Gas is at 8.56 dollars/gallon this very moment!

Originally posted by CholmondleyWarner
Here in Blighty petrol has reached an all time high of £6.00 a gallon. Thats about £1.32 a litre.
To put this into perspective last March we were paying £1.14. And come the budget in April George Osborne plans to put another 5p tax on top of whatever price hikes come from the trouble in the middle east...
Hearing Americans moan about the price of fuel over there makes me laugh. Try living in rip off Britain!

I do roughly 50,000 miles a year for the last 15 years at roughly 35mpg.

That's over 1400 gallons of Petrol / Gas at nearly $10 per gallon.

Mmmm, that's nearly $14,000 dollars a year, just on Regular unleaded Petrol / Gas.

Good job my company pays for it but it's still a big rip off here in the UK!

The average American only makes 1200 to maybe 2400 a month after taxes different standards though and economy. Knowing that do you understand why we gripe and complain about it ?

In Croatia, that's Europe, gas is average +6.6$ per gallon, and if you have monthly pay about 2500$, you are among 10% richest people in country. People who have 1000$ per month are very happy.

This guy thinks the average American makes more than 3-4 grand a month after taxes? LMAO that's a good one.

Gas is expensive in europe because the governments tax the hell out of it, not because of the oil companies price gouging. Dont get me wrong, big oil makes their paper, but that is not why gas is so high for you. I wish they would tax gas heavily here in the USA so people would sell their stupid gas guzzling suvs. Plus the increased income would give the govt money to invest in public works/transportation, maybe even a highspeed rail! Will never happen in the states though sadly.

Originally posted by Flyzoid
The average middle class American makes between $2000-2500 per month. And most of the middle class has disappeared. You don't even want to know what poverty level is. To scary to speak of

I'm still considered middle class and I make less than $1500 a month????
I don't own a car, I use mass transit and car share.
It helps, trust me.

I'm probably wrong but all this business about the gas going up ......Was this caused by the war in IRAQ???Rigth after 911??????....and are we gonna paid the war of every country in the middle east????.....TO me somebody is just cashing in at the worlds expense.I remember payin 1.64 us. a gallon before the war.No doubt 2008 was very scary year.4.59 a gallon!!!...and now the inestability of Libya......so.......Here we go again!....your it!!!

Originally posted by CaDreamer
The median household income in the United States is $46,326.
that is before taxes... i earned 44K last year i took home 28K[

Originally posted by zooplancton
premium is still $4.17 here in northern Cali. diesel is. $4.39...
regular is $4.00

vomits in mouth...

$3.60 in Northern California.


9 dollars a gallon in Sweden?

How do you get around? That's a huge chunk of money for anyone who has to drive every day. God.

reply to post by ISHAMAGI


We are surviving on minimum wage: $7.25 an hour. At around $35 a fill up twice a week, that leaves us $210 to live on each week. Out of that comes the mortgage and electricity (which has also gone through the roof despite the fact we get ours from hydro electricity), and we don't drive that much! I wish I made $3000 after taxes! That's a luxury wage in my area where our median is less than $30000 yearly (and that's before taxes.)

Oil is not following economic laws of supply and demand. It's speculators and oil companies. They're paying people hundreds of thousands of dollars to figure out why our economy is not recovering. Duh! Gas prices. I don't buy anything extra, not even fresh produce because all the money goes into the gas tank.

Originally posted by ThinkingCap9 dollars a gallon in Sweden?

How do you get around? That's a huge chunk of money for anyone who has to drive every day. God.

I guess we have the most expensive fuel in the world, $2.79 per litre for unleaded 95 oct

and $2.21 per litre for road diesel, and we,re pumping a lot of oil out of the ground.

We also have the most expensive cars, $156500 for a Toyota landcruiser

reply to post by Tollon

"maybe 3500-4000 dollars/month after tax. "

Well i don't make that much and i have "a good paying job" (im still under paid lol) for my city and our cars have bigger engines my car holds about 14 gallons and its only a 6 cylinder .

How many liters does your car hold?

I still don't get why people are suggesting walking/biking/bus as a "simple" fix to the problem of fuel prices. These people fail to understand a few things.

First of which being what works for them doesn't work for everybody. Not everybody lives close enough to their work to walk or bike. Not everybody lives in a place where bus transit is available to and from work. Even if it is, not everybody has the time it would take to use it.

And second, high fuel prices, even if you don't own a car, are still costing you money. Because every single thing you could possibly buy is transported by something burning fuel, and when fuel prices rise the cost is passed onto you.

I would agree, the Oil market is in dire need of regulation. It's one of the few times regulation actually makes sense.

reply to post by Ivar_Karlsen


the conversion of Swedish kroner to American dollar is 5.50 kroner to the dollar so that $156500 landcruiser is $28454.54 American

Originally posted by chuckk
reply to post by Tollon

 

Gasoline is the same price worldwide, but you have allowed your government to adds huge taxes to it. Fire your government by putting tax reduction representatives in place, just as we have started to to in the USA.

You are absolutely right, we are very highly taxed on gasoline.
The problem is that in the last election every single party we could vote for, wanted even higher taxes on gas.
They all wanna be "environmentally correct" so they all chose the green path.
Not much you can do as a citizen then, except chose not to vote at all.

Maybe it was wrong of me to start compare wages here.
Read carefully: IT'S ALL RELATIVE TO WHAT YOUR COSTS ARE.
With that said - Sweden is a VERY high price country to live in.

Someone from Croatia posted earlier and said he made like $1000/month over there.
I have been to Croatia - the prices are ridiculously low to what I am used to.
I'm sure he gets by just fine with that $1000/months.

Originally posted by CaDreamer
reply to post by Ivar_Karlsen

 

the conversion of Swedish kroner to American dollar is 5.50 kroner to the dollar so that $156500 landcruiser is $28454.54 American

edit on 10-3-2011 by CaDreamer because: more input

Wait wait what year? A 2011 Toyota Land Cruiser is over $60,000 in the US so if you are getting them for the equivalent of $28,454 it doesn't sound like Sweden is more expensive, it sounds much much cheaper!

Much more distances to drive here. I have lived oversees, and there is a HUGE difference. I used to bike to work in England. Towns very close to one another in the country even. Not like that here. We figured out my husband will have to pay $125 a week of his 450 paycheck for gas if it hits 5. We live remote and he has a long drive to work. And no we can not move closer to his job.
Upside down house. Rent more expensive than my mortgage.

I wish I was making $4000 per month. Wouldn't that be nice?

I live in the Southern US. The winter here is very short. Last summer I did what could possibly be the smartest thing I could have done. I bought a motorcycle. I parked my car, and I am now thinking about selling it. I bought this motorcycle in May of 2010. I spend approximately $5.00 per week on gasoline. Insurance is considerably cheaper. I used to pay $150 per month on Auto insurance, my motorcycle cost me $220.00 per YEAR!

This was a good decision for me due to the climate in my area. It can get cold, but there is gear for riding a bike in cold weather. You'd be shocked how warm you can stay. I find rides to work if it is raining really hard or in the rare event of snow or ice. So far this winter, I have had to find rides for what amounts to 2 weeks. For the money I save, that 2 weeks of inconvenience is a small price to pay. I highly suggest, at least in the US, if you are near that minimum wage pay scale, get a motorcycle if it is possible.

reply to post by Flyzoid


I agree. $3000 a month sounds pretty damn good compared to the "average joe" here in America.
The average middle class makes probably a little less than that.

reply to post by Tollon


You already make more than the average working American. Most make on average, i'd say 2500-2800 a month after taxes.

My husband is in the military and we get, without BAH, 1800 a month. If we got BAH, we'd make 2800.