Why do people in America think they are paying so much for petrol

Question

was just looking at another question and a few of them were saying how ridicules it was at $4 a gallon for petrol yet i just did a quick bit of working out and its the equivalent of $10.50 a gallon over here!

Answer 1

Well it was 90p a gallon until the War Monging George Bush Snr Kicked off in the Gulf in 1991.

Answer 2

When you consider most Americans have to drive 15-20 miles ONE WAY to work, and public transportation just does not take you that far-what do you expect? Do most people in the UK even own a car? If so how many miles do they need to drive a day?

Answer 3

They have never been on holiday in Britain. :p

Answer 4

Because they are comparing the price they pay to countries that produce oil such as Saudi Arabia. They don't think of such things as some of the countries where gas is less than a dollar a gallon the average monthly wage is a 150 dollars. That is if you have a very good job of course most people in reality are on a lot less than that.

If it is fine in my back garden why should I look where it is bad. What do they think all them Protests over petrol prices in France have been about for the last three decades on and off.  

Answer 5

its expensive here too. whos bush gonna attack next? which country  the man is so stupid he would attack his own country. well he did with 9/11

Answer 6

We think what we want.

Answer 7

the price has gone up so rapidly so that's why everyone here complains.  it is expensive, though.

Answer 8

The oil is running out quickly now.  We are past peak oil in most of the oil fields and the oil being pumped up is harder to reach and costs more to get to us.  American oil fields are also near the end of productive life and they are more reliant on overseas supply - from the very countries that they have been threatening and illegally fighting since the end of WW2.

Get used to it - the price is not going to go down.  America uses the most oil per person in the world. You are going to have to economise and find other ways of managing.  Many Britons also travel more than 50 miles to work but we have public transport.  It is about time you took Bush and his oil cronies to task and get the public transport situation in America sorted out before it is too late!

The situation is getting serious when oil states are building nuclear reactors to help their energy needs and countries like China are bringing a nuclear power station on board at the rate of one a month.  If this does happen, lack of petrol will be the least of your worries.  You will not survive.

"We must face the prospect of changing our basic ways of living.  This change will either be made on our own initiative in a planned way, or be forced on us with chaos and suffering by the inexorable laws of nature" - Jimmy Carter, 1976

"From an economic perspective, when the world runs completely out of oil is... not directly relevant:  what matters is when production begins to taper off.  Beyond that point, prices will rise unless demand declines commensurately.  Using several different techniques to estimate the current reserves of conventional oil and the amount left to be discovered, we conclude that the decline will begin before 2010.  Colin J. Campbell and Jean Laherrere, Scientific American, March 1998.

This is not just going to be a British/American problem.  It is going to affect the entire world - with the countries that rely on oil the most being the ones that suffer the most.  

Answer 9

The US is a newer country and was developed around the automobile. The UK's infrastructure was set in motion long before the auto came into being. Here, we generally have to travel greater distances due to sprawling suburbs and more decentralized development. We've been spoiled with relatively low petrol prices over the years mainly due to our cozy relationship with the monarchs of middle eastern oil producing countries.  

Answer 10

Well you see in America about six years ago it was $1.00 a gallon. Now four a gallon? I mean from 1985- 2002 the price of gas went up 10 to 20 cents. And from 2002- 2008 it went up about $3.00. Thats is ridiculous  

Answer 11

I see both sides of the story being American and living in Europe. I think the biggest problem is that America has no where near the same public transportation system as Europe.

I grew up in a small town in the USA and if you didn't have a car then you were out of luck. There was no taxi to call, no bus, no train, no tramway, etc. You had your car and that was that.

Bigger cities are probably not as impacted by the higher fuel costs than rural towns. People from these towns often have to drive to the bigger cities to get to their places of work or to grocery stores, etc.

My father still lives in the small town I grew up in and he says he can't afford to drive any other place except to work and back. If he did drive more than than then he wouldn't be able to afford to have a place to live, food to eat, heat, electricity, so on and so forth.

Back when fuel prices were cheaper, America was known for having huge gas guzzling cars because they could afford them! More and more now though you are seeing people trade in their cars for smaller and better fuel efficient autos. I saw an article the other day on Yahoo that said the Smart car has a waiting list 10 months long in the USA.

Even more kids are starting to ride their bicycles to school. Long gone are the days of 16 year olds getting their license and very first car, they can't afford it. Instead, they are riding their bikes.

I can't speak for the UK, because I don't live in that part of Europe but, I do know that where I live rent and grocery shopping is significantly cheaper than America. Also, a lot of apartments (flats) include heating, electricity, and water. My parents have to pay for each one of those things separately.

They heat with oil. My father was almost unsure that they could afford enough oil to last the winter. They were literally faced with the question of whether they should heat or eat?

In the moment, I am definitely glad that I live in Europe where you can survive quite comfortably on a single income. I hope it gets better for America, I really do.

Answer 12

Why do people from the UK and other parts of Europe keep telling us that we should be just like them?  I am in America, and I am tired of paying $3.00 to $4.00 per gallon for gas.  Maybe Europeans are ok with paying inflated prices on gas.  However, in America, we depend upon our automobiles.  When you start jacking up our gas prices, you are s******g with our livelihood.  And that is getting a little too personal.  

Answer 13

Because in my grandfathers day gas was 20 cents.

Answer 14

I think we Americans consume more than other countries. Other countries depend on public transportation, and here more people drive cars and rely less on public transportation, and even if we wanted to public transportation isn't as prominent and accommodating because it isn't in demand. Plus, just a guess, but if your gas is that expensive there, I'd assume that wages are higher as well. If you did a ratio I think it would be pretty similar. And the fact that prices have more than doubled in the last few years, yet our wages haven't, and we can't afford it because our pay sucks and standard of living is so high.

Answer 15

uk ppl get paid more so cost of living evens out. I SUPPORT HYBRIDS.

Answer 16

Oil companies do pricing by region even here in the usa.  The cost dramatically going up from what we where paying and what lower income families are trying to do to keep up with their bills is why we are complaining.  Also have you noticed how oil is falling yet the gas prices and not falling as fast?  

Answer 17

America as a nation ( and so are we that live in the UK) is a very wasteful place. For years we have used petrochemicals without previous thought or worry about when it will start to become hard to obtain it. Now that there prices have gone up ( very minimaly) they are starting to feel what we feel everytime we look at the petrol station prices

L xx

Answer 18

because we were paying $0.89 a gallon 10 years ago

Answer 19

We don't pay too much for petrol. We pay too much for gas.  

Answer 20

I don't know but I find it hilarious that people think 10-20miles to drive to work is far...from where I live it is 26miles to the nearest supermarket, and many people commute 50+ miles each way for work...

And Americans think 10-20miles is spread out...do me a favour!

Answer 21

The price has doubled in just a couple of years.  It is the rate of increase that is disturbing.  

Answer 22

Because unlike us where we've had consistently high prices, its just hit them overnight

Answer 23

everyone ride a bike

Answer 24

Americans are use to low prices, when a price jumps a dollar over a year then anybody would would get mad, but the rest of the world is just grinning and bearing it, but americans drive 2x the comute than any other country as a whole so the have to pay more. The us does not have a very good public transportation department, practily everyone has their own car, there are more registered cars in North Dakota that people!!!  

Answer 25

Two reasons: 1. Wages have not kept up with inflation since who knows when. 2. Everything in the US is soooo far apart that in many cases walking or even riding a bike is out of the question.  

Answer 26

Because they haven't been brainwashed into thinking a regular raping by the tax man is normal.  If you take away the theiving from the government you will find that the cost of fuel is pretty close to same as the US.