The Complexities of Oil

[digitaldiscipline]

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2008/05/29/price_of_gasoline/print.html

Yes, it's fucking expensive ($3.86/gal here today). Why it's expensive is complicated.

Comments

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

You know what I find fascinating is that the "average California price" used to be wincingly more than the average price in WI. Mostly, we assumed it was the taxes and things that drove it so much higher than our prices.

The quoted day's average for May 26th was exactly what Wisconsin's average price was, and has been, for roughly the past 10 days. With about half the state and local taxes that California collects. That $4.09 pricepoint seems to be one where we actually start seeing changes in usage due to price start happening.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I think that, psychologically, whole-dollar figures are what get our attention.

When gas got really cheap shortly after I got my second car, and dropped below $1 for the first time in my experience, that was a big deal.

In the last five years, watching it climb past $2, then $3, and now $4, each milestone seems more meaningful than, say, a new record high of $3.53 over $3.46.

Seeing that big, new number to the left of the decimal drives things home.

[i-renovated.livejournal.com]

(no q-tip either)

Interesting that that ~$4 price point is the one that the media has been publicizing since November...not that I'm a conspiracy theorist or anything...

[fenixinthedark.livejournal.com]

My issue with the whole thing is that this has been coming on for a very very loooooong time. I recall talks as far back as the 70's over "oil dependency", and how alternatives "should" be found. Yet, we continue to try to find ways to cheapen gas instead.

Had we done the work to the degree it *needed* to be done then to now, things like hybrids would have been on the market long before now, and the very *idea* of SUV's would have been tossed out as the garbage it always was... conspicuous consumption at it's worst. We dropped the ball. I feel like Kal El screaming at my fellow Kryptonians who are so attached to their way of life they don't even want to *hear* about the potential that we might have to make some changes if we want to avoid death and destruction.

No, maybe it is not a cataclysmic geological or meteorological event, but there is absolutely a "death" going on here. We can tie our economies failing health *directly* to rising gas prices. I dunno about you, but MY salary did not go up enough to accomodate a 2-3 dollar hike in gas. So, where is the money coming from? Other places. Sorry Target... that's the way it has to be. I won't be buying that lawn furniture this year. Maybe not ever. Sorry nail salon... I'll be doing my own nails hereout, thanks. Sorry hair place... looks like I am letting my hair grow out. Sorry home improvement doods... looks like I'm a "do-it-yourselfer" now.

Let's also look at the *other* costs here. When gas prices rise, so do commuting prices. Not merely for those with cars. Subway/train/bus fares go up too. I dunno about where you live, but I can tell you that, in the DC area, the people who work the lower paying jobs DO NOT live in the City. The cost of housing in DC is ridiculous, so anyone *not* earning a fairly decent salary simply does not live there. Housing costs in this area have not gone down as dramatically as they have in other areas of the country, so people *have got to* commute to their jobs if they work in the City. Add to this that many of these people purchased homes *waaaaay* out in the sticks in order to be able to afford a home at all, and sucked it up when it came to their obscene commutes of 2-3 hours one way... only *now*? They can't afford the drive, but also *they can't sell their homes due to the housing glut*! This issue is *contributing* to the rising rate of foreclosure in this country.

So, because we are a species with NO foresight whatsoever... because we live in the moment and say fuck-it-all to the future, we are all going to pay the very high price of an economic recession at best, depression at worst. This *was* preventable... we just dropped the ball.