Drivers face $3.50 gasoline this spring

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumers will pay record prices for gasoline this spring, with national monthly pump costs peaking near $3.50 per gallon when the busy driving season begins, the government's top energy forecasting agency said Tuesday.

Higher crude oil prices, which last week topped a record $100 a barrel, are pushing up motor fuel costs, the Energy Information Administration said in its new monthly forecast.

The price of crude oil now accounts for about two-thirds of the cost of making gasoline, according to the Energy Department's analytical arm.

Tight supplies caused by global oil demand growing faster than new oil production is behind higher petroleum costs. And consumers should not expect a break any time soon.

"Global oil markets will likely remain tight through 2008, then ease moderately in 2009," the EIA said. "Both motor gasoline and diesel prices are projected to average over $3 per gallon in 2008 and 2009, with monthly average gasoline prices peaking near $3.50 per gallon this spring."

The national price for gasoline jumped 5.6 cents over the last week alone and now stands at $3.11 a gallon, up 80 cents from a year ago.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0850195420080108?sp=true

[russian33]

1. already paying close to $3.30

in CT...

[havocmom]

3. Me too

Luckily, I don't like to travel much.

[MadMaddie]

2. If you are in the Seattle area...like me I am betting $4.00+

[dweller]

4. thus, Oil companies will have to face

more record profits, again.

dp

[Hotler]

68. 400cc dirtbike set up for street.

easy 50 plus mpg, cheap tags, lic. plates, insurance, and a hoot to ride. If I can get traction and there is no black ice I rade all year long, and I'm in near Denver. Heated vest and a set of heated hand grips work well.

[spindrifter]

5. It's already hovering just barely below

$3.50 at many Seattle gas stations. I am not sure, but think part of our price problem is the gas and sales taxes we have. If I'm in Pierce county (just south of Seattle), the price is generally a bit lower.

[Mythsaje]

13. It's around 3.15 down here...n/t

Or it was yesterday.

[XemaSab]

6. It's already 3.40 here

:(

[7 of 11]

7. I don't give a shit...Im smart and drive a prius

Yup my little 2005 wonder mobile! You should get one too!!!

[awoke_in_2003]

11. I am driving

my 24 year old Harley Davidson. Gets 40 MPG if I am getting on it, but normal driving I get 48 MPG. And, two wheels are funner than 4 :)

[melm00se]

19. dead on n/t

[progressivebydesign]

16. Not everyone can afford a new car in America.

the people that can least afford the expensive gas, can also least afford a car that doesn't need so much. sadly.

[7 of 11]

40. It doesnt have to be a 27,000 Prius

A small used JAPANESE car like a 1997-2002 Honda civic wont cost that much and the savings in gas will make the car payments more affordable.

Also, drive slower, Don't jack rabbit start when the light turns green. It really is about using less and being more environmentally sound by polluting less. But best of all I get pleasure out of the fact that the fat oil cats cant take me to the cleaners! What better way to tell them to fuck off than to buy less of their shit?

[sofa king]

52. Scooters are a viable option.

I've been bombing around on a little 50cc Hyosung scooter. It gets 80 mpg wide open, maybe 100 if I went slower, and it seems to be bulletproof, because it won't break. Bad weather sucks, but so do payments, insurance and a license, none of which I need in Virginia to do 35 mph on any road other than interstates. Costs about $1,800.

It's a two-stroke, which isn't great for the environment, but on the other hand I burned only 26 gallons of gas and a quart of oil last year. I'm sure there are still Cadillacs out there that burn both every week.

[physioex]

26. Huh.....

Sounds like the republican mantra "I got mine, screw everyone else". It is easy to take a complicated situation and simplify things isn't it?

[7 of 11]

39. No it's called adjsuting to your reality

First of all Repukes hate the Prius. why? Because it oozes with common sense and is actually environmentally friendly. I don't know why the neocons hate the idea of living in a clean environment, but they do.

But back to my point. If we ALL drove cars that averaged about 47PMG and carpooled (I dont though) or lived within 3 miles of work (I do) or jsut used mass transit, gas prices would not be an issue. Should gasoline rates be regulated? Yes of course! should oil companys be taxed heavily for excess profit when there is no real reason except for the fact that they manipulate the system so they can reap in immoral rewards. Yes they should be taxed extremely heavily!! But that wont happen anytime in the near future and so we have to adjust to the surroundings that have been forced upon us. And yes, I agree with what you said sometimes the solution is very simple.

And one last thing: I resent your, "I got mine, screw everyone else" comment.It is almost bigoted and hurtful. I'm by now means rich yet I would gladly share my car if anyone that I know I can trust needed it. In not a greedy selfish person. If you needed to borrow it, just ask! That goes for anything I own. It is my philosophy that anything I own, I don't; I'm just borrowing it my self till it or I die.

[physioex]

50. Belated welcome to DU.....

I wasn't implying you were rich but it seemed like you were acting like this problem doesn't affect me so I am not concerned about others in a difficult situation.

The economic benefits of the Prius are still questionable. What happens when the battery pack wears out? How much more did you spend on a hyrbid intially? How much more will you have to pay for maintenance? You realize that Cooter's Garage probably can't fix this car. I happen to be driving a 93 Taurus which is very simple to maintain, going strong, no car payments, and requires only minimal insurance. So even with gasoline at $4 you may not be saving as much as you think.

[7 of 11]

65. True but

The battery is fully recyclable

The car millage will increase with newer battery technologies, you canst say that about an internal combustion engine.

Maintenance? Its a bloody Toyota made in Yokohama Japan. What maintenance....I have so far only changed the oil and windshield wipers.
But you do have a point, crazy Cooter knows nothing about my car.

My Hybrid out the door in May 20 2005 went for $26,001 on the nose. It is the highest version of that year and I didn't have to wait because the person that ordered it canceled. I happen to be in the right place at the right time. And it was love at first sight!

Although there was a higher cost that the Camry I was looking for I did get a $3,500 tax credit. AND carpool lane stickers.

So I don't have any regrets!

[Hulk]

8. Get used to it America....the big oil companies have only BEGUN to screw you!!

These greedy blood suckers know that their days are numbered. Put yourself in their shoes. They are going to push that gas up to the ceiling, and YOU'LL PAY IT FOLKS! You have no choice. They'll gladly point out that the price of gas in Europe is $XX.00 a gallon. Only difference is, it's the same stinking oil companies raping them, and their governments have the good sense to tax the living shit out of the gallon of gas. HERE...the oil companies make all the money....the government = peanuts.
They'll lower their prices right after the bush twins are drafted into the marines.

[progressivebydesign]

17. people say it's "peak oil", when in reality it's "peak greed".

And it's not just the oil companies now. I did some research after reading an article on the massive profits of purchasing and holding oil.. and how companies like goldman sachs and insurance companies are making billions by holding supplies back to wait for better prices. I'm so ready to send that oilman back to Crawford.. or Kennebunkport or whatever it is.

[Dukkha]

9. and no one will care

we see this pathetic phony outrage every year with the even phonier "investigations" that result in nothing but higher prices and everyone just takes it and buys more SUVs.

[Malidictus Maximus]

10. Still pretty cheap

by international standards. I don't think we can expect much, if any sympathy from the Japanese or Europeans.

I think it will take upwards of four bucks a gallon before most folks stop driving solo and/or huge vehicles.
Love flying past 'Stangs, 'vetts and Ford Excretions stuck in the 'riding with Osama' lanes while we blast down the carpool lane.

Oil is too damn valuable to be converting into hydrocarbons for energy..plenty of ways to generate power, damn few to make plastics without petrochemicals.

[Skittles]

20. please stop

when they pay thousands a year in medical and dental /insurance bills I'll feel sorry for their $6 gas

[Nihil]

22. Tum-te-tum ... just a quick FYI ...

> when they pay thousands a year in medical and dental /insurance bills
> I'll feel sorry for their $6 gas

Technically we do (in the UK at least) as the National Insurance deduction
is about 11% from the employee and 12% direct from the employer (if my memory
serves me correctly) so yes, I *do* pay thousands of *pounds* a year ...

I rarely go to the doctor's (not once last year) and this would not cover me
for any dental work either. On the other hand, my kids get free dental cover
and it didn't cost me anything when my wife was exceedingly ill a few years
back so there's no way I'd swap the NHS for cheap petrol (I just wish there
were more doctors & nurses and fewer administrators but that's a different
story)!

:hi:

[Skittles]

46. let me ask you

do you think you will ever be in danger of losing your house and or being on the streets because of medical bills? That's what's happening to two friends of mine right now.

By the way, I lived in England 11 years and me mum and a brother are Brits so I know NHS. Believe me, I'd take expensive gas for it.

My brother Glenn and I in Peterborough:



P.S. My beloved English grandfather was one of the guys trapped at Dunkirk and picked up by a tiny fishing boat - yes INDEED! :hi:

[sofa king]

53. Americans may lose homes over gas prices alone.

Not only do we not have universal health care, we also have shitty public transportation and a terrible social safety net. You watch: plenty of people are going to go broke driving to their no-benefit temp jobs, and they won't be able to move away from Outer Suburbia because nobody else will want to pay to live there, either.

It's happening a lot slower than I expected, but at this point I don't think it will be long at all before the lower and middle classes pump their life savings through their gas tanks and then lose their homes. I think it's just what those bastards want: clean us out, buy up our land, then let us back on it as serfs. Serfin' USA.

[Nihil]

54. Hopefully never.

I've been in danger of losing my house through lack of employment
but, thankfully, never from medical bills. I wasn't fighting your
comment but just wanted to point out that all wage-earners above
a very low starting point *do* pay towards the NHS.

> By the way, I lived in England 11 years and me mum and a brother are Brits
> so I know NHS. Believe me, I'd take expensive gas for it.

I had a suspicion that you had been over here for a while at some
point but as your profile said Texas I thought it was my memory
confusing usernames. (You did look cute then though! Awww!)

> P.S. My beloved English grandfather was one of the guys trapped at
> Dunkirk and picked up by a tiny fishing boat - yes INDEED!

Odd synchronicity: I was talking to a chap at Christmas whose father
was *piloting* a small boat back and forwards at Dunkirk?! Small world.
(My Dad was in RAF training at that point before shipping out to
North Africa & Italy later in the war.)
:hi:

[Skittles]

57. another thing people in Europe don't understand

we simply don't have the mass transit system y'all (Texas talk there) do. I live in the Dallas metropolex but I could not even visit my boyfriend in a small town near the Oklahoma border 50 miles away without driving.

I'm very proud of my English heritage and still retain a few things from those days - I keep my fork upside-down in my left hand when I eat, I douse my potatoes with vinegar, rain does not phase me at all. I have vacationed many times in England in the past (one of my brothers is English and lives outside of Peterborough) although bush killing the dollar has made that much less likely now. My mum is from a tiny town near Great Yarmouth and my dad was a Air Force serviceman. My grandfather - the only thing he ever said about Dunkirk was, "I could dive under a jeep faster than anyone". :D

[CRF450]

49. Um, Mustangs and Vettes do get decent gas milage.

The new Corvettes which now have over 400hp can reach 30mpg pretty easy on the highway at 65mph, and they typically average in the low 20's.

[Malidictus Maximus]

60. True

My drummer has one and it gets good mileage. Funnier than hell to see him pull up with a drum kit filling the thing up, but he swears it gets 27 MPG.

But I *DO* love self righteously flying along in the carpool lane with the wife, in my 130K miles little Honda that tops out at about 85 MPH ('the roar of the four, we call it) while these 140 mph sports cars and big honkin' SUVs are stuck in the other lanes (I call the non-carpool lanes the "riding with Osama lanes)

Once gas hits about six bucks a gallon or so then there will be enough political pressure (at least around here) to make mass transport viable, because any mass transportation system ain't going to be cheap here in northern California; even at four bucks a gallon even the lower middle classes around here will drive- because the time cost of using our nearly non-existent public transportation system are grievous.

[AndyTiedye]

12. That Works out to $3 in Red States, $4 in Blue States

Gotta keep that red state discount in effect during an election year!

[pinniped]

14. I don't have to wait for Spring to arrive to pay $3.50+.

.

[PittPoliSci]

23. turbo-charged car?

i know one of my friends is feeling it. he has a subaru STI, and has to pump 93 octane into it, so gas for him always is 3.50 a gallon.

[CRF450]

48. I have to buy premium for my car too, so far its $3.35 here while regular is $3.05

[pinniped]

55. San Franciscans always get jacked at the pump.

I was in Vegas last month and the gas was 40 to 50 cents less.

[trogdor]

25. $3.34 in central NY.

Thanks, George.

[progressivebydesign]

15. all because corps like Goldman Sachs have been stockpiling to drive up prices.

I KNEW that there was sooo much more to the high oil prices. I read recently that even insurance companies are buying facilities to stockpile oil, to hold it back for price manipulation. If you recall it was just this week oil hit 100 bux because ONE guy wanted to be famous for being the trader that did it. The trading corporations are making BILLIONS each year in manipulating the price and supply.. add to that the MULTI-BILLION dollar profits of the big oil companies which contribute to our recession.

Hey, it'd be one thing if the oil companies weren't making record profits, I'd understand that somehow oil had become so scarce that it was more expensive, or there were supply problems. But.. the fact that MANY corporations are making BILLIONS each year off of it, tells us we're being totally fleeced.

[freedomnorth]

56. How high system can handle?

Back when oil was 50-60$ there was fear that economy would collapse if price is above 80$. You don't see that much anymore. Apparently there is no limit. I think high prices lead to stagnation. Of course you want to leech as much as you can if you are big corp before shit hits the fan.

[lastliberalintexas]

59. Bingo!

"Hey, it'd be one thing if the oil companies weren't making record profits, I'd understand that somehow oil had become so scarce that it was more expensive, or there were supply problems. But.. the fact that MANY corporations are making BILLIONS each year off of it, tells us we're being totally fleeced."


I've actually seen a few lightbulb moments for republicans when you start talking to them about gas prices in this way. Some will still say "it's the market" or some other free marketeer BS. But the ones who aren't totally brainwashed understand that those record profits mean that we could really still be paying quite a bit less per gallon without any oil company going out of business.

[southerncross48]

18. Try Walking

Try walking!!!!!!! I don't have a tear for Amerikans---how stupid you are!!!!!

[mac56]

29. Charming.

Welcome to DU. Enjoy your stay.

[boricua79]

61. yeah...let me know

how I can get to my job which is 15 miles away...or to my performances, which can be over 1 hour away in a car.

Walking with my instruments for 7 hours is rational to you?

[Javaman]

21. And the frog continues to boil...

please everyone, don't demand good public transportation or the expansion of bus lines.

Please don't demand, actually scream and yell, for alternative fuels that don't rape the environment.

Please don't hold our represent ives accountable.

However, please do bitch and complain and do nothing.


a race to the brick wall at the bottom of the hill...

[rmgarrette64]

33. For the record...

The metaphor is wrong. A frog placed in water that is slowly heated will become increasingly agitated as the temperature rises. It will eventually begin jumping, appearing frantic. If it is able to lead out of the pot, it will do so. (Sorry, cannot find reference, but some one did do the experiment.)

R. Garrett

[ProudDad]

44. Mythbusters? (n/t)

[freedomnorth]

58. What if temperature change takes long enough?

here is some reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog

[Javaman]

64. So we are more like lobsters then. LOL nt

[high density]

24. Don't worry

It will be under $3 gal for the November elections. Then it will probably skyrocket to $4.50 after that, but we'll have that little dip in between.

[Rambis]

27. "1.86$ is unacceptable for a gallon of gas"

GWB 1999

"I would release the strategic oil reserves to keep prices low and jawbone OPEC into producing more".

[mac56]

28. But...but...you forgot!

(All together now, in three-part harmony...)

"9/11 CHANGED EV-RY-THING.....!"

:sarcasm:

[Rambis]

30. Dough!

My fake!:hi:

[boricua79]

62. he ain't jawboning ANYBODY

and we should have been spending massive amounts of resources into alternative fuels. We went to the moon, but can't develop alternative energy sources.

It's a matter of priority...and spending 1 trillion on a war of choice takes priority over Mother Earth and sustainable society.

[Hekate]

31. What? It's going down? --oh, you mean in the rest of the nation. nt

[shenmue]

32. This is really killing working people

More affluent people don't realize that spending $250+ on gas in a month is real and is murder for people who have to live on a shoestring budget. I have to commute to work; apartments are very expensive close to the office, and there are no other jobs right now. Millions of people have to commute to work. They just have to. Gas prices are a reality in the lives of many people. Not everybody can just open their pockets and forget about it.

[eringer]

34. GM needs to hear this and dump everything it has into the Chevy Volt

Both GM and the American people need this car NOW. GWB said a few days ago that he wouldn't release any of the SPR because gasoline prices are a function of supply and demand. Yeah, well George, how do you think the supply side would have looked if you stayed out of Iraq?

[benld74]

35. 1 year ago at ths time the Avg gallon wsa $2.14

[IDemo]

36. And yet, the World Bank is projecting a drop in oil prices this year

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3131062&mesg_id=3131062

[cyr330]

37. Tough Titty

I just paid $3.67 when I filled up last night here in San Francisco. . .

[kineneb]

38. What they mean- by spring, huh? Already $3.30+

the price will never go down, and oil is near $100/barrel. When does that price increase hit the pump price?

Got to get that bicycle trade done (criterium racing bike for quality sturdy commuter model w/fenders).

[judaspriestess]

41. this sucks big time

I'm really glad we baught our Prius last march. We do save tremendously on gas.

[ProudDad]

42. It'll peak at well over $4.00 in the S.F. Bay Area

Get ready for the collapse of the corporate capitalist economy...

[ckramer]

43. What is the cheap Iraqi oil...

...after close to 4000 soldier deaths?

[CRF450]

45. It'll be about $70 to fill up my truck

Which is a much have for my summer job, and it averages 16mpg. I can afford it no problem, but these gas prices have me biting my nails already.

[ckramer]

47. Let it go up to $5

I hate every SUV in front of me blocking my view.

[physioex]

51. That's crazy.....

Even at $5 the Cadillac Escalade drivers would give a crap. What you are asking for would be a disaster since the price of everything would go up most importantly food. This would end up being a regressive tax like the lottery.

[Rockholm]

63. Spring? Paying $3.40 right now.

And on top of that, heating oil delivered on Monday at $3.55 per gallon. Needed 347 gallons. You do the math. I will throw up if I do.

[anakie]

66. between 4.70 and 5.00 USD per US gallon

in Australia at present. As stated above, 3.30 is still pretty cheap by international standards.


Peace

[amborin]

70. gasoline is way too cheap here

maybe if the price exceeded 10.00 per gallon, we'd abandon our huge SUVs and take public transportation

[diane in sf]

67. Paid $3.35 at the cheapest place in town yesterday.

[defendandprotect]

69. We need a Windfall Profits Tax on the oil industry --- Where's the Dem Congress??

[politicallore]

71. did you see the wsj chart?

about the gold price??? Incredible...