Gas prices: Who or what is to blame?

[Agent Proto]

Well, let's see. The national gas price in the US is about $1.75 a gallon. However, there are a couple states where people are paying over $2 a gallon. I think this is ridiculous. What's going on with the price, and why can't it stay at a decent price for awhile? Who or what is to be blamed for the prices? What can we or the government do to lower the price of gas?

What do you think should happen in order for this to do. If this keeps up, I'm quite sure that if Bush gets re-elected, he'll untap the Alaskan wildlife for oil... not like he will, but he may.

[Garland]

I'm suprised gas prices aren't higher. No commodity is more essential to daily life, and you can't get gas just anywhere. Gas companies could get away with charging any price they want, and we'd have to pay it. Most people won't be too quick to pull out the bicycle, walk, carpool or take public transportation. Hey, maybe that's not such a bad idea. Raise gas prices so high that it encourages people to find alternate means of transportation, and thus cut down on pollution and traffic in one move. Some people might even get more exercise. Who's for a price hike?

[DocFrance]

I'm with Machiavelli Garland on this one. We (America) could use some exercise.

[escobert]

yeah but then people wouldn'y buy cars and the car companies would be mad and the econmy may go down a little bit and all the stupid stuff.

[Kirkpatrick]

...and bottled water sells for what, $3 a bottle? And the bottles are much less than a gallon (about half a Litre, I think, whatever that equals to). Frankly, I find it kind of surprising that gas is so cheap, considering all of the effort it takes to retrieve and refine it.
Also, like Garland said, if the gas companies do hike their prices, what can we really do?

[Montoya]

Too bad water is not a fuel for automobiles, or else we'll have an (nearly) unlimited supply. But wether or not prices of gasoline should in fact be cheaper, not everyone will afford it if it is sold for more than it is. Here where I live gasoline is like $2.50, which sucks badly.

[Dingo Jellybean]

Out in California, predictions are that gas prices will rise to $3/gal. The prices around my area are pretty decent at $1.63/gal. Though I remember around late 2001-early 2002 that gas prices were as low as 1.05/gal. So I typically try to drive as least as possible.

[Doomgaze]

We need to hurry and find a new fuel source, because we're still going to need that remaining oil for lubricants and plastics, you know?

Really, though, gasoline is kept incredibly cheap in the US, and the Europeans are really going to dig into us for this thread ;D

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

Be that as it may, we still should have developed other means of transportation that do not rely on gasoline already. We have the technology at our disposal, we need to use it.

[Big D]

96 Octane fuel costs about 70 American cents per litre (roughly 2.2 pints) in my country, but it seems every event is an excuse for another price increase. World peace? Price goes up because oil producers are taking advantage of the stable market. War? Prices go up because supplies are restricted.

Reserves are running out, slowly but surely. Prices will steadily increase, research into alternative fuel sources will continue at its painfully slow and underfunded rate. Eventually petroluem will run out, and we'll be in the doo-doo, particularly western Europe and the United States.

I'm hoping that governments will start to take a serious, rather than token, interest in funding alternative fuel sources. Heck, hydrogen fuel cells have been in use since the moon landings, but relatively little progress has been made toward implementing the technology for everyday use. If fuel cells had got a tenth of a percent as much R&D as internal combustion has had since then, we'd have had non-polluting vehicles by the 1980s.

[Garland]

We would be in trouble, that's certain, but fortunately, solar and electric powered vehicals are already in existance, so the crisis would simply be a matter of producing enough of these vehicals to replace people's obsolete gas vehicals. That seems like an immense obstacle, but consider that the supply of petroleum won't vanish overnight, and the world will have years to prepare for the inevitable. Those years will be enough time to get the gas dependant parts of the world outfitted with the already viable, but simply unpopular alternate power.

[Doomgaze]

96 octane fuel? You don't need that for most cars, really

[Big D]

Well, 91 and 96 are both about the same price, but 96 octane is better for older vehicles, like my astoundingly suave '76 Triumph. More octane = more grunt = more fun.

[EternalBahamut]

It seems like having and operating a car is moring out of the ability for most people to afford. I make a good salary and so does my wife and there is no way we can afford a car. I think I herad on the news for the states, and I know it is this way in canada, the majority of what makes up the price of gas is taxes, like 65% taxes

[Flying Mullet]

Originally posted by Zefiroth
Too bad water is not a fuel for automobiles, or else we'll have an (nearly) unlimited supply.

One of the major problems with running an automobile on something as easy to obtain as water would be that there would be twice as many vehicles on the road as there are now as they are now easier/cheaper to run and maintain. Also, places like California that already borrow 3/4 or their water from the mountains to the east (Colorado, Utah, Nevada, etc...) would be in a real crunch as their water is already in short supply. Basically any state that is semi-arid would be in a bind.