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Comments
If you do the math, he spends approximately 80 times what I do on fuel per year. Slightly exaggerated for emphasis. ;-)
The feds are too chicken to let fuel costs increase naturally and force people into more efficient vehicles. Remember last time, they repealed the 5 cent gas tax when prices spiked?
-juice
cheers Pat.
For instance, here in San Diego county (in southern-most California), about $0.36 of that $2.10/gal that Steve mentioned are taxes (federal, state and local) taxes.
Seems to me to be comparing apples and oranges if the taxes aren't taken into account when comparing gas prices. Of course, the higher numbers make for better headlines.
--- Lowell
Gas tax in MD is a little higher than DC but a lot higher than VA. So even in high-rent districts in VA, gas is cheaper.
-juice
Differing gas taxes would be interesting. Might they also vary by county, considering the differences even within the state of California?
I'll wander through google and try to find a reference - gives me a project for the weekend.
Steve
Coming from a poor 3rd world country, I gotta admit, I can clearly see where tax dollars go.
Look around, the parks are beautiful, the Smithsonian is free (we were just talking about that), and police are there when you need protection. Public schools are great, at least around here.
Let's not take those things for granted. In Brazil we don't really have any of those 4 things.
My brother is a Federal Judge and has to drive a Civic to avoid flaunting his wealth for fear of his kids being kidnapped for ransom. Police? LOL, they probably help arrange it.
They pay for private schools, parks are polluted and trashed, not all roads are paved, the water isn't safe to drink, and an open-air canal flows with sewage.
He earns triple what I make with a favorable exhange rate, yet I'd argue we have a better quality of life. OK, except the climate! :-)
God Bless America.
</rant off>
-juice
Which part of San Diego county do you call home, Steve? I live in Chula Vista and work in La Jolla.
--- Lowell
Saw my first 2 buck-a-gallon gas here yesterday... $2.039 for 92 octane @ Tesoro. Diesel at Texaco was $1.999, and I ought to know, since I bought 10 gallons worth - driving a loaned 20,000 pound truck around all weekend as Transportation Chair for school auction.
My fantasy: gas prices stay high just long enough for us to get a boffo deal on a Suburban, then go back down. My timing will probably be off, but eventually, I still believe the price will fall.
Cheers!
Paul
FWIW, I'd like for God to bless everybody, please. I have yet to meet anyone who couldn't use some.
Taxes and stuff... Well, here's a topic nobody ever gets worked up about...
As far as taxes and price comparisons go, it's not enough to remove the taxes from the retail price, is it ? I think we'd have to somehow figure out what those taxes are going towards - a daunting challenge.
No one likes to pay taxes, and some folks seem philosophically opposed to any tax - personally, I see them as a necessary evil. I think if more people could see what they were paying for, there'd be less grumbling about it.
When we lived and worked overseas, we payed outrageous taxes by American standards. On the other hand, there was next to no crime, the streets had no potholes (really, I never once saw a pothole in 5 years), the education system offered uniform access to quality instruction, health care was affordable and accessible to everybody, and your retirement was reasonably secure. Not a perfect world - unemployment was higher there, and it was harder to start your own business, but they were willing to make those trade-offs.
Most of the folks who've asked me about living overseas have asked about the taxes we payed, implying how bad it was over there. They seemed to think that we payed incredibly high taxes while receiving nothing in return. I had to point out the benefits in order for them to get the whole picture.
To bring this around and back on topic, I'm not sure what comparing prices less taxes will actually tell us.
-brianV
Graph of retail prices in California (look at that slope!):
http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/graphs/retail_graph.html
Breakdown of margins for retail gas in CA (scroll down for Feb 03 data):
http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/margins/index.html
Snapshot of gas prices across US:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/wrgp/m- ogas_home_page.html
Gov. Gray Davis announced that he's going to lead an investigation on why CA gas prices are so high. He noted that whenever there is a Congressional investigation, gas prices tend to taper down. Hmmmm....
Ken
When the crunch hit all of these items plus extracurricular activities (band, academic superbowl and SPORTS) were announced as cuts for next year. You'd think the board and committee had just committed murder. Local community is awake now and is talking. Will they vote to get their BB ball and F ball back? Only time will tell...
It is frustrating that so many ways can be found to waste taxes. This brings on the perpetual cries to lower taxes. The same politicians who lower them then pork barrel it for themselves. Case in point here is an Interstate we don't need. I'm in a very small minority here because I'm against it. We have a 4 lane US Highway (US41) that connects to I 70 to Indianapolis. If it were upgraded to an interstate all estimates have it cheaper than putting in a direct route. The direct one would tear up land (some of it Amish farms) and only reduce the distance by less than 10 miles. Yet to everyone here the more affordable and less environmentally damanging route is unacceptable.
We can't win.
TWRX
-brianV
That's better Brian, sorry if I mis-read you.
-juice
Gas taxes - I come from an economics background, so I'm all for pay-for-use type taxation. I think they should directly tie auto use costs with the amount of the various related resources consumed. Pollution, road wear, etc all can be directly related to vehicles and their efficiency, and that can be expressed by the amount of fuel they use. Hence, price and pay for the resources used through gas taxes. Of course, this also assumes that they fairly relieve income taxes of those responsibilities, as someone above mentioned. Fat chance of that.
Randy
Also, while VA has cheaper tax on gas, they have a car property tax. It's a pain and they're trying to phase it out. Watch, I bet they have to tax the gas more to make up for the lost revenue!
-juice
-brianV
TWRX
The Miata is like an ant next to some of these enormous elephants nowadays.
It'll also reduce OPEC's power in the long run to have a more efficient fleet.
-juice
-brianV
bit
Taxes, I am not opposed to taxes I agree that they are a necessary evil, what I am opposed is the misuse of taxes and we all know that is rampant everywhere.
As an example our federal government decided to have gun registry, (and before anybody goes on a rant about registering guns or not forget it this is not what this example is about)the cost of the program was to be $2,000,000 CDN, it is now over a $Billion and no end in sight and now some politicians are running their mouths and saying it is a bargain.
Another example, our military is now one of the worst equipped in the world no money for equipment, but the top brass in the military along with some politicians want to spend a billion dollars for a new headquarters, thats tax dollars at work in those two examples.
I am saying again I am not opposed to paying taxes, but I am defintely opposed to paying taxes to be used in this way, and BTW, these two examples are just the tip of the iceberg.
Cheers Pat
On almost every product we purchase in B.C., a 7.5% sales tax and a 7% goods and services tax is added to the cost. The goods and services tax also applies to all services such as the cost of your plumber, mechanic, carpet cleaner etc.
It is now estimated that we work until the late June or early July before you reach tax freedom day. In other words, the first six months you work just pay for the taxes.
A case of beer is $20.00, the same cost as a 750 mil size bottle of vodka. This is all taxes of course and if you smoke, well don't even go there. The "average" cost of a home in Victoria is a quarter of a million.
But would I move, not a chance!
Cheers,
Tom
-mike
Ed
The bottled water in Brazil is the best in the world, remember the Amazon is right there. Try "Indaia" and you'll agree. Use it even to brush your teeth.
The private schools are good. Actually schools in Sao Paulo are much better than the ones in Recife.
That canal I described is also in Recife, I believe sanitation is much better in more developed cities like Rio and Sao Paulo.
I think if you go on business, the people you visit will steer you clear of the dangerous neighborhoods. It's the same way in DC, I wouln't take you on a tour of South East, the murder capital of the US.
BTW, there is a really good documentary about organized crime in a "favela", i.e. slum, in Brazil, I forget the name but it's highly acclaimed.
-juice
Gas in the NYC area is around $1.79 for regular, and $1.99 for premium.
Mark
this is an incorrect suspicion.
enron and others did manipulate the california energy market, but they were only able to do so because of the way the unbelievably stupid way the market was setup. google up some articles and learn just how much of that mess was california's own doing.
other commodity markets cannot be manipulated in such a way, especially not those run by the FTC and SEC. the gasoline prices you are seeing now are completely the result of the price of crude oil and the fact that foolish over-regulation has created a market for well over 100 consumer blends of gasoline in the US.
remember the ungodly high prices in chicago a year and a half ago? caused by their own regulation creating a "chicago market blend" where only certainly suppliers could deliver a custom product to them, and only via certain pipelines. the main one went down, supply became constrained, prices went through the roof.
no manipulation there, just obvious consequences coming to the fore due to short-sighted gummint regulation.
-Colin
;-)
let's stick to Subarus.
-Colin
-juice
People just kind of go with the flow...
Meet the Member's Current Gas Bills?
If it were strictly just about "Hi, my name's Bill", it would get kindof boring, wouldn't it?
-brianV
I work for the 2nd largest privately held company in the US. My division is an energy company. We refine oil, sell gasoline, make plastics, trade commodities, all that good stuff. We do sell gasoline in the Chicago market.
One of our analysts wrote something very interesting highlighting the specific faults in California's energy market. Even though I'm just an IT guy, I did enjoy reading it and pay attention to the business as much as I can understand it.
-Colin
oh and these comments are of course all my own and not the company's.
bit & mike, I think a website is a great idea!
..Mike
..Mike
Like I said, I am - was - a bit suspicious, but that's all it was. Kens' one link showed a spike in refinery margin lately, but without a longer timeline, it's not enough to draw any conclusions.
Being a software tester, my role is to be particularly hard-nosed about "what I know" vs. "what I think I know" vs. "what I don't know". So if I sound like "doubting Thomas" sometimes, that's why. I like to think that it leads to disciplined thinking, (but I don't "know" that... <g>).
And I'm not even from the "show me state"... lol.
-brianV
bit
Colin: I never sell the IT guys short. I spend a lot of my time explaining regulatory requirements to them; many if not most get it, but many don't want to have to think about them either. It's tougher the other way 'round: I've picked up a lot of IT knowledge but I couldn't sit down and assemble a network, much less a network diagram, without help.
I do deal a lot with software testing and testers, especially its documentation and the handling and resolution of errors.
Ed
Well, here in Melbourne, Australia we are paying about AUD1.03 per litre. That is about USD0.62 per litre. I think that makes it about USD2.40 per US Gallon. The tax take is much larger here though with about 50% of the cost going to fuel excise and GST (a form of Sales tax).
Tax on fuel is an imporatant part of the Australian tax system.
Separately, someone menitoned the hassle of paying tolls and the interruption to traffic. This can sometimes be used as a deterrent to vehicles entering parts of a city to reduce congestion. It also more directly targets the user of a road network than the blunt form of taxes.
Cheers
Graham
-mike
juice, rsholland, bit, paisan, and anyone else willing to provide info and updates, please email Sylvia (sylvia@edmunds.com).
I've had my Outback for almost two years now and still love it.
Steve
Bob
today is the Baltimore St. Patrick's Day Parade Ceili, tomorrow 11am-5pm back at Mick's for "amateur night"- green beads, corned beef, blinking pin lights that say "Kiss Me I'm Irish (Miller Lite)" and rows of punters calling for rebel tunes. :Rolleyes: At which point a discussion of what is and isn't terrorism can get interesting.
So we have U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" tucked away if we get too many requests for that crap. Not a popular stance, but we all talked about it and decided we had no wish, as musicians, to perpetuate tired stereotypes. Especially since most of the people who ask for these kinds of songs are 1) not Irish ("My great-great-grea-grandfather came over in 1820!!") 2) have no idea what the actual dynamics of the conflict are 3) would never in a ,million years actually be willing to go over and participate in any armed action 4) just want to feel like they're part of a cool club, and 5) are usually morons.
If Pat doesn't agree, that's ok. you're actually Irish! =8^D
I'm getting pretty beat. I will sleep soundly tomorow night! Well, gotta pack up and head to the next show....Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Raise a glass to Ireland's favorite English guy!! ;^)
Cheers,
Lucien
Cheers Pat.
But it's just as well if we discuss neither here. ;-)
-Colin
-mike
SO ANYWAY, it sure has been nice to just be a musician and nothing else these last few days. Wish I could make a steady living this way. Oh well. It is a lot of fun, the entire city in a state of buzzy celebration. So off I am to the pub now for my 6 hour shift. That's Danny Boy once an hour, and then packed away for 364 more days ;-)
But still no bloody "Unicorn Song..." ugh.
Cheers,
Lucien
Glad to see Edmunds is willing to provide the web space. My thinking is, though, that a lot of fixes are not going to be Subaru approved, i.e. ECU resets, DryGas, aftermarket wheel offets, etc. That stuff might be better off on mike's site.
Let's see what we put in it, the content itself will determine where it should go.
-juice
-mike
subie-cars.com
subaru-cars.net
subaru-cars.org
subarus.org
subaru-crew.org
subaru-crew.com
subaru-crew.net
-mike
So what's the process for getting info on it? Is there a Crew member that's going to organize the FAQs first?
Ken