Why are Americans not getting pissed over the gas prices?

Question

We just keep buying gas and buying gas while the oil companies are bragging on their huge profits. What the heck?

Answer 1

I am pissed, every time I fill up I feel like I'm being robbed. But what can I do? My job requires I carry a lot of tools, I need a truck with a big engine to get around from job to job, I have no alternatives, and that burns me the most.

Answer 2

Just wait, it will get much worse...   Food shortages are going to cause our grocery bills to skyrocket also.  Haiti is currently experiencing civil unrest due to the food shortage....  We are in for a rough year.  

We mostly grow corn for bio fuels now in the form of Ethanol, which is of little use meanwhile the world is facing a food shortage......  Tighten your belts.

http://www.reuters.com/article/environme...

Answer 3

Actually, we are pissed!

I quickly looked over some of the answers to your question and they are right.  We have this ever-increasing gasoline prices & what the heck can we do but buy gas to get to work (or wherever else we need to go)!?!

What can we do?

I am old enough to remember when we had the "oil embargo" in the '70's.  President Nixon asked us all to cut back our consumption of energy for the good of the nation!  I remember turning off my water heater -- we took cold showers.  I stopped using my clothes dryer -- I hung clothes (which were washed in cold water) out on the clothesline in the middle of winter.  We turned back the thermostat to 58'.  We wore long underwear & sweatshirts inside.  I even quit using my electric can opener!

One would expect that the monthly utility bills would go way down.  My greatest decrease during this time was $2.50. (!!!)

We're pissed but we're powerless!

Answer 4

Think about it, what can one American citizen do when OIL is so vital to our country. For many places, its our ONLY fuel for transportation.

Transitioning so fast to something else is not only a gamble, its a gamble in which people are not willing to pay.

Also, Americans ARE getting pissed over gas. I hear people whining every single day.

Answer 5

Are you saying we should go on strike?

Because if you are, the answers no. It'll never happen. People have jobs they have to go to, and have to support their families, and need gas to do it. Yes it is high on price, but no one has the time to go boycott against it.

I agree with you, but people are complaining about it. They just aren't doing anything about it.

Answer 6

Getting teed off won't help anything. Sure, we are all mad as h***, but we have to drive. We're all over a barrel, so to speak. Nothing to do, but take it.

Answer 7

Because its no specific groups fault. we cant get mad just because the demand of oil is high, and because of that, and the supply not being able to keep up, makes it go high. the companies aren't doing it to p**s people off, they are doing it to stay in business..

  Try researching "Supply and Demand" and learn about it a bit.

Answer 8

Oh we are pissed.  You have no idea just how pissed we are.  This country is just short of an INDEPENDENTS DAY revolution.  And that is no misspelling.

Answer 9

I'm not really sure what to think about it.  I worry that gas prices are hitting some families hard, but I also worry about the environmental impact of our current lifestyle.

My husband and I have always lived in cities, but about a year ago we moved and chose a home near mass transit.  Our son walks to school.  It's not a choice everyone can make, but it means that our car moves about 20 miles a week, and often less.

Gas prices still impact us, of course - it's reflected in the price of groceries and services.  But I can't help but think that if a few months of economic pain presses our leaders to think about how to encourage alternative fuels and sustainable communities?  The long term benefits could be substantial.

Because really, I see this as a prelude to future crisis.  We know oil is a finite resource.

Answer 10

what are huge profits to you.......oil companies probably make a profit of about 11%....not what I would charaterize as huge.....maybe people should take econ 101 before asking such questions

Answer 11

There is unfortunately nothing we can do about it. I need gas to get to work, as I live in the country. I do not have the option to car pool and there is no public transportation here. Keep in mind that Europeans have been paying $5 per gallon equivalent forever. We at least have a chance of seeing lower gas prices after the election.

Answer 12

People depend on gas.  We have no choice but to suck it up and keep paying these prices for it.  The flip side is that milk cost more per gallon than gas and most towns get it locally so transportation is not the reason.  Orange Juice form Florida and California is almost 6 dollars a gallon.  Europe is paying 8 to 9 dollars a gallon for gas but they have smaller more efficient vehicles.  Oil companies make about 9 cents on the dollar for gas which is very low margin compared to most.  Their profits are so high because consumption is so high.   My point is not that gas prices are so high, it is that this country has not adapted to the inevitable that we witnessed in Europe.  Reduce subsidies, increase locally grown and produced foods, smaller more efficient vehicles, and better public transportation, or find a cheaper alternative fuel source.

Answer 13

ALL americans are pissed!!! though why would someone under 30 bring that up in a conversation? we keep our complaints to ourselves.

Answer 14

We are pissed, we are also dependant on our cars. Until we start paying more than Europeans I don't think anything will be done about it.

Answer 15

We need to get places by means of car. And in some areas of the US, it depends on how far away you are from the oil pipeline. The farther away, the higher the prices. Consumers aren't the only ones who are suffering. Merchants are as well. If people don't buy the oil, the economy will drop. Inflation does that. And I don't really think the companies will be "bragging" so to say in these times because the less oil required for travel, the less the big companies make.

Answer 16

We have no alternative. We have to have the oil to keep the U.S. economy going and we have to buy the gas to get to our jobs, stores, and back home. It's not the oil companies, it is the fact that it is a world economy and now India and China are buying that oil, too. More demand means higher prices. The only thing you can do is figure out a way to conserve. Stop complaining about the oil profits. The alternative is that we don't have any gas to buy.

Answer 17

Americans are very pissed...what pray tell do you suggest we do?  Truckers are going out of business, school systems are having trouble keeping the buses going, gas is still cheaper here than in many other places in the world.  Almost everyone is watching this election process, has anyone given any thought to how much fuel and every is being wasted to get the vote? personally I've managed to eliminate a great deal of my traveling by making each mile count. So what?  The richer guy is still driving his hummer.

Answer 18

Saying this for the last time, so listen.  If fuel cost more, so does everything else.  The oil companys make 8 cents a gal profit.  The rest is markup and fed., state and local taxes.  

Go it.   Coffee $3.80 for 16oz.

     LETS DRILL FOR OR OWN OIL HERE

Answer 19

They are pissed, they are just complaining to the wrong people.  Complain to elected officials-directly, and not to the clerk at the store or the people on Yahoo.

Answer 20

it's either settling for expensive hybrid cars that only last a decade or high gas prices. Doesn't matter which way you go, the energy kings has you by the balls.

And now they act like they didn't know this was coming even when US became the worlds largest importer of oil

Answer 21

We are pissed, many of us beyond belief actually.  There are simply so few alternatives for us,and if they do exist, they're VERY expensive for the average American.  We're stuck.

Answer 22

people are upset but, like other things, they just complain about it and don't take responsbility for it.  Why are they so many SUVs, Hummers and the like on the road?  Why arent there more carpools or people taking public transportation?  Because people want to complain but keep driving the gas guzzling vehicles around the block to pick up the kids from school.  It is a simple supply and demand issue.  

If we would all get out fat backsides out of the drivers seat and walk we would save gas and burn calories.

Answer 23

What the heck is right.  Are you aware that for every gallon of gas, the oil companies make a seven cent profit, while the federal government makes about half a buck in taxes?

Answer 24

Some friends and I found a good solution to this issue several months ago. We all quit our jobs and went into business together for ourselves. Now we don't have to drive much and we can still pay the bills. One of the guys we know is even an electrical engineer with 20 years working for GM. So we are designing our own electric vehicles based off of standard cars and trucks so we can hopefully stop using gas all together.

You have to get mad, then get creative, then get even!

The time for large corporations and large governments is past. Time to move on and better our world without politicians and corporate greed holding us back in the dark ages.

Answer 25

what pisses me off is that our selfish leaders should have weaned us into the higher prices slowly and started pushing for the alternative fuels a long time ago~!!!

they should have told us that certain jobs were going to be dissapearing and helped people get into training and educated for different jobs, they knew the layoffs and downsizings were coming~!!!

we pay those supposedly intelligent people to have foresight to predict the situation with China and the War and other situations that would get us into a bind down the road~!!!''

instead they just  played us as fools  and kept cookin the books and telling us everything is all good and well~!!!

like Greeenspan who new what was coming down the road, then he retires and grins like an idiot, and writes a book that tells he knew we were goin to end up the way we are~!!!

they just slapped us in the face with it and said "here deal with it"~!!

and all because they wanted tto keep the lies goin until someone else has to come along and try to straighten things out, because they knew that they screwed things up royaly and just kept us hanging until it all came out at once~!!!

all the while robbing us blind, and just lookin out for themselves~!!!

Answer 26

Good Morning.  Please notice that the majority of the people are very ANGRY over the rising costs of fuel and food.  They are looking for a leader to take them and their concerns to the People In Charge.  Are you that leader?

Answer 27

Not pissed!  LIVID!  And our tax rebates are going into the tank and oil companies pockets, which, for those of you who do not know, means Bush, Cheney, Halliburton and the other robbers of this once great country.  Bush's Legacy will be his monumental fat cat bankroll.  I watch Lou Dobbs and I KNOW that I'm not alone in this!

Answer 28

Look how much we pay for water and coffee, we are a nation of excess. The problem is not oil companies but over stimulated consumers.

Answer 29

They are. For most, it is the only way to get to work, the doctor, the grocery store and etc.

Answer 30

For the same reason that environmentalist lobbyists in Wash.D.C. wont let us drill our own oil,and build new refinery processing plants(after all thats where the real problem lies)

Answer 31

Okay here is the problem.  

1. A lot of people have no room to complain they drive really BIG TRUCKS and SUV'S for no reason except to try and impress their neighbor and drive to Wal-Mart for goodies-you should get mad at them.

2. The oil companies may be charging more BUT that does not mean that most the gas problem is caused by them-farmers right now are making a fortune selling wheat does that mean they are price gouging?  NO!  Oil companies are making record profits becasue there is LESS SUPPLY and MORE DEMAND=more profits now to the reasons it is expensive.

3. Speculators, investors, traders-on Wall-Street play the little commodities game like a fiddle.  You can buy FUTURES contracts on oil and they are 1,000 barrels per contract.  As you can see Rich people are buying the oil FIRST and then when the demand gets higher i.e. rich people are hording it, they turn around and sell it to you and I later---the poor people.  Thank you WAL-STREET.

4. Environmental nuts who think that OIL COMPANIES and oil exploration companies shouldn't be drilling for oil.  These are the crazy tree huggers that you see dangling off bridges; according to them the U.S. economy should shut down, and really we shouldn't be driving at all, or using electricity, or breathing...or really we shouldn't even be alive.  

5. The falling value of the U.S. dollar caused by Excess money printing to fund the War in IRAQ by the great George Bush whom we should all stand in awe at!  What a great job he has done.

6. OPEC only pumps oil to 50% of their capacity.  Yes this is true MIND YOU that is still plenty of oil for all of us if they pumped it faster all the Rich people on wal-street would just buy more of it.  However if they pumped a little faster YES it would help to a small limited degree but MOST of our oil comes from Canada and the U.S. Anyway--85%.  

7. China is using gas-more gas usage=less supply and more demand=price is going up.

8. The government puts a HUGE tax on gas Like about a dollar of what you pay goes right into funding the war and other stuff the government does (crazy politics)!!!

9. Some gas station just like to GOUGE you a bit.  While it is true that most the gas stations really ARE NOT making all that much off gas some still overcharge.  Be aware however that MOST gas station do not do this they only make like 20 cents a gallon or so i.e. they charge just above the MARKET price that the U.S.A. is getting.

10. Are these enough reasons?  Are you at all surprised that it is going up?

What we can do about it you might be asking?  Well first you can try to LIMIT the size or your car and fight for bills being passed that regulate large ridiculous monster trucks around town.  THIS WOULD REALLY HELP!!! Second you could try to vote for a president like Ron Paul and Hope the elections aren't rigged.  Lastly you could plan your trips out betting and shop at places nearby and NOT drive across town to go to Wal-Mart to save a whole 2 bucks on a bunch of groceries NOTE: people do that .  It's gunna get worse.

So lets review why it's high in case your wonder later on.  

--War In IRAQ and falling U.S. dollar (too much printing)

--Trading and investing on Wall-Street (some RICH GOONS PLAYING THE MARKET LIKE A FIDDLE AND HORDING OIL TO SELL IT TO ME LATER FOR A HIGHER PRICE)

--Environmental CRAZIES (no oil drilling or exploration)

--Big Taxes (The Gov is the biggest business of all time)

--China (They live driving now too)

--OPEC (why pump more when it's a limited resource and we can charge more later--don't pump fast)

--Gas Stations being Greedy (Hey Some are)

At anytime you can ponder and review these in your head lol.  I hope this helps and good luck.

Peace