GM, Thanks for posting this, especially the historical prices in the US normalized for today's $$. It drives me nuts how incorrectly this whole gas price story is misreported in the news. I was in the UK earlier this year and folks were laughing at our complaining about high gas prices. We are so freaking LUCKY to be able to buy cheap gas in this nation, why doesn't this get reported more often? Glad you and Morg are.

Posted by The MaryHunter at August 17, 2005 06:15 AM

There's another factor in the computation, fuel efficiency. Consider not only the cost per gallon, but also per mile. Wonder what the data is on fleet mpg of the major car makers in 1970 and today and that effect in cost per mile. I don't seem to recall the giant pieces of steel back in the 70s being particularly efficient.

Posted by Don at August 17, 2005 08:08 AM

Soon, you might have to pump gas twice to fill your tank--once to go to $35 and again to take it to the top. The other day a gas station was having pump problems. Before I knew about it, I ran my CC and got $0.28 in over about three minutes, so I went to a different pump. There I was able to get only $0.03 out. The jerk running the place said they were having problems, so I indignantly told him that he should put out-of-order signs on the pumps. Then, I went to another station, but my card wouldn't take until I proved my ID because it seemed that it didn't allow for multiple gas charges within minutes. The 28 and 3 cents just didn't put enough gas in at these prices to be of much help, but I think it did allow me to crank my car.

Here's a site to help you find cheap gas:
http://gasbuddy.com/
There's another one, but I don't remember its name.

Most of our prices right now are between $2.40 and $2.50.

By the way, I don't care and have never cared about what they pay for gas in Europe; and, whatever they have to suffer, partly because of their high taxes, has nothing to do with what we should pay.

Posted by Woody at August 17, 2005 10:53 AM

While I agree in principle, $2.50/gallon still sucks more than a little ... especially when it is due to aggressive speculation in the crude market.
(nearing $70/barrel instead of a more realistic $30-35/barrel)

/TJ

Posted by TJ at August 17, 2005 02:24 PM

GM Roper is a bit off base here and Woody has hinted at a good point. It doesn't matter one little smidgeon what the Europeans pay.

For one, most of these countries are smaller than the size of our average state. The need for commuting is much less, therefore their fuel lasts much longer in terms of time between fill-up.

Secondly, in most of these countries, there exists a somewhat comprehensive mass transit system. In a country the size of the US, it would cost 100s of Billions to make that happen. And it would take generations for Americans to get used to the idea.

And finally, Europeans are far more homogenous and geographically stable societies. They don't move nearly as frequently and tend to work closer to where they live.

As long as these conditions exist, comparing our fuel prices to that of Europeans is like comparing our millitary to theirs, it simply isn't reasonable.

Oh, and one more...does anyone, anywhere really care what the price of gas is in communist countries such as Cuba and France? Oh wait, Cuba isn't really communist, didn't mean to lump them in with France!

Posted by AzTank at August 17, 2005 03:09 PM

good post, but could you break down the actual cost of the gas without the taxes imposed by the different countries?

Posted by buzzards27 at August 17, 2005 04:22 PM

Game time in one hour, Woody.

We even spent time at Dodger Thoughts today discussing fan ambivalence in Atlanta (as well as BBQ and Mexican food!).

Posted by jim hitchcock at August 17, 2005 05:04 PM

...as well as and in depth discussion of Tejas, GM :)

Posted by jim hitchcock at August 17, 2005 05:06 PM

I left a note about last night's game over on the other post where we started. No closer, and that will be a problem in post season. I don't know if I agree about ambivalent fans in Atlanta. At least most of us get there by the first inning and stay until the end of the game. I think the town expects the team to win, so there is some taking-for-granted that we'll be in the playoffs. The Braves called me yesterday and I think that they're already sending the post season ticket package. Have you received yours yet? Why did the Dodgers quit putting players names on jerseys?

It's really storming and a lot of lighting in Atlanta right now, so expect some delays or dead players.

Posted by Woody at August 17, 2005 06:34 PM

That's what we were talkin, the taking about, the taking for granted you'll be in the playoffs.

The arriving late and leving early is largely a myth. Check out a Mets game sometime...check out all the empty seats early on at a sellout.

Do the Braves games EVER sell out? Yesterday and today, you had something like 29,000 in the stands. The average this year at DS is over 49,000.

The organization has never explained taking the names off the jerseys.

Posted by jim hitchcock at August 17, 2005 07:19 PM

How did the game come out? I've been working and couldn't follow it. (Pause) What? Oh...really? Well, things are back to normal then.

Jim, I suspect that the ticket sales were a lot more than the attendance. We have had terrible storms all summer, and the lightning yesterday and today is nothing to ignore. About three weeks ago I was at Turner Field and the lighting was so close and so bad that we chickened out and went behind the stands for a while. I couldn't believe that the umpire didn't delay the game. I see that some soliders were struck by lightning at Ft. Benning today. People stay away with weather like that.

We've been to a few sell-outs this year. The ballpark holds around 48,000, but they squeeze in standing room people at times to bring it to 50,000.

I checked tonight and confirmed the identity of the author of the Dan Kolb blog (our former closer who wants the job back.) The author is a real liberal from Tuscaloosa, but a great guy. Go see what our closer tonight had to say about the game: http://dankolb.blogspot.com/

Catch you on the rubber game tomorrow.

Oh yeah, to keep this on topic, gas is still too high tonight.

Posted by Woody at August 17, 2005 09:40 PM

First you ruin my spelling, then you reck mi speleng.

Oh, yeah, to keep this on topic, tonight's game gave me gas.

Posted by jim hitchcock at August 17, 2005 10:19 PM

Durn it. Should have read ruin my spirit.

Posted by jim hitchcock at August 17, 2005 10:20 PM

I really regret losing Hudson this year. He was always intense in his play and a natural team leader. I hope he stays healthy.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting to see how long the A's will stay in purgatory after Macha's latest offense against the baseball gods on Sunday. I'm afraid that Macha is the reincarnation of Gene Mauch. 1964 was a crushing blow...

Posted by civil truth at August 18, 2005 12:36 AM