How is it that Americans pay so little per gallon of gas yet complain so much about the cost?

Question

In Canada, where I live, gas costs much more per litre or gallon than in the US (and always has), and in Europe gas is a lot higher still.

Yet on Yahoo Answers, all I ever see is Americans moaning about how high the price of gas has gotten. So many of them insist on buying gas chugging SUV dinosaurs that never get taken off road, let alone get dirty.

Why the whining when they have it so good compared to much of the rest of the world? Do they not know that there are countries and economies beyond their borders?

Answer 1

Because we don't care what Canada or Europe thinks or what they pay for fuel.

Americans get pissed of more easily than the world does. You guys just seem to be happy even if you're getting screwed by your Government and big oil Arab countys.

Answer 2

Seriously don't sit there and act like  you don't complain about it either.   The thing that irritates me about the whole deal is that they raise the price of fuel $.20 or more in one day and then drop it down $.10 over the course of a week or more.  They also raise fuel with the anticipation that something bad will happen.  Fuel demand is not up anymore now that it was 5-10 years ago.  Btw what does it matter whether you drive a little car or an SUV.

Answer 3

We're not the least bit concerned with what Europeans, Africans, Asians and Canadians pay for gasoline - or for anything else - and why should we be?

There *is* no country or economy beyond ours.

FWIW, we export crude oil to Canada.

Answer 4

Well those Americans, paid $2.00 per gallon ten years ago, then when gas prices increased and monthly wages didn't, then people started to complain a lot because their monthly savings are now low, since that they spend on gas.

Answer 5

Americans are used to gross overconsumption. Now that the cost of fuel is catching up to the rest of the world, we're experiencing major sticker shock. Our lives revolve around petroleum, from the huge vehicles we drive to the distances we drive to the toys we haul to the river and to the desert to the tools we use to maintain our homes.

Answer 6

Because we had such low prices on oil and gas for so long............hence the reasoning we kept on driving our big trucks and SUV's for so long.

I'm 25 now. When I first started driving, I was 16.

I was paying $0.99 (99 cents) per gallon. $10 filled up my tank and was able to drive around for a week on it.

During the "gas shortage" in the 1970's alot of people started buying the tiny cars that were more fuel efficient. When that "gas shortage" was over, gas prices went back down and remained stable and affordable up until more recently.

Now....the same thing is happening. Prices have dramatically risen, and people are starting to buy the small cars and hybrids. Europe has had high gas prices for a long time now, and it's evident by the cars that they drive.

Make sense?

Of course we know that there's other economies and countries out there, but the specific topic of gas prices in other countries does not concern me. Why?.....because I fill up my gas tank in the U.S. and not somewhere else. Are you really concerned with what someone else in another country pays? Probably not. See what I'm saying?

Have a good day.

Answer 7

It's not the cost we're upset about.  We know that folks in the UK and in Europe pay much higher prices for fuel than we do here in the States...  

What we are complaining about is the rapid rise in cost for no apparent reason!  Why does a barrel of crude oil cost nearly twice as much today as it cost just two years ago... Surely, the cost of producing and shipping the oil has not gone up that much.  

Someone is gouging The WORLD and making an insane profit at the expense of every other working person on the planet.

Answer 8

Canadian bacon....  look at there flag...what is that a weed!!! lol

Answer 9

I don't think their war in Iraq is helping either-which kind of ironic.

Answer 10

Because Americans tend to commute long distances more (many people commute 1-2 hours or more to and from work every day to avoid living in large cities).  It used to be worth it to work in a higher paying job in a big city and drive back to your house in the country but gas is quickly eating up the profit it that- so many people are looking to work closer to home now. I spend over $600 a month on gas- more than our car note and house note!!! And I do not have a "gas chugging SUV".

Answer 11

We all tend to complain when things become worse for us than they have been in the past regardless of where in the world we live.  I'd heard we have it so much better in the U. S. than in other areas of the world, but I wasn't sure how much of that was American arrogance and how much was true.

Having travelled to some other countries myself (Canada and Honduras) I've learned a few things.  My husband also travels quite a bit internationally (Europe, Asia, South America) for his job.  We've both become aware that many things cost so much more elsewhere.  Some things we take for granted are not even possible to find.  I've been deeply humbled and embarrassed at my past complaining.

Thank you for helping us to realize what we have.  Please be patient with us as we Americans learn to stop behaving like spoiled children.  Some of us really are learning.

Answer 12

We are used to paying less. Now we are paying a lot more, so we complain. What is so hard to understand about that? Do you judge all your hardships, disappointments, etc, against what other people might be going through?