Gasoline is about $4.50/gal around here now. What do you think

[The_Casual_Observer]

they are planning to go with this? My gut feeling is they are looking at about $7.50 by the end of the year.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

1. My wife and I have a lease which expires in september

losing the minivan will be hard....

hybrid suggestions? two kids both in car seats..

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Honda Civic

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

18. Im not looking forward on having *no* back seat because of the two car seats

Also we are a one car family so not having something a little larger means running errands becomes an issue..

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. I understand....

they are starting to come up with hybrid vans... they have better MPG but not as good as the cars

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

25. Yes my ideal world

is two cars they hybrid minivan coming out in 2009 and the Prius G3 coming out in 2009 unfortunately my lease expires in 2008

[LeftyMom]

35. Best bet would be to make sure the two seats can fit next to each other

with room left to use the third seat. Depending on the size of the kids, which models I'd suggest would vary, but even a small car should be able to fit three car seats or two seats and an adult, assuming you pick the seats wisely.

Two new seats, even very nice high end ones, would pay for themselves pretty quickly, if it meant you could fit the family in a more economical car.

[Trailrider1951]

38. My daughter and son-in-law put three kids, all in car seats,

in the back seat of their 2002 Prius. The kids age from 5 to 2, and it's a tight squeeze, but they do it. The minivan is too old, and too expensive. The newer, redesigned Prius is a larger vehicle with even better gas mileage. I bought one last July and I'm soooo glad I did.

[LSparkle]

2. If the Rethugs have ANY desire to win in November, it'll come down this fall

Just like it has in prior election years ...

[DJ13]

3. I bet it will be back near $3 by November

In 2004 they pulled this same trick (down to the low $2 range) just in time for an important election.

Now that us sheep are conditioned with $4+ gas, they expect us to be grateful with $3 gas.

[El Pinko]

27. I think you're right.

NT

[Art_from_Ark]

31. And a lot of people will be grateful for $3 gas

"See? Them Republikans really do care about us! They're makin' gas cheap agin!"

[Hydra]

4. Whatever the market will bear

Your feeling of $7.50 is not out of the realm- consider what a strike on Iran would do.

[loveable liberal]

5. higher the better... need $7 a gallon

Then we'll see some movement on green issues. Best thing for us really. And we can blame it all on the illegitimate turd occupying the white house and his whore vp.

[ReadTomPaine]

10. And to raise the awareness against sex crimes, everyone should be raped?

You don't stop abuse by punishing the victims and rewarding the assailant. The movement toward a green economy is going to happen when the stick gets put away and the carrots come out.

Right now that money you want to give away is going directly into the war chests of the people you hate, making them stronger. This isn't Europe - those high prices don't subsidize anything here but big oil's bottom line. Aim at the right target - the enemy isn't your fellow American.

[Electric Flag]

14. Excuse me, have you been paying ANY attention to what's happening around you?

SUV sales are plummeting, gas-guzzlers like the Hummer are waiting to be slashed from the lineup, there's a resurgence in interest for alternative fuels and hybrid or electrical engines and in train travel. People are opting out of taking the car and instead walking or taking the bike on those shorter trips where the car is totally unnecessary. The awareness about our wasteful lifestyle is heightening.

There is only one way to force this nation out of the fossil fuel complacency. That is for gas prices to go UP, UP and still farther UP. This may not be Europe, but we still need European gas prices. Your rape analogy is really stupid, and wrong. We are raping the environment right NOW, and high gas prices is what it will take to stop it. The market won't take care of this by itself, it is a shift that needs to be forced. Should the prices ever go down again, we need to start slapping bigger taxes on it like they do in Europe. I'd like to see $10 gas by next year. I promise you that pretty soon you'll have the market bringing out some really fuel efficient vehicles - which would not happen should we be paying $2/gal again.

[ReadTomPaine]

15. The idea that we have to pay obscene oil industry profits as some sort of penance to become green...

is one of the strangest delusions I've ever come across. It seems the eyes that need opening the most are your own.

Here's a hint - the solution to stopping big oil's gluttonous ways does not involve giving them quarter after quarter of record breaking profits at the expense of the poor. One would think that simple concept would be clear on its face, but apparently it bears repeating. The next time this thought enters your head - do yourself and the rest of us a favor and smack it back out into the trash before you continue making a fool of yourself.

Aim your sights on the enemy - the industry itself, and not on your neighbors and their tastes. There is almost no step too drastic to take against the energy monopolies, given what's transpired here over the last several decades and since 2000 in particular. Those are the moves that need to be made - not breaking the back of the middle class with 10$ a gallon gas because you don't like people who drive trucks. Real social change is about doing the best for everyone while making the fewest people suffer, it's not about using ecology as a cudgel to gratify your vindictive judgments against your fellow man.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

21. Are you paying attention to whats happening around you?

The poor are getting squeezed, food and *everything* that gets shipped is more expensive and families are hurting... yea 7$ a gallon would be great...

And I say this as someone who has a 3 mile commute, hell if I did not have to take my kid into daycare I would probably just bike in..

[stevedeshazer]

22. That's a prescription for a new Great Depression

Be careful what you wish for.

[Missy Vixen]

30. Oh, okay, the rape analogy doesn't work for you?

How about the "fucking for virginity" analogy?

Do you realize that every cent the price of gas goes up RIGHT NOW, there are kids in America that will go to bed hungry, because the price of food is EXPLODING right along with the price of gas? Then again, it doesn't matter what desperate things their parents or others are driven to to keep a roof over their heads, food in their stomachs, and actually be able to drive to work, right? They should have just bought a goddamn Prius when they had the chance, shouldn't they?

I listened to a woman working at a dry cleaners' today tell me that the family car is a ten-year-old Bronco. It's $50 for half a tank. Feel free to laugh at her because she's not living a "green" lifestyle. One doesn't get rich working at a dry cleaners, and we live in a rural area with little mass transit. She has to get to work somehow.

You don't pay much attention to things around you, either, do you? This is catastrophic to those who are already on the edge. Maybe you don't give a shit if they teeter over, but the rest of us are struggling as well. In the meantime, the oil companies are raking in record profits, and our electeds are sitting on their asses, far from the carnage.

Julie

[loveable liberal]

36. So whats the answer?

Gas is not going back down, sorry to say. Also sorry that your dry cleaner owns a Bronco. Since necessity is (and always has been) the mother of invention I believe in pulling the band-aid off quickly as it produces the least amount of suffering.

When gas becomes unaffordable is when we will see the greatest change. And its getting there.

Finally, you dont know me, you dont know my situation, you are not in any position to judge my suffering. Keep your projections to yourself.

[Missy Vixen]

37. So it's okay for you to project your wishful thinking onto others?

>Finally, you dont know me, you dont know my situation, you are not in any position to judge my suffering. Keep your projections to yourself.<

When you make a sweeping statement that you hope gas goes up to a point at which it's unaffordable for the vast number of Americans, I'm going to speak up, and I'm going to get a fairly good idea of what you're like. For those who do their best 40+ hours a week and have no access to mass transit, you're sentencing them to a fairly ugly end. There is no "least amount of suffering" for those who aren't going to be able to feed, house and clothe themselves and their families as the price of fuel continues to spiral, and it's just the beginning. There will be deaths this winter on the East Coast because people won't be able to afford to heat their homes, for instance.

I read the smug pronouncements of those who believe they have the answer and just don't care about how it affects others here daily. It's not just the gas. It's food. It's jobs. It's the fact that the crime rate will also shoot through the roof as people get more and more desperate, too. The oil companies are still raking in unbelievable profits, and our electeds are turning a blind eye while they fight over steroids in MLB and other time-wasting discussions. I realize that there are electeds like Dennis Kucinich that actually give a shit. Hopefully, he can work on some of the others who just don't seem to understand how catastrophic this will be.

Julie

[loveable liberal]

40. Is gas not going up?

Yes, people suffer during economic crisis, people suffer all the time. Instead of railing on me why dont you offer a solution. My solution is to price gas out of affordability to force the nation to break its dependence on foreign oil.

So you'd rather gas prices go down so we can extend our dependence? There have been starving kids and kids without health care when gas was $1.20 a gallon, so whats your point? (aside from my personal attributes).

>When you make a sweeping statement that you hope gas goes up to a point at which it's unaffordable for the vast number of Americans, I'm going to speak up, and I'm going to get a fairly good idea of what you're like. For those who do their best 40+ hours a week and have no access to mass transit, you're sentencing them to a fairly ugly end. There is no "least amount of suffering" for those who aren't going to be able to feed, house and clothe themselves and their families as the price of fuel continues to spiral, and it's just the beginning. There will be deaths this winter on the East Coast because people won't be able to afford to heat their homes, for instance.<

1. people are not planted, they wont stand in one place and starve to death.
2. gas is not unaffordable to a "vast" number of americans, we just cant afford to do anything else.
3. Not haveing access to mass transit is not a death sentence.
4. Minnesota has "cold weather protection" in which it is illegal for utilities to shut off heat
sources from 10/15 to 04/15 every year. It is true for Wisconsin and NoDak, and I would imagine
it is true for any other rust belt state.
5. you dont have any idea what I'm like, assumestress.

edited for continued rant.

[loveable liberal]

32. I would say gas prices and rape are two different things.

People who buy SUV's make a choice. I have a 1995 jetta that gets 34 mpg with 190000 miles on it. I'm waiting to buy a car that gets at least 70 mpg. They are out there. I would prefer a total electric vehicle which I may have to build myself. I am tired of subsidizing the price of gas for people whose vehicle only gets 18 mpg.

And where is the carrot going to come from? We went through the same damn thing back in the '70's but no one had the balls to improve anything; we learned nothing!! We dont need a friggen carrot, we need a bigger stick.

[lumberjack_jeff]

34. The logic is the same. Suffering is a prerequisite for reform.

Thus, for reformers, widespread suffering is a worthy goal.

[loveable liberal]

41. Thats fine I guess.

But consider what some consider suffering. We're certainly not being butchered in Darfur, our streets dont have tanks rolling through them (yet anyway); my point is that regardless of the situation here, we as americans, still have it pretty good compared to the rest of the world. So when someone compares gas prices to rape I just think there is a better way to describe it.

And this reformer is willing to suffer along with everyone else. Its not like I'm asking everyone else to do the suffering. My family is suffering too.

[LSK]

33. its a record year for Tornados this year, you think thats by chance??????

:shrug:

[taterguy]

12. Most of the wasted gas in this country isn't influenced by price

The trips where people have viable options are the shortest trips, ones where people could walk or ride a bike. Of course those are also the cheapest. Even at 7 bucks a trip within cycling distance is still less than a cup of coffee for most people.

You'll need a much bigger bribe if financial motives are the only thing that inspires people to conserve.

So seven dollar a gallon gas won't change much, except for squeezing already tight budgets.

[wvbygod]

17. Only if you like inflation and the poor getting poorer

Maybe you can handle doubling the price of everything people need but most can't. I also
assume you don't buy much gasoline if at all.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. i am loving that bike more and more, I tell you

At that level there will be a fair number of people who will not make enough to put gas in the tank

[featherman]

8. We're paying $4.65 for regular now here in rural NorCal... I'm thinking that

$4.00 gas will soon be remembered as the "good old days".

[hvn_nbr_2]

9. If the 2006 election is any guide...

It'll be coming down and then stay down till election day. Exactly on election day it'll start jumping back up. In 2006 it jumped on election day, again the next day, and continued to rise. They'll make up some bullshit explanation, and GOPPravda will recite the incantation endlessly, adding "Amen, brother. As you say, so it is. Praise Almighty Exxon."

[DFW]

11. In my neck of the woods, we would be thrilled to have it go down to $7.50 a gallon.

We're around $8.90 right now.

[pitohui]

13. my gut feeling is they'll gouge all summer and drop price right before the election

you read it here first

[anigbrowl]

16. No, it'll go down by about 10%

Demand is highest during the summer. Also, the price of oil has fallen off its high over the last couple of weeks, going from $135 back down towards $120. Additionally, the administration will probably do something (anything) during the summer/fall to try and releive the pressure - 50% for regular economic stability, 50% to avoid getting completely creamed in November.

Now way will prices rise to $7.50 within 6 months. Underlying fundamentals don't demand it and it would send the economy into a severe tailspin. But within the next few years, for sure. Check this out:

http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11453151

A liter is about a quart, but that doesn't really matter, just consider the US price as 1 (it's close enough) and the others as multiples of that. It's up to date. (Click on it to go to the full story, which is worth reading).

There's a reason I have a nuclear symbol as my avatar. It's not the whole solution, but it's sure part of it.

[rucky]

19. Watch for semis parked on the side of the freeways.

[Blarch]

20. In the suburbs of Chicago

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[nadinbrzezinski]

24. I rode by the gas station today

it was 4.60... I had to smile

[dysfunctional press]

26. i think it will level off around $5 for awhile.

$7.50 by the end of the year means that we've bombed iran.

[XOKCowboy]

28. Well in Belize it was $11.50 a gallon last week...

The dive boats didn't leave without a full load of divers. I haven't checked since I got back. I love my little 4banger Dodge.

[SergeyDovlatov]

29. more people are switching to public transport

Buses that usually run nearly empty in my area now are about 50% loaded. More people opt to use buses to commute and save on gas.

As to what can be done about it?

Stop wasting money on the war. Used saved money to pay the deficit and calm the world that we are not going to attack Iran and Syria.

Though Obama performance at AIPAC did not strike me as reassuring that we are not going into Iran.

[SergeyDovlatov]

39. I think prices of everything else will start catching up with the inflation ...

not just oil.

Unfortunately wage increases will lag and won't be enough to compensate for the inflation.

Moreover, it will not make US govt inflation statistics since it excludes prices for food and energy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_inflation

The concept of core inflation as aggregate price growth excluding food and energy was introduced in a 1975 paper by Robert J. Gordon.<1> This is the definition of "core inflation" most used for political purposes.