivated question, just curious if anyone else has noticed this? I am not attacking Democrats or Republicans here.. Just give me your opinion.

K S : Yes I have paid attention to the APR on gas credit cards and just regular credit cards, But I never use them.. Matter of fact don't have any!! I use my Bank Debit card, NO APR on that.

Kevin P: .60 a gallon... WOW!!! I've never paid under $1.05 per gallon before.. But then again I didn't start driving until the early 90's

Answer 1

I can remember when gas was .60 a gallon. As long as we pay it it will stay these prices.

Answer 2

I can beat .60 a gallon. Back in the 60's when I was a young bride, we were paying 37 cents and when I was a teener in the 50's with my first beat up Ford car, we could by gas for .17 a gallon - and you got a free place setting of dishes with a fill-up!!!

Of course, this was before the 70's when the government found out what a cash cow gasoline was and started adding taxes.

You know, we don't have to put up with it - nor do we have to put up with high credit card rates. It could all change in a month if we, the people, would excercise a little self control... Don't use your credit cards at all for a month. Watch those rates start coming down...Then, only use your card for instances when that's all you can use.. Instead, choose cash or lay-away. Use some self-control with your driving and find ways to cut down on your miles so you don't have to buy gas so often. Make one day a week a "consumer day" when NOBODY buys gas that day - no one except emergency vehicles. If you are about to buy a car, don't buy an SUV or gas eater....buy a nice sedan for your family and one that gets at least 25 MPG city. If you are a single, buy a small 4 cylinder for transportation; find another way to feed your ego...like putting some money in a savings account instead.

We are a consumer driven society. What we stop consuming starts dropping in price to intice us back.

Answer 3

I can remember 23 cents a gallon in the early 70's, but then again the price of a high end car was less than 5,000. Even the price of a Rolls was less than 20,000. The only reason I'm saying squat about the high end cars is to ask the question. Why has gas stayed so cheap for so long? Answer sellable spin-off benefits! Much of the items that were previous waste products are now sellable.

If we ever hope to make Renewable Energy economically viable the design of the utility will have to create sellable spin-off benefits to subsidize the cost of the new infrastructure!

Answer 4

No, it won't come down. Opec and big oil will create excuses to keep it up. And it is to cents on the DOLLAR profit, not the gallon. If it were on the gallon then you would have me believe that record profits are recorded with gas at 3.00 because we are using more than at 2.00? BS. And it not supply and demand. Same reason. The world is not using more at 3.00 than at 2.00. That is crap. A switch was not flipped basically over night doubling usage. All you rich people making money off of Exxon stock can say all you want. It is gouging. Period. If not, why did the Democrats in congress try to pass legislation to investigate and fine OPEC and big oil? Of course the Republicans shot that down very quickly.

Answer 5

You are obviously very young. I am not THAT OLD, yet I can recall as a child when gasoline was 32 cents a gallon and people used to drive around to look for a better price!

Here's something to ponder. Back in the 1960s, when gasoline was as cheap as I just mentioned, automobiles got lousy gas mileage. MOST cars had 20+ gallon fuel tanks and got about 12 MPG. No kidding!

Now think about it, even though we had fewer people in the USA, we were still using gasoline at relatively high levels. I like numbers, so let's run some numbers:

MPG in 1967 is 12 miles

MPG in 2007 is 36 miles

I think these are normal numbers for normal cars in their time. (I presently own a "large" Oldsmobile that gets 30 MPG hiway.) Of course, if you are driving a large SUV or truck, then you are getting lower miles per gallon.

Now, get this! In 1967 we reached a milestone in the USA. That was the year that our population reached 200 million people. In 2006 (let's say 2007 just for kicks) we reached another milestone with a population of 300 million people.

Now think about something. If the fuel efficiency of our automobiles has gone up by a factor of 3 and the population has only risen by a factor of 0.33, why are people saying that we are using more gasoline today for our vehicles?

Look at my logic here. If the DAILY commute to work is 20 miles each way, that is 40 miles per day, or 200 miles per week.

If in 1967 a car we getting 12 miles per gallon (MPG), then the car in question would need 16.7 gallons of gas a week for the commute too and from work. (200 / 12 = 16.7)

If in 2007 a car is getting 36 miles per gallon (MPG), then the same 200 miles of driving too and from work will use 5.6 gallons of gasoline. That is a reduction of 11.1 gallons per person from 1967 levels.

Now then, since the population grew by 100 million people. Let's do the math for an AVERAGE of gasoline consumed per person in the USA. We are going to make some assumptions that are incorrect, such as... everyone drives a car. This is wrong, since some people in the population are under 16 and can not operate a motor vehicle, while others simply do not drive, but take public transportation or simply get around by other means. But, just to run the numbers, we will assume that everyone drives.

1967 population of 200 million people, and ASSUMING everyone drives, that means they use an average of 16.7 gallons of fuel for their weekly commute to and from work. 200,000,000 * 16.7 = 3,340,000,000 gallons of fuel used per week for commuting by the entire population of the USA in 1967.

2007 population of 300 million people, and ASSUMING that everyone drives, consuming 5.6 gallons of fuel per week on their commute. 300,000,000 * 5.6 = 1,680,000,000 gallons of fuel used per week for commuting by the ENTIRE LARGER 2007 population of the USA in 2007.

Now, look at those numbers. What I am saying is that because of the improved fuel economy in modern cars, we should actually be using one-half as much fuel as we were using in 1967.

Now, someone tell me why the oil companies are raising prices because of so-called increased demand? The numbers don't foot.

Answer 6

Yes I do.We need to start demonstrations,at
places where television stations are.They always
show demonstrations on local and world television
if there are plenty of demonstraters.It worked in the 80's . It can work again.Plus write e-mails
to your senators and congressman of your state.

Answer 7

This is all coming down to a choice, the choice of doing a sacrifice to keep your standard of living... Such living standard is not built in concrete, and with the globalization going on, Americans and most westerners will need to make much more sacrifice! Now it is petrol, and next year, its price may even double again, but in 10 or more years, it will be our fresh water... Now this will be rock & Roll, as who wants to sell its fresh water to the other side of the world... So you can guess, they will not ask us our opinions as money talks...

Answer 8

It is very hard..I know,my mom has to do this and she is on a budget and can't spend that much money..It's ridculous if you ask me..We always have to put fifteen in the tank or five(depending on where the needle is) the tank hasn't been full in a while

Answer 9

I remember paying 1.00 and driving around all nite....the wages were less, and the cars were heavier....oh yeah at least one person came out to wash the window and check the oil, and last but not least my Father bitching because gas was getting so expensive, how could a working man survive...I think his smokes were about 50 cents and he was not happy about that increase either.

Answer 10

No attacks here, have you or anyone else payed attention to the APR rates charged on gas credit cards ? 23.24%, poor oil companies, don't know how they manage do you ?