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Roger, do you have clandestine meetings with my daughter?

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In Norway, the price today per US gallon is approx US Dollar
10,50.

Tom

Here in southern Ontario Canada, near Toronto, the price is $1.31 per litre (quart to our American friends). In the city it must be near $1.40. The Canadian dollar is slightly higher than the US dollar now so the high price is entirely due to the work of our political leaders.

I have not heard any complaints or comments about the cost of gas which surprises me. Everyone switched to smaller cars years ago. I guess we got used to paying high prices.

In the US you would think the world is coming to an end. Maybe they will learn that you do not need an 8 cylinder SUV to take one person to work and that driving a 4 cylinder car is not only possible, but can be fun.

And all of this justifies $5 a gal gas here,,, HOW???????

And all of this justifies $5 a gal gas here,,, HOW???????


It doesn't, but let's face it. We have been spoiled compared to most other civilized places. Unless a govt is keeping prices down such as Venezuela and a couple of others, most of the world has been paying considerably more than we have for years.

Don't expect any real changes to the trend either since our government and the latest token commission named to look into prices will say again we have no price gouging in the US and oil companies continue to wrack up their usual huge profits the old fashioned way (by earning it thru hard work don't you know),http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110428/D9MSOC0G0.html guess we are stuck. Of course the oil companies will do everything possible to deny any culpability on their endhttp://money.cnn.com/2011/04/28/news/companies/exxon_earnings/index.htm?hpt=T2 so just learn to live with it and hope it slows. Expect oil's full page ads blaming everything else to start appearing anytime now. Speculators making millions in the commodity market have been cited as a cause but again, don't expect any blame to land anywhere and nothing will actually get changed.

Since politicians who are paid to believe big oil and corporate America in general can do no wrong would have to actually vote against the lobbyists who pay their "consulting fees" before anything changes, don't hold your breath for more than the usual sound bites. That will get their names out as being "aghast" and then a possible token rollback for a few weeks when elections are near. After elections it will be business as usual until the next one..

Consider yourself lucky--in Calif and Hawaii we already pay 25-50 cents more than most of the country so when you see 5, we'll be getting close to 6. At least Hawaii has a reason for their high prices--it's not cheap to get it there. Not sure of the why on ours other than the crap they add to it.

In addition to all the factors that are commented on regularly, let's not forget that crude oil is transacted in U.S. Dollars, and the falling value of the dollar has contributed it's share to the cost increases. And that relative devaluation of the $ has helped "equalize" prices in countries with strong currencies, like the Euro. For example not so long ago when we were paying $1.80 a gallon, much of Europe was paying about 3 times as much. I'd guess the differential is much less now. Good for them, not so good for us.

Still, from what I observe, we're still not willing to walk 3 blocks to pick up milk or a newspaper, and kids that live 5 blocks from home still wait for Mom to pick them up. So it doesn't seem like the higher prices have really changed our habits much. We like to whine about it, but thus far we're not willing to do much about.

Non-branded regular in NJ is now about $3.69; Premium (93 octane) like Getty is $3.99.

Fresno is one of the more fortunate parts of the state as to prices so add more for LA, SF & most other areas. For reference, here is average cash prices from today's cheapest gas price finder for 87 octane in Fresno.

For name brands such as Shell, Chevron, UnoCal etc add about 20 cents and for premium, add 50 cents to these. If you use a credit card, add another 10c/gallon although most on that list won't take cards.

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AL asks:
"And all of this justifies $5 a gal gas here,,, HOW???????"

Good question Al. I got an even better question:

Does ANY country or even any group of countries have a high speed hiway system that would even come to within 50% of the US Interstate hiway system in terms of number of miles and country wide access of such a hiway system????

4 cyclinder engines are just fine for 3rd world counties that resemble the WHiskey Hell area here. I have a 4 cylinder in my farm tractor and the ranch truck for poking along the local pig paths and cow trails here of Whiskey Hell. But when i need to drive 200-800 miles in a days time on I40 or I75 or I80 i wouldn't have any 4 cylinder puddle jumping POS shouved up my royal white American ass (as dumb as it mite be).

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Believe it or not Canada is actually larger than the US and we have paved roads and everything. You are welcome to bring your white American ass up here and go for a drive on the 401 hiway but be prepared to cruise at 80MPH or be passed by every 4 cylinder car on the road.

They have things called Autobahns in Germany that were built 20 years before the interstate hiway system. In fact that is where President Eisenhower got the idea. They have no speed limits and if you only go 80 the 4 cylinder economy cars will leave you for dead.

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If you seriously want to know, here it is. Every barrel of oil ever pumped has been burned up. One third of all oil ever burned, was burned by Americans.

America's oil peaked in 1970. The world's production of oil peaked in 2005. There is still oil around but it is getting harder and harder to get. The cheap easy stuff is pretty well gone. The $3 a barrel wells are running dry. The new oil that comes from the Alberta tar sands and from 5 miles below the Gulf of Mexico, and from above the Arctic circle, is going to cost $80 to $200 a barrel to get out.

I don't like it any better than you do but we might as well face it and make the best of it. When you are scraping the bottom of the barrel it is too late to wish you hadn't been so free and easy.