Gas prices.

[junior3382]

You know I can understand where you are comming from here 75, but there are people who live pay check to pay check, and with rent going up, food going up, gas climbing as well as other things, with out pay going up, perhaps living outside someones means was not on purpose. When that mom bought that excursion five years ago, they could afford it, now they are stuck with a truck payment they are upside down on, and higher gas prices and not a dime more coming in. I could agree if it was a gradual climb over a long long term period of time, but when you go to bed and it is 2.93 and wake up and it is 3.37 and knowing tomorrow it will be 4 bucks.... it is just coming too fast. Peoples lives and lifestyles have not had a chance to adjust. Yes, saving more money in other things will help, but why should forcing ourselves to downgrade our lives just because the cost oil goes up be nescesary? By that right we should all move closer to where we work, and drive hybrids... and perhaps that is what will happen, but there will be people who complain about sudden and quick changes when makeing those large changes in their lives takes time! You mention right on the edge of bankruptcy, maybe three years ago things were well within someones means, but now it is harder. I do nothing more then go to work, and go to sleep. I spend a good amount of time on here, but I gave up most of my hobbies, I gave up drinking, I gave up bowling and more. I spend NOTHING but to live. Bills and gasoline. This is not what life was meant to be. This is america, land of the free! Increase the wages and balance things out again and save the home market, and what not. The issue I think is why should we be forced to downgrade our lifestyles learn to accept that others can get rich while we grow poorer? Why should we accept that? Because we believe in having some creature comforts? I do not see how it is fair. There is nothing we can do, and we will survive I am sure, however in the meantime, people complain. That is the way the circle of life runs, right? All I would ask is pick a price, and stay there. 4 a gallon? fine, 5 fine what ever, just will be easier to actually budget if knowing when we get paid today, what the price will be tomorrow? Know what I mean?

[mudseeker]

i am tired of these gas prices, there is no reason for them to be this high. you know it's a bunch of BS when you pass a gas station and the price is 3.02 and 4 hours later on your way home it is 3.35.
i earn $10 an hour working 40 hours a week, along with taking 19 credit hours at a college 30 mins. from home, starting in a week(which i am paying for out of my own pocket- no financial aid). i constantly overdraft my bank account paying for gas, insurance and a phone bill. of course i could sell the truck and get a honda, but i use my truck to haul stuff, it's not just a "hey look at me in my big cool truck".

i understand most of america is living outside of their means, but what about people like me who are just trying to make a good life for them selves. my truck only goes to school and work and that is it, maybe an occasional fun day during the summer.

[MORROWMUDDER]

gas around here in montana is 3.14-19, diesel is 3.89. i get about 8 miles to the gallon and drive about 30 miles round trip. i could express my opinions one here to ya'll about the oil compainies and the govenrment because we all know who really controls things. but in doing so i am positive there would be tanks rolling down my street headed for my door.

[75K30]

Junior3382, and Mud;

Guys I am all for the little guy just makin it, and having to consider a paycheck to paycheck living, however, my point is that if a swing of a few cents a gallon in gas / fuel is upsetting, or going to drive folks to the poor house, or requires a change in lifestyle, and that lifestyle perhaps was a falacy from the beginnning.
If a plan or budget was set for a given amount of miles, and one estimated the cost of about $4.00 per gallon, and set aside enough money to cover this, there would be money iin this budget left over, and the changing cost would not affect the individual as much.
Living that close on a budget just means that there is room for improvement with regards to money management.

[junior3382]

I can see your point of view, and am not contending it. Where I am coming from is those of us that set a budget for all the bills two years ago. Gas was 2 a gallon, milk was 3 a gallon and so on. Add in mortgage, insurance and such, and I had money left over. However, when gas goes up, so does everything else. Now the 500 a month I had left over two years ago, is a negative number to keep what I have. I have used my credit cards more to get by and such. My whole side to the argument was that gas alone, fine, but with EVERYTHING going up as a result, and wages not, what you are suggesting is chenging my lifestyle, which right now covers my bills ONLY. therefore to chenge or eliminate some expenses, then I need to eliminate bills, and that is harder to do. Picking up a second job helps, but the cost of getting there does not really match the benifits. AS a way to rememdy this for myself, I have side things that I do, and I can appreciate how hard it is. I make it fine, with money left over, but I work 80-90 hours a week to pull it off. To get the things I want in addition to what I need. Where as a short time ago, I could live fine on a single full time job and still play. I am not going to be one of those guys that works till I die, but it is turning into this just to survive! I understand and appreciate where you are coming from 75, I just do not think it is fair to send a message to the general public that we need to unload our lives. All people do is live inside of their means, and if their means change so will their lives... however, if the uncontrolable changes, why give up another nescesity just to feed the frensy, or worse... the oil companies? The more we do that, and the more we give them, the higher the prices will get, then "we" will need to adjust again, and again, and again???? I do not agree with that. I think the governement should step in and "SET" a price for gas, and leave it there, regulating it will work, will give people time to swallow what is going on. Thats how I see it. Does that make sense to y'all?

[72'CaminoKid]

now, i have not read this whole thread bc i'm lazy and its alot. but i agree with 75 that everyone not buying gas for a day will not work. there are however 2 theories i've heard that may have some impact. one is the age old thing of the truckers go on strike. but the other is that instead of not buying gas for a day, the majority stop buying form the biggest producers (exon-mobil, shell, etc) and buy from only the smaller companies, this will (in theory) force the bigger companies to drop their prices in order to lure customers back, which should in turn bring down the price of gas as a whole. off of that though, i've noticed somewhat of a pattern over the past few years though, it may or may not be true, but seems reasonable. gas will take a large step up in price at a time when oil companies can blame it on some world or weather event, this gives thema reason to raise prices. and it'll stay high for a while, then we get conditioned to that price (say $3.15). after a while at that price, it'll begin to drop a little and we're all thinking yay gas is going back down its cheap again (say $3.00). then something else happens that they can use to explain a price hike and it goes higher than before and stays there for a while until we get used to that price (say $3.30) stays there a while, drops to ($3.15), now we're saying thats cheap, whereas not long ago that was high. kind of a 2 steps forward 1 step back theory. i hope that was easily followed. makes sense in my head but i sometimes struggle getting them out of my head

[crabtruck]

Easy for me to do a 10,000 words on the subject of budget and personal accountability. I'll restrain myself to just a little bit. When I was buying gas in the early '70s it was avg 27 cents per gallon. Now in the same big CA city it is $3.52. An expensive bike cost $110, now $3,000 is not uncommon. My gas/elect bill was $30/mo now it's $90/mo. House was $115k, now is $850k. Japanese car I bought in 78 cost $4,500 and got 34mpg, one I bought in 2006 cost $20k and gets 22mpg. Private high school I went to cost $600/yr, when my first son got there it was $12,600. I have had cell phones and pagers when they served a critical need or helped me make money, never as "part of a social network". I have never been willing to pay for cable TV, although "everyone has it".

Of all that, what should morally have been locked in as a "fair" price ?

I think 75 is being way too polite, too many live beyond their means. They think they are entitled to things that are really extras. And they spend money to play when they have less than 2 years of bill money in the bank in addition to whatever they are doing for retirement. My wife and I gave up our "big" lifestyle when we decided to have children, not after they started arriving. We had heard the terms "baby food" and "inflation" and "layoff" before. I note that a pillow fight with the kids is just as fun but way more economical than a trip to Disneyland. Later, several week long trips were painlessly possible because of that budget sense.

Get over the "why can't I have another cookie" thing and realize what you face is pretty much the same as what your great-grandfather faced when there was no oil company. Learn from the great depression, or repeat it. Survival, comfort zone and champagne appetite are different things. I know there are plenty of folks in Somalia who would change places with you in a heartbeat.

Tanks won't be rolling down my street to get me, I don't waste my efforts complaining about those not in charge of my life. I'm reponsible for me and mine. I'm not a liberal or a right winger, I am an adult.

One last thing, if anyone knows where to get cheap gas, let me know.

[crabtruck]

Originally Posted by 75K30

.....
Living that close on a budget just means that there is room for improvement with regards to money management.

I probably could have gone with that ! LOL

[72'CaminoKid]

good stuff there crab. the majority of the issue here, not just gas prices,but the economy as a whole, is the fact that people want everything and want to do nothing for it. that mixed with people up top trying to get over on the little man. i'm glad and lucky to have be born and bred in the rural south, it aint no big deal to not have nothing. (dbl negative i know but you know what i mean) it dont take fancy toys to impress me, all i need is a .22 or evena pellet gun and i can have fun ALL DAY long. not to mention feed myself in the process. this is sgonna sound cliche but its true, go listen to the song by hank willams jr, "country boy can survive" starts off with the preacher man says its the end of time and the mississippi river she's a goin dry (thats talkin about the negativity goin on and how dismal things look) but then the keynote line in the song that is so so true..... " i gotta shotgun, a rifle, and a 4 wheel drive, a country boy can survive" basically it means in this case, when the economy collapses, i'll still be alright.

[Flopeyeman]

I live on a fixed income and these gas prices are killing me and these oil company's are post record income something is not right with this picture!! and for the record I drive a twenty year old truck there is no way I can afford any thing newer!!