I looked on this link and I saw there was no thread for the most popular subject in the US news EVERYDAY....the prices of gas.  I know it's affecting everyone world-wide, but some of us, like me, live in the country and don't have the previlege of mass public transportation in the big cities.  What do all of you think about it???  You think the government is trying to rip the gas user's off, or the almight "Oil Barrons" are getting richer and richer???  Let's here your thoughts.....

Quoted from aspinall_lover

You think the government is trying to rip the gas user's off, or the almight "Oil Barrons" are getting richer and richer???

Well, that's a given. :)

Still, I think the problem is that the US can no longer dictate the price of oil. Sometime in the 70s (I know you remember our first oil crisis) the US started importing more oil than it could produce. Before then, we were a biggie in the oil industry and could basically tell OPEC what the prices could be. Our domestic oil has been steadily dwindling, and now the Saudis are sitting pretty with industrialized China and India bidding on their oil. The US will not see gas prices go down again in our lifetime (unless it's some temporary stunt done for political reasons).

Then there's the problem of peak oil. Some people believe we have already passed this. There's some evidence that the Saudis are lying about the amount of oil they can pump because whoever has the most oil gets to call the shots over the other OPEC members. But they don't seem able to deliver what they promise, so it looks like their huge field is petering out at last. Yes, we all need to look into alternative energy sources, but more than that, we need to develop a less resource-intensive lifestyle. The US went crazy building a suburban lifestyle that can only be maintained with lots of oil-- to run the cars, repair the roads, pipe gas to the homes, etc. It's not sustainable, even if we didn't have outside competition for the remaining oil. There's just not that much left that we can squander it on big cars, big homes, and miles of roads crossing big empty nothings.

Quoted from harihead

Still, I think the problem is that the US can no longer dictate the price of oil.

Erm...sorry, but isn't that what's happening at the moment? The American recession, and the poor dollar are dictating the price of oil.

Quoted from harihead

Yes, we all need to look into alternative energy sources, but more than that, we need to develop a less resource-intensive lifestyle. The US went crazy building a suburban lifestyle that can only be maintained with lots of oil-- to run the cars, repair the roads, pipe gas to the homes, etc. It's not sustainable, even if we didn't have outside competition for the remaining oil. There's just not that much left that we can squander it on big cars, big homes, and miles of roads crossing big empty nothings.

Agree entirely: the "oil economy" has had a good run for the last century, but it has to come to an end. This is a Thomas L Friedman column from the New York Times the other day:


Truth or Consequences

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: May 28, 2008

Imagine for a minute, just a minute, that someone running for president was able to actually tell the truth, the real truth, to the American people about what would be the best — I mean really the best — energy policy for the long-term economic health and security of our country. I realize this is a fantasy, but play along with me for a minute. What would this mythical, totally imaginary, truth-telling candidate say?

For starters, he or she would explain that there is no short-term fix for gasoline prices. Prices are what they are as a result of rising global oil demand from India, China and a rapidly growing Middle East on top of our own increasing consumption, a shortage of “sweet” crude that is used for the diesel fuel that Europe is highly dependent upon and our own neglect of effective energy policy for 30 years.

Cynical ideas, like the McCain-Clinton summertime gas-tax holiday, would only make the problem worse, and reckless initiatives like the Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep offer to subsidize gasoline for three years for people who buy its gas guzzlers are the moral equivalent of tobacco companies offering discounted cigarettes to teenagers.

I can’t say it better than my friend Tim Shriver, the chairman of Special Olympics, did in a Memorial Day essay in The Washington Post: “So Dodge wants to sell you a car you don’t really want to buy, that is not fuel-efficient, will further damage our environment, and will further subsidize oil states, some of which are on the other side of the wars we’re currently fighting. ... The planet be damned, the troops be forgotten, the economy be ignored: buy a Dodge.”

No, our mythical candidate would say the long-term answer is to go exactly the other way: guarantee people a high price of gasoline — forever.

This candidate would note that $4-a-gallon gasoline is really starting to impact driving behavior and buying behavior in way that $3-a-gallon gas did not. The first time we got such a strong price signal, after the 1973 oil shock, we responded as a country by demanding and producing more fuel-efficient cars. But as soon as oil prices started falling in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we let Detroit get us readdicted to gas guzzlers, and the price steadily crept back up to where it is today.

We must not make that mistake again. Therefore, what our mythical candidate would be proposing, argues the energy economist Philip Verleger Jr., is a “price floor” for gasoline: $4 a gallon for regular unleaded, which is still half the going rate in Europe today. Washington would declare that it would never let the price fall below that level. If it does, it would increase the federal gasoline tax on a monthly basis to make up the difference between the pump price and the market price.

To ease the burden on the less well-off, “anyone earning under $80,000 a year would be compensated with a reduction in the payroll taxes,” said Verleger. Or, he suggested, the government could use the gasoline tax to buy back gas guzzlers from the public and “crush them.”

But the message going forward to every car buyer and carmaker would be this: The price of gasoline is never going back down. Therefore, if you buy a big gas guzzler today, you are locking yourself into perpetually high gasoline bills. You are buying a pig that will eat you out of house and home. At the same time, if you, a manufacturer, continue building fleets of nonhybrid gas guzzlers, you are condemning yourself, your employees and shareholders to oblivion.

What a cruel thing for a candidate to say? I disagree. Every decade we look back and say: “If only we had done the right thing then, we would be in a different position today.”

But no politician dared to do so. When gasoline was $2 a gallon, the government never would have imposed a $2 tax. Now that it is $4 a gallon, the government should at least keep it there, since it is really having the right effect.

I was visiting my local Toyota dealer in Bethesda, Md., last week to trade in one hybrid car for another. There is now a two-month wait to buy a Prius, which gets close to 50 miles per gallon. The dealer told me I was lucky. My hybrid was going up in value every day, so I didn’t have to worry about waiting a while for my new car. But if it were not a hybrid, he said, he would deduct each day $200 from the trade-in price for every $1-a-barrel increase in the OPEC price of crude oil. When I saw the rows and rows of unsold S.U.V.’s parked in his lot, I understood why.

We need to make a structural shift in our energy economy. Ultimately, we need to move our entire fleet to plug-in electric cars. The only way to get from here to there is to start now with a price signal that will force the change.

Barack Obama had the courage to tell voters that the McCain-Clinton summer gas-giveaway plan was a fraud. Wouldn’t it be amazing if he took the next step and put the right plan before the American people? Wouldn’t that just be amazing?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/opinion/28friedman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Quoted from BlueMeanie

Erm...sorry, but isn't that what's happening at the moment? The American recession, and the poor dollar are dictating the price of oil.

Sorry, I don't know much about how our recession is affecting other people. (Remember, I live in the insular land of denial; go straight ahead with blinders on.) So I'd be happy to hear more. What I meant to say above is that (based on my elementary understanding of oil prices) when the US lost the ability to flood the market at will, it lost the ability to dictate what the standard price should be. Now that power rests with the people who still have the largest reserves left.  

Great article, Geoff. I'm glad to see this type of thinking in print!

Quoted from Geoff

the McCain-Clinton summertime gas-tax holiday, would only make the problem worse, and reckless initiatives like the Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep offer to subsidize gasoline for three years for people who buy its gas guzzlers are the moral equivalent of tobacco companies offering discounted cigarettes to teenagers.

Don't forget that we right now subsidize gas-guzzling cars. You can get a huge tax incentive if you buy a Hummer - 8 mpg. The whole popularity of our gas-guzzling SUVs is so they can be built on a truck engine and therefore escape those irritating environmental and fuel-economy measures that our government was at one time so foolish as to impose on cars. Let the US never be accused of thinking long-term or proactively when a powerful lobby has gifts to throw around.

So our government is at this moment incenting people to buy unregulated, gas-guzzling machines, while at the same time we're fighting a war for oil. Does this strike anyone else as particularly insane?

As to "help" for poor people making under 80,000 a year-- how times have changed! My first salary was under $6,000. Wow.

Quoted from harihead

Let the US never be accused of thinking long-term or proactively when a powerful lobby has gifts to throw around.

Or a politician smells votes to be scrounged, especially votes from dummies, or a group of people that a politician takes for a wagon load of dummies. The McCain / Clinton gas tax holiday absurdity is a wonderful example of this: never mind the bad economics involved, just think of the near impossibility of getting such a thing through Congress and signed by the president before summer. Utter rubbish; and the sad thing of course, as we saw in the primaries, is that there are people- quite a few of them in fact- who will swallow such impossible ham-fisted pandering. To that extent, our political class is justified in taking us- or some of us- for dummies.

Woooooo............Geoff.........good stuff posted on the gas thread.  Down here in Arkansas, there's "pages" of people waiting to buy the Prius.  And these "fool" "soccer moms" and there gas-hog SUV's?????  Oh well, I'm glad I drive a Honda and don't have far to go for anything.  My Honda Accord gets great mileage.
And down here, today, gas hit an all-time high at 4 dollars for regular unleaded.

I remember when the bumper stickers down here used to say "Drive a Hummer, Freeze a Yankee" . Ain't nobody happy now ...

Depressingly self explanatory, this:

Oil Prices Skyrocket, Taking Biggest Jump Ever

By JAD MOUAWAD
Published: June 7, 2008

The rise in oil prices turned into a stampede on Friday with futures jumping a staggering $11 a barrel to set a record above $138 a barrel. The unprecedented surge came as the dollar fell sharply against the euro and a senior Israeli politician once again raised the specter of an attack against Iran.

Oil prices have doubled in the last 12 months, and are up 42 percent since the beginning of the year. Oil futures surged $10.75, or 8 percent, to $138.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, their biggest jump since contracts began trading in 1983. The record rise brought a two-day jump of over $16 a barrel, after Thursday 5.5 percent gain.

“This market is going to shoot itself in the foot,” said Adam Robinson, an energy analyst at Lehman Brothers. “It is searching for a price that will build a safety cushion in the system — either as inventories or as spare capacity. This takes time. But the market has gotten extremely impatient and is not willing to wait.”

The latest jump came as the dollar lost more than 1 percent against the euro amid bleak economic news that fanned recession fears. The unemployment rate surged to 5.5 percent in May, the government said, the biggest increase in more than two decades.

Friday’s negative news pricked a budding sentiment in Wall Street that the financial system was on the mend and stocks fell sharply. The Dow Jones industrials lost 394.64 points, or 3 percent, to 12,209 points, with financial stocks showing the biggest drops. The broader Standard and Poor’s 500-stock index fell 3 percent, its biggest drop since February.

The strong volatility in energy markets in recent weeks continues to puzzle traders. Prices keep rising despite a lack of shortages in the market, and strong evidence of lower consumption in industrialized countries. But investors are caught in a bullish mood, focusing on the perceived risks to future oil supplies and the growth in oil demand from emerging economies, where fuel prices are subsidized.

Even as uncertainties abound about the fundamentals of the energy market, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East regained center stage after Israel’s transportation minister and a deputy prime minister, Shaul Mofaz, said Friday that an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites looked “unavoidable” if Iran didn’t abandon its nuclear program.

Iran is the second-largest oil producer within the OPEC cartel and exports close to 2 million barrels a day. Because the world has few supplies to spare, any interruptions in Iran’s exports could push prices to higher levels. The world currently has about 3 million barrels a day of spare capacity, and consumes 86 million barrels a day of oil.

“The return of the Iranian risk premium calls for a careful assessment of the potential oil supply impact of military strikes on Iran,” said Antoine Halff, an analyst at Newedge, an energy broker. The “comments bring home the point that the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program remains unresolved and that the risks of military confrontation are indeed increasing.”

Investors also reacted to the latest forecast by a large Wall Street bank that oil prices would keep rising. Morgan Stanley predicted that prices would spike to $150 a barrel in the next month because of strong demand from Asian economies.

The threat of a strike by Chevron’s workers in Nigeria also fueled concerns that some production could be shut down. A similar strike by Exxon Mobil workers last April, which lasted a week, reduced Nigerian output by 800,000 barrels a day, or nearly a third of the country’s daily exports.

A strike might delay the start of Chevron’s 250,000 barrels-a-day Agbami project, the country’s largest offshore venture, which is slated for June 15.

One view that has been gaining ground is that the commodity market is caught in a speculative bubble akin to the housing or technology bubble of the late 1990s. That theory was raised by politicians in Washington and a slew of OPEC producers, who blame speculators for the staggering oil rally. Speaking before Congress recently, George Soros, a prominent hedge fund investor, said the current oil markets presented some characteristics of a bubble.

“I find commodity index buying eerily reminiscent of a similar craze for portfolio insurance, which led to the stock market crash of 1987,” Mr. Soros said earlier this week. But he cautioned that an oil market crash was not imminent. “The danger currently comes from the other direction. The rise in oil prices aggravates the prospects for a recession.”

But many analysts say that fundamentals, not speculation, are driving prices.

“I don’t know how else to say it, this is not a bubble,” Jan Stuart, global oil economist at UBS, said. “I think this is real. There is a whole bunch of commercial buyers out there who are spooked and are buying. You are an airline, right now, you’re scared. I don’t see who would buy at these prices unless they need to.”

Jeffrey Harris, the chief economist at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who was speaking before another Senate committee last month, said he saw no evidence of a speculative bubble in commodities. Instead, Mr. Harris pointed out to a confluence of trends that have contributed to the oil price rally, including a weak dollar, strong energy demand from emerging-market economies, and political tensions in oil-producing countries.

“Simply put, the economic data shows that overall commodity price levels, including agricultural commodity and energy futures prices, are being driven by powerful fundamental economic forces and the laws of supply and demand,” Mr. Harris said. “Together these fundamental economic factors have formed a ‘perfect storm’ that is causing significant upward pressures on futures prices across the board.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/business/07oil.html?hp

All I know is that a month ago I went online to check out prices for a trip to NYC later this summer (I am in CA), and the tickets were about $430 which is what I paid for the same tickets last year.  Ok great.  I go and check the prices and am ready to buy my ticket last week... $850!!! DOUBLE!!!!  Luckily I found some tickets after some searching for about $500 so I didn't really get hit that bad but geez!!

Gas here in the Sacramento, Ca area is well over $4.  It's really sad because you can barely afford to drive to work and then you have to pay hundreds of dollars a month just to park your stinkin car at work.

I plan on moving back downtown so that I can start taking the train to work again or hopefully I will live close enough so that I can just walk to stinkin work!!!


Sorry had to rant a little bit!!  >:(

^^^^That's alright.  Rant all you want.  Diesel here in Arkansas is like 4.85 a gallon and steadily going up.  What's these poor truckers gonna do???  My husband's job depends on the truckers bringing in freight to the company he works at.  

America is going to be in deep yogurt.

Heather, moving into town sounds like a great option. America is just not set up to handle high gas prices-- it's going to cost people more to commute (which nearly everyone does) than they'll make at their job. I'd say, take your option while you can! Good luck.

Yes, the price of gas needs to go up in order to make alternative fuels economically viable.  Why bother with solar/electric etc when oil is still way cheaper?

Alternative fuels did get some attention after the Arab oil embargo in the 70's, but once the price dropped again, the oil companies said forget it.  And they're not gonna start trying again now, either.  Why?  If the oil bubble bursts and the price crashes, most people will lose interest in hybrids and related technologies and they'll go right back to their old habits.

Alternative technologies should get more attention, but there's the minor problem of infrastructure.  You could come up with a cheap all-electric car tomorrow and mass produce it the day after that, but how will you get all that new support technology out there?

With oil, the infrastructure (pipelines, refineries, etc.) developed as demand increased, so as cars became more popular, there was an incentive to develop the necessary facililties.  Oil was "everywhere", so why not get a car?  

Now, a whole new infrastructure needs to be put in; where's it going to go?  There was a lot more open space 90 years ago than there is now.  Can it run parallel with the oil delivery system?  How will it be installed?  That's a lot of money for something that's still not being fully embraced.

We dug ourselves in this hole; hopefully we'll wise up and drag our way out, no matter how painful it is.

Yes California is very different than let's say NYC.  Back east, everything is closer together and taking buses/trains is alot easier.  Here in California everything is so far away, you almost have to drive.  Makes it alot harder.  I saw some gas around here yesterday at $5  :D

Quoted from HeatherBoo

Yes California is very different than let's say NYC.  Back east, everything is closer together and taking buses/trains is alot easier.  Here in California everything is so far away, you almost have to drive.  Makes it alot harder.  I saw some gas around here yesterday at $5  :D

Only if you live in NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, etc.  Out in the suburbs, mass transit is spotty at best.  At least where I live, anyway.  During the week you might be able get around, but on the weekend, forget it.  You'll be stranded.

That's true madman.  I guess I didn't think about the people who don't live in the major cities.  I have family in NJ but they live very close to Newark so public transportation is an option for them.  
I live in Sacramento, which is somewhat a big city...Not compared to San Francisco but it is certainly not small.  And everything is just so far apart.

Quoted from madman

Only if you live in NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, etc.  Out in the suburbs, mass transit is spotty at best.  At least where I live, anyway.  During the week you might be able get around, but on the weekend, forget it.  You'll be stranded.

^^^^^Everything is far away for me, too, in Arkansas.  Alot of rural areas here and very little to none public transportation.  We do have buses that run in the city, but not out in the country.  You're on your own in getting from one place to another.  That's why I drive a Honda.

We have a Honda too.  Good on gas and reliable.  Plus if something goes wrong with it, it is usually cheaper to fix.

This is interesting:

Plan Would Lift Saudi Oil Output to Highest Ever

By JAD MOUAWAD
Published: June 14, 2008
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is planning to increase its output next month by about a half-million barrels a day, according to analysts and oil traders who have been briefed by Saudi officials.

The increase could bring Saudi output to a production level of 10 million barrels a day, which, if sustained, would be the kingdom’s highest ever. The move was seen as a sign that the Saudis are becoming increasingly nervous about both the political and economic effect of high oil prices. In recent weeks, soaring fuel costs have incited demonstrations and protests from Italy to Indonesia.

Saudi Arabia is currently pumping 9.45 million barrels a day, which is an increase of about 300,000 barrels from last month.

While they are reaping record profits, the Saudis are concerned that today’s record prices might eventually damp economic growth and lead to lower oil demand, as is already happening in the United States and other developed countries. The current prices are also making alternative fuels more viable, threatening the long-term prospects of the oil-based economy.

President Bush visited Saudi Arabia twice this year, pleading with King Abdullah to step up production. While the Saudis resisted the calls then, arguing that the markets were well supplied, they seem to have since concluded that they needed to disrupt the momentum that has been building in commodity markets, sending prices higher.

The Saudi plans were disclosed in interviews with several oil traders and analysts who said that Saudi oil officials had privately conveyed their production plans recently to some traders and companies in the United States. The analysts declined to be identified so as not to be cut off from future information from the Saudis.

Last week, King Abdullah also took the unprecedented step of arranging on short notice a major gathering of oil producers and consumers to address the causes of the price rally. The meeting will be held on June 22 in the Red Sea town of Jeddah.

Oil prices have gained 40 percent this year, rising to nearly $140 a barrel in recent days and driving gasoline costs above $4 a gallon. Some analysts have predicted that prices could reach $200 a barrel this year as oil consumption continues to rise rapidly while supplies lag.

The growing volatility of the markets, including a record one-day gain of $10.75 a barrel last week, has persuaded the Saudis that they need to step in, analysts said.

Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, said, “We would welcome any and all increases in oil production, including from Saudi Arabia.”

But the measure carries some risks to the kingdom and is not guaranteed to bring down prices, analysts said. Some investors doubt that Saudi Arabia has the capacity to increase its production beyond its current levels.

“This clearly represents the biggest test for them,” said John Kilduff, a senior vice president at the brokerage firm MF Global, who said the move could backfire if investors failed to respond to the extra Saudi supplies. No other producer has the capacity to quickly expand production.

Oil prices fell on Friday, slipping $1.88 to settle at $134.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after reports of the prospective Saudi increase trickled into the market.

Ibrahim al-Muhanna, an adviser at the Saudi petroleum ministry, declined to comment on the production increase but said that Saudi Arabia was uncomfortable with oil prices. “Our goal is to bring back stability to the oil market,” he said.

Consumers are complaining that rising fuel prices are imposing a growing toll on their economies, and contributing to higher food costs. The Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, said this month that it was time “to apply the blowtorch to the OPEC organization.”

In Washington, bipartisan support is also growing to pass a law allowing the Justice Department to engage in antitrust proceedings against OPEC producers accused of curbing supplies to drive up prices.

Pressure is also mounting in consuming countries to address record energy prices. Congress is debating measures that would tackle speculators, whom many in Washington blame for driving up commodity prices.

When the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Saudi Arabia is the most powerful member, met in March, it decided against increasing production, blaming speculators and a declining dollar, not a shortfall in supplies, for driving up oil prices.

Saudi Arabia’s unilateral policy could put it at odds with other members of the OPEC cartel. In a report from the group’s secretariat on Friday, OPEC analysts said they saw no need to put more oil on the market. “Claims that the recent surge in prices is due to a supply shortage are unjustified,” the report said.

Saudi Arabia is completing a huge expansion program in its oil industry that is expected to bring its production capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day by 2009. As part of that expansion, Saudi Aramco, the country’s national oil company, is planning to start soon an oil field, called Khursaniyah, with a daily production rate of 500,000 barrels.

The production increase, which would amount to less than 1 percent of global consumption, could be made public next week at the energy meeting, which is expected to bring together a large number of consuming and producing countries, including the United States, Russia, Britain, China, India and Japan.

While the meeting is not expected to achieve anything tangible, Saudi officials hope that tackling the issue publicly will break the upward momentum that is dominating oil markets.

“They’ve created pressure on themselves to make a concrete move at this meeting,” said Adam Robinson, an analyst at Lehman Brothers. “But when the king calls an oil summit, the markets would do well to take heed.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/business/14oil.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Are we really going to notice an increase that "would amount to less than 1 percent of global consumption"?  I doubt it.  It's more psychological than anything.

All OPEC wants is to keep oil a price high enough so they can make a buck (fair enough) but low enough to discourage the development of alternative fuels.  But we still need to develop other sources, since this new maximum output can't be sustained forever and will just hasten the depletion of whatever oil is left.

Quoted from HeatherBoo

We have a Honda too.  Good on gas and reliable.  Plus if something goes wrong with it, it is usually cheaper to fix.

^^^^^This is my second Honda.........2004 Accord.  Had a 1994 Accord before that.  Great gas mileage on both of them.

Japanese cars seem to be dependable vehicles.

^^^^^^^^^Very dependable.  I won't drive anything BUT Japanese made.  And I'm very partial to my Hondas.  Before I had my two Hondas, I drove Ford T-Birds................."LEMONS"..............NEVER AGAIN!!!!

Quoted from aspinall_lover

Before I had my two Hondas, I drove Ford T-Birds................."LEMONS"..............NEVER AGAIN!!!!

I knew a guy in high school who had an absolute loathing for Fords: in fact, I don't recall him ever saying "Ford" without adding an obscene adjective or six; it was always "%^$#@$%!! Ford."

"Ford".................."Found On Roads Dead"...............

I was going to trade my car in for one these things on the theory that hay is cheaper than gas, but apparently they come with drawbacks, too.   ;D

Quoted from aspinall_lover

"Ford".................."Found On Roads Dead"...............

"Ford" ..................."Fix or Repair Daily"  :)

Quoted from Geoff

I was going to trade my car in for one these things on the theory that hay is cheaper than gas, but apparently they come with drawbacks, too.   ;D

I guess that means you're still, umm, up in the air about that decision?  :)

Quoted from alexis

"Ford" ..................."Fix or Repair Daily"  :)

^^^^^^You're right...........that is the other "Ford" "slogan"...........LOL!!!!!

Quoted from alexis

I guess that means you're still, umm, up in the air about that decision?  :)

Nah; I've decided: no mule. But buying a shovel and digging holes until I finally find my own oil stash somewhere has gone way up on the list of possibilities.  ;D

My hubby just read on his forum boards that Branson, MO, here in the states.........you know, the place up in the Ozark Mountains that have a huge resort/entertain selection????  He heard attendance at the shows and atractions are way down this summer because of the gas prices.  So we've decided we're going up there in July for a weekend to see the "Liverpool Legends" Beatles' tribute band.  They're great!!!!  And managed by George's sister, Louise.  So, I guess there is a "silver lining" to some people during this gas crunch.  And I know what it is...............the "Blue Hairs", as I call all the very older, retired people probably won't to going to Branson because they always take chartered buses and the price of diesel is outragous!!!  And please pardon the "pun" of "Blue Hairs".............
OH.............Branson is just a three hour drive for us.............

Hey that cool have fun!

We're thinking about it.  Prices have gone down, the "Liverpool Legends" has moved to a new venue..................so we got to find out what hotels/motels are around the site.  We like to "walk" to the show and not drive half way across town.

I was always wondering about high gas prices in Russia. As you know Russia is one of the biggest exporters of oil but the prices on gas are high enough here. I just want to mention that only now after many months of price increasing in the US the price on gas in the US is equal to one in Russia.

your gas prices are high because they export your gas and probally import what you use from somewheres else....good relations are after all proper...why sell it to you when someone else will pay more else wheres?

I ve been always wondering about Russia in general...

they are weird people...hearts of gold but you cross them and your dead....no i am kidding the ones i have met are great people just like us the government gives them the mess end of the stick....i love dmitry...i feel i know him..he is welcome here anytime..if he gets here at 3 in the morning he can wake me up....it is the media that distorts our veiws not peoples....they have musk ox there...look at some of d's photos...he has many....

Gotta watch out for the Russian Mafia!  Just kidding  ;)  
I have a number of Russian friends, they are very kind and good hearted people  :)

Hey, Russian are Slovic like me............I'm 100% Polish and relate to all of that.  Us Slovic people are a "passionate" breed of people and have strong family ties.  At least that's what us down here in my little Polish community have.
And the prices of gas??????  We had a "gas war" here locally between the new Wal-Mart Super Center and the Valeo gas station.  Gas was like for regular 3.54 a gallon and dropping every time the other person dropped.  People were lined up for MILES trying to buy this cheap gas.  It only lasted from Friday A.M. 1200 to Saturday A.M. 1200.  I was not going to sit in line and wait for this crap.  I don't use that much gas anyway.......

We're talking about gas here, but anyway I can't be silent about situation in our country.
Can you imagine that inflation in this year is already 9%? It is as high as in 2000 when Putin became our president. He did nothing for our economic and left :( We don't have economics. We live on oil. We are at the level of Nigeria! Pity  :o Even in Nigeria inflation is lower. Poor country. Sad to admit it.
I'm afraid that some kind of economic crisis will happen soon

I think we're all in the same boat, Dmitry. Oil is a finite resource and it's starting to run out. So far nobody but France seems to be very proactive about coming up with a viable replacement. We're all going to be hurting soon. *group hug*

Well.............I wonder what's up with the gas prices here in Arkansas right now.  I just paid $1.53 a gallon to fill up the other day.............wasn't it just a few months ago we here in the US were hitting the 4 dollar mark on a gallon of gas???  What gives????  I'm not complaining........it's wonderful!!!!  But are we being set up to be bombed again by the Middle East????  Hmmmm.......
What's gas prices in your area right now???

Now it's about 67-69 cents/litre here, so that would be $1.97 (I'm using the google converter so it may be wrong)

I know...........that's low.  Like I said........are we being set up by someone????

Yea gas here in Sacramento can be bought for $1.99.  I thought I was seeing things....earlier this year it was like $4.50.....  not complaining but I can't help but to this something is up.

Gas here is like $1.65

As I understand it, gas/petrol prices are down for two reasons:

1) Actual demand is down. Not so much driving-type of demand (thought that is down too), but industrial demand - industrial plants, construction, all the big gas/petrol using activities are way down in this worldwide economic slump.

2. Anticipated demand is down. People think that the economy will be in the pits for a long time, they anticipate that demand will be down for a long time.

When the economy improves, demand will go up, and so will the price of gas/petrol.

I heard it explained this way: What is the value of a gallon of gas to a non-industrial society? Zero. So, the worse the economy becomes, i.e., the more we approach a non-industrial society, the lower the price of gas will be.

i am suspicious of the low gas prices...oil by the quart is still 3 and 4 dollars a container...i think they are going to wait and then create another crisis...then really sock it to us...