What do you think of the rising gas prices?

Question

What do you think of the rising gas prices?

Answer 1

I think the rise in gas prices is going to lead to the total collapse of middle class suburbia (see also: home loan default rates, food inflation, average length of commute to work) and HOPEFULLY the creation of a national transportation infrastructure.  It comes down to today's notion of everyone owning a car or taking that same money and material resources and putting them into a sensible system that serves everyone.

I lived in Osaka for 1.5 years, and a 30 minute drive in a car to neighboring Kobe would cost you $20 in tolls plus gas (at a price at the time of about $5.50/gallon). The train ride from city center to city center on Japanese Rail would cost you $5 and take between 20-40 minutes, depending on whether you took the local, the express, or the super express. For another $30 you could take the bullet train and be there in 10 minutes.

Goods can also be transported on trains (as opposed to the diesel burning trucks we rely on in the U.S.) which further insulates the consumer from the rising oil prices.  That's not to say that Japanese consumers won't take a hit from rising oil prices (manufacturing still requires petroleum), but Yukio Tanaka -- whose company pays for his monthly train pass from home train station to office station -- is not going to hurt nearly as much as Joe American who has to make car payments and buy gas just to go to his office.

Drilling and fighting expensive wars to secure more oil are hardly a good solution.  The $1 trillion that will be spent on the Iraq war could've been directly spent on building transportation solutions that reduce the cost of living for average Americans (we've finally reached an agreement with the Iraqi gov't to give American oil companies rights to the fields after how many billions of$?).  The money wasted on drilling likewise.  

I used to live in Los Angeles, but after living abroad in cities served by fantastic transit systems, I decided to move to an American city where I wouldn't need to own a car, and I haven't regretted it for a moment.

Answer 2

Somebody's making a lot of money off of it, but it's not me!

Answer 3

.It is the worst thing ever. It is just to much now. I really hope it will go down soon.

Answer 4

they kinda suck....actually they really suck.......i thought we'd already established that.

Answer 5

It hurts consumers and the only ones benefitting are the rich people in charge of the oil companies and Middle Eastern nations such as Iran and others (Egypt maybe?).  This is because they produce the oil and export it and will gain from extremely high prices.

What's caused the gas prices to rise:

Dollar devaluation, with dollar not worth as high as before, things become expensive.

Wars have contributed towards gas prices rising.  When tension is high and oil could be at danger (threatened by destruction in war) gas prices tend to go up.

Low supply of oil.  There isn't that much from what I read.

high demand for oil- there is much demand around the world. And its going a lot (high).

Speculators.  They buy oil futures/stocks and that shoots up prices because demand for them is big.  so the more that buy the more prices go up.

However, speculators in my honest view, aren't the main issue.  The demand for oil which is extremely high, is the cause of gas prices being high.  That combined with low supply has only caused problems for consumers, especially in north america and Europe.

Answer 6

I think they will make people realize how selfish they have been... and also, it will make the UAE have very fat pockets.

Answer 7

I think the Fed needs to raise the federal funds rate.

Answer 8

Put simply rising oil prices are a disaster for the global economy. The increase in prices will be passed on to ordinary households in the form of increased food prices. Why, because the higher fuel prices will mean higher fuel bills for the transport company's that bring these food products to your supermarkets. Therefore transport company's will be forced to increase the cost of their service to cover the higher oil prices and hey presto instant recession possibly a depression!

Answer 9

I think there are one of several symptoms of an administration that has been ignoring most of its responsibilities for way too long.  Or should I say several administrations?  The approaching storm has been seen from afar.

Answer 10

It is the fault of speculators. There is not much, aside from finding an oil replacement, we can do about it.

The fed can threaten speculators by raising interest rates.

Off-shore drilling will not work in the short run because it takes a good 20 years for any real impact to be made on gas prices.

Gas prices will fall, though, when the commodities bubble collapses.

Answer 11

Necessary to cause the evoluton of enegry. We all know that fossil fuels are exhaustible. To think otherwise is without merit. Many scientists speak of the end of humanity. They should not be scientist. The brilliant minds now developing will come of age and they will cast away the framework of the past. There is energy hiding. They will find it.

Answer 12

IT SUCKS!!!