Gas Prices where you live?

[Joemailman]

3.45 in Wausau. That means it's probably over 3.50 in the northwoods.

[HarveyWallbangers]

3.14 here

[MJZiggy]

3.12

[GBRulz]

3.45 in Wausau. That means it's probably over 3.50 in the northwoods.

$3.49 here in the Northwoods. (Eagle River)

I've been working up here the past 3 weeks and businesses are already off to a much slower start for tourists. Memorial Weekend is usually the kick-off of the tourist season up here. Many resorts and hotels are less than 25% full, which is VERY unusual. Weather wise, it's not supposed to be very nice. Top that off with tourists having to cut costs because they can't afford to drive up here anymore...well, I feel really bad for the businesses up here that depend on tourist dollars to survive. The high gas costs certainly have a trickle-down theory that is going to really be felt for many months to come. Driving up here is only part of it. Take a guess at what the marina's are charging per gallon for gas up here on the chain? a few at $6+ a gallon. Now THAT is price gauging and those assholes should be penalized for it.

What irritates me most is that NOTHING is being done about the situation. My hell, if gas goes down to $2.50 a gal, we'll be saying how cheap gas is! Something is very wrong with that picture.

[MJZiggy]

There was talk this week about strictly enforcing gouging restrictions. Now I wonder if that was locally here or whether it applied to marinas or just gas stations...

[packinpatland]

3.45 in Wausau. That means it's probably over 3.50 in the northwoods.

$3.49 here in the Northwoods. (Eagle River)

I've been working up here the past 3 weeks and businesses are already off to a much slower start for tourists. Memorial Weekend is usually the kick-off of the tourist season up here. Many resorts and hotels are less than 25% full, which is VERY unusual. Weather wise, it's not supposed to be very nice. Top that off with tourists having to cut costs because they can't afford to drive up here anymore...well, I feel really bad for the businesses up here that depend on tourist dollars to survive. The high gas costs certainly have a trickle-down theory that is going to really be felt for many months to come. Driving up here is only part of it. Take a guess at what the marina's are charging per gallon for gas up here on the chain? a few at $6+ a gallon. Now THAT is price gauging and those assholes should be penalized for it.

What irritates me most is that NOTHING is being done about the situation. My hell, if gas goes down to $2.50 a gal, we'll be saying how cheap gas is! Something is very wrong with that picture.

I'm not disagreeing that prices are needing to be more regulated. There should be no gouging. Gas for a boat should cost the same as for a car. Gas is gas.

But think about it, my car has a 14 gallon tank, at $3.00, it would cost $42.00 to fill. Add another $1, to $4.00 a gallon, it costs $56.00 to fill. If you can't afford an increment of $14-20, maybe you can't afford to go on vacation.
We in the US are just starting to see prices that Europe and the rest of the world have for a long time. You just don't see large cars in Europe. They are not all driving hy-brids, just smaller cars.

[GBRulz]

PIP, look at the whole picture though. When President Bush took office, gas was at $1.15 per gallon. Let's say a family drives from central IL to northern WI, towing their boat with their truck - which is about 800 miles round trip. Almost 3 fill-ups for that vacation. a few years ago, they filled up their truck for $23. Today? $75. Multiply the $52 difference x 3...we're up to $106. Let's add in the gas for the boat. Easily another $200 difference. So, this weekend trip is now costing $375 more than the same trip a few years back.

Weekend trips are very popular with families who either don't have the time to take a trip down to Disney, or they simply cannot afford something like that. So, yes - your $20 increases per fill-up is making it where some cannot afford to go on vacation.

[HarveyWallbangers]

The sad thing is that no matter how much people complain, it doesn't really affect most peoples day-to-day lives as much as they'd like you to think. People complained when it went over $1 gallon in the 70s. They complained when it went over $2/gallon in the 80s. Of course, when you figure out fuel efficiency improvements

My suggestion is to buy a house close to where you work, and don't drive so much. Seems to work in Europe. Of course, that's not really feasible here.

These $3/gallon prices suck, but the article is still pertinent today--although prices have increased since this article was written, but not by enough to skew the results of the findings all that much.

Gas prices too high? Not by historical standards
By Mark J. Perry, USA Today

If you're like most Americans, you have probably found yourself complaining lately about the high price of gasoline — especially if you just spent a day or two in the car over Memorial Day weekend.

A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll in May found that 59% of those surveyed said high gas prices had caused a hardship on them.

You might even find yourself longing for the good old days of cheap gas. If so, think again. Gas prices today, by any measure that adjusts for inflation and rising real income, are a bargain.

Gas prices appear to be at a historical high, and prices of the past appear to be cheap (17 cents per gallon in the 1930s, a quarter in the 1950s and 50 cents in the 1970s). But this is a classic example of "money illusion." In real inflation-adjusted dollars, gas prices are the same or lower today than in most previous decades.

Measured in real dollars, gas prices peaked in March 1981 at more than $3 per gallon. We have not even come close to paying the highest real gas price in history — today's prices are still 30% below the all-time high.

We can compare gas prices over time by calculating the cost of 1,000 gallons of gas purchased at the average price in a given year, as a percentage of per-capita disposable income in that year. For example, in 1935, when gas prices were 17 cents per gallon and annual disposable income was $466, the cost of 1,000 gallons of gas was 36% of average disposable income. Today, it takes less than 7% of our disposable income to buy 1,000 gallons of gas at the current $2.10 a gallon. The "cheap" gas of the '60s and '70s cost about 12% as a share of income.

Prices stable

Gas prices since the mid-1980s have not only been more affordable as a share of income than at any time, they also have been remarkably stable. The recent small increase in gas prices relative to income is fairly insignificant.

Further, we can avoid money illusion by pricing gas in "minutes of work at the average wage per gallon of gas," instead of dollars per gallon. Priced in minutes per gallon, you certainly wouldn't be longing for yesteryear's gas prices.

A typical American working today at the average hourly wage of $17.50 works about seven minutes to buy a gallon of gas for $2.10. In contrast, the average worker in the 1930s worked more than 20 minutes to buy a gallon of gas. During the 1940s, it took 12 minutes of work. During the 1950s, it took about 10 minutes per gallon.

Cost in minutes

Americans are paying about the same for gas in minutes per gallon today (7.2 minutes) as during the 1970s, when the retail price was only 40 cents per gallon, and much less than during the early 1980s (more than 10 minutes per gallon) when real gas prices peaked.

Finally, consider the consumers in most other countries. With the exception of members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, such as Iran, U.S. gas prices are lower than almost anywhere in the world.

Go to Europe and you'll pay from $5 to $7 per gallon — even in Finland and the United Kingdom, which are major oil producers and exporters. In Mexico, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, they pay $3.20 per gallon, about the same as in India, Brazil and Singapore.

Consumers might have a lot of gripes to justifiably complain about, but the illusory high price of gas is not one of them.

The good old days of cheap U.S. gas are here now.

[HarveyWallbangers]

PIP, look at the whole picture though. When President Bush took office, gas was at $1.15 per gallon. Let's say a family drives from central IL to northern WI, towing their boat with their truck - which is about 800 miles round trip. Almost 3 fill-ups for that vacation. a few years ago, they filled up their truck for $23. Today? $75. Multiply the $52 difference x 3...we're up to $106. Let's add in the gas for the boat. Easily another $200 difference. So, this weekend trip is now costing $375 more than the same trip a few years back.

Weekend trips are very popular with families who either don't have the time to take a trip down to Disney, or they simply cannot afford something like that. So, yes - your $20 increases per fill-up is making it where some cannot afford to go on vacation.

Of course, when Bush took over gas prices were at the lowest price they had been (adjusted for inflaction) since before 1970. They were much higher throughout the 20 years previous (on averaged, adjusted for inflation), and they had peaked in 1981 (oil crisis) and the early 1990s (Gulf War). How much were you making in annual salary in 1981, 1991, 2001?

Comparing the price of gas in the middle of winter (when Bush took office) and the middle of summer is apples to oranges anyways (faulty statistics). It was just a few months ago that prices were in the low $2/gallon range.

The bigger problem that I see is that there really isn't a supply or demand problem right now. Companies are jacking up prices because of anticipated supply problems (e.g. they know consumers usually buy a lot more gas this time of year). That's just wrong.

[GBRulz]

ok, to be fair. I will compare summer of 2001 to now: (see below). and yes, funny how a few months ago...right around election time, gas prices were at their lowest in a couple years. The mid-term elections ended, and funny how prices have been climbing ever since. Hard for me to see that it's not about politics.

BTW, my salary in 1991 was $4.10 an hour...my first job...at McD's in HS! lol

Average price per gallon of self-serve regular
Atlanta, $1.45

Boston, $1.61

Dallas, $1.61

Los Angeles, $1.74

Miami, $1.61

Milwaukee, $1.78

St. Louis, $1.68

Source: Lundberg Survey

[HarveyWallbangers]

ok, to be fair. I will compare summer of 2001 to now: (see below). and yes, funny how a few months ago...right around election time, gas prices were at their lowest in a couple years. The mid-term elections ended, and funny how prices have been climbing ever since. Hard for me to see that it's not about politics.

There's nothing funny about it. It's a seasonal thing. Prices go up and down every year around the same time.

Don't you think it would have also been funny that gas prices were at their lowest level in 8 years at the time when Bush took office (the election in 2000--when the Democrats controlled the White House)?

[Partial]

Why does everything have to be political? I think it has much more to do with the anticipated shortage, the increasing demand due to summer, and the nationalization of Venezuelan oil fields.

The one thing we can really criticize the government about here is NOT giving adequate funds to UW, UM and UC-Berkely money to research and determine how alternate fuel sources.

[GBRulz]

Harv, I'm not disagreeing at all that it's a seasonal thing. but each of the past couple years, we've been reaching record highs for gas, adjusted for inflation. I'm pissed because nothing is being done about it and quite honestly, what IS the reason it's so high? They really don't have one! Like you said, to raise it for anticipated short supplies is wrong. I haven't seen any signs in front of gas stations saying "Sorry, we're closed...out of gas".

[HarveyWallbangers]

Adjusted for inflation, oil prices during the Clinton years were at their lowest during his final year in office. The rest of his time in office, prices were approximately 40% higher. Kind of hard to blame anybody. Carter was dealt a bad blow with the oil crisis. Prices actually dropped 50% during the Reagan years. Of course, there was no oil crisis during the Reagan years. Prices spiked during the first Gulf War, and then remained the same throughout Clinton's years--until his last year in office. Prices have risen pretty steadily since 9/11.

[MJZiggy]

At least we know where to drive to...

Nation's Cheapest Gas Found in N.J.
May 24, 2007 - 4:39pm
By CHRIS NEWMARKER
Associated Press Writer

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Motorists heading out on vacation this Memorial Day weekend will find it pays to fill 'er up in New Jersey, home of the cheapest gas in the nation, according to AAA.

At an average $2.95 for a gallon of regular, New Jersey was the only state Thursday where the average price was below $3, the automobile association said.

Prices at New Jersey pumps Thursday were about 50 cents less per gallon than states with the highest prices _ Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and California.

One of the big reasons for the cheaper gas: lower gas taxes.

"The tax rate is among the lowest in the country, versus New York, which has one of the highest rates," said Ron Planting, an economist with the Washington, D.C.-based American Petroleum Institute.

According to a March API report, New Jerseyans paid 32.9 cents per gallon in state and federal taxes, the third-lowest rate in the country.

Having refineries in-state that are producing the gas helps, too, said AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman David Weinstein, because it cuts down on the cost of getting the gas to the consumer.

Along the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, where prices are changed once per week, a gallon of regular was going for $2.91 but was set to go up to $2.98 on Friday, according to a New Jersey Turnpike Authority spokesman.

(Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
By CHRIS NEWMARKER
Associated Press Writer

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Motorists heading out on vacation this Memorial Day weekend will find it pays to fill 'er up in New Jersey, home of the cheapest gas in the nation, according to AAA.

At an average $2.95 for a gallon of regular, New Jersey was the only state Thursday where the average price was below $3, the automobile association said.

Prices at New Jersey pumps Thursday were about 50 cents less per gallon than states with the highest prices _ Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and California.

One of the big reasons for the cheaper gas: lower gas taxes.

"The tax rate is among the lowest in the country, versus New York, which has one of the highest rates," said Ron Planting, an economist with the Washington, D.C.-based American Petroleum Institute.

According to a March API report, New Jerseyans paid 32.9 cents per gallon in state and federal taxes, the third-lowest rate in the country.

Having refineries in-state that are producing the gas helps, too, said AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman David Weinstein, because it cuts down on the cost of getting the gas to the consumer.

Along the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, where prices are changed once per week, a gallon of regular was going for $2.91 but was set to go up to $2.98 on Friday, according to a New Jersey Turnpike Authority spokesman.