President's Gas - Psychedelic Furs
Where you out last night to witness the insanity at the gas stations? During the evening newscast, it was reported that gas would be jumping by a margin of 4.5 cents at midnight. There was no reasonable explanation given for the hike, as if knowing a reason would make the bitter pill a little easier to swallow. Personally I can't wrap my head around the fact that time and time again we are told that the gas companies are not in collusion with price fixing yet 95% of all the gas stations in the street corners are all within a 5/10 of cent of each other and all of them raise their prices at exactly the same time!
At 6pm last night the price of gas averaged at $1.35 a litre, there wasn't a station that I passed in Brampton that didn't have at least 15-20 cars waiting in line. And as the night wore on, the numbers of irate motorists increased. It seems no one was home watching the results show of Canada's Got Talent! As the lines got longer, some stations had police officers keeping surrounding traffic moving and not one person in those lines looked too impressed. Of course with the frustration of yet another gouge to our bank accounts coupled with the long wait at the pumps fueled tempers. Indeed as I sat in that line up I saw one driver leave his vehicle to admonish the jerk in the pickup truck for using the sheer size of his armour to bully his way in line as if he were more important. Ironically, as if they were privvy to some knowledge that was held from the rest of us, the line-ups in the town where I live were not even 1/4 of what I witnessed in Brampton. And the real kick in the pants was that this morning - while the price of gas did go up it was not the 4.5 cents that was predicted. Was it fear mongering? Sitting down to do some rudimentary math, and using an average 50 litre tank of gas, at the price of $1.35 the tank would cost you $67.50 to fill. At the predicted hike to $1.40 that same tank would be $70. Was the line up and potential bloodshed worth $2.50? In some respects, yes it is because every increase just seems a little more ridiculous to me and hurts the bottom line of my fiscal stability.
The other day in the paper was the story of the gas sale as part of a Toronto travel company promotion - the story ran right above an add asking if I was overwhelmed by debt? Yes, truth be told, the cost of the car, it's gas and maintenance are slowly driving me to the poor house. Or I can sit at home and admire how nice the car looks sitting unused in the driveway! FlightNetworks.com offered at one gas station in the GTA (greater Toronto area) a one time price reflective of 1998 until all 10,000 litres had been pumped. 50 cents a litre! The catch was that you were capped at only 50 litres, but at today's prices that is a full third less. Would you line up for 3 hours to save $45? I do believe I would, even if it meant waking up at 5 am to do it.
I recall reading an article a few years back that was trying to make sense of the ever increasing price of gas. In less than a year since oil prices had hit record highs, demand for crude had dropped off. People it seems were so fed up with the price of gas that they curtailed their driving habits and used less fuel. Storage facilities in the United States remained full to nearly capacity. All while more than 30 supertankers holding an average of 2 billion barrels of oil sat like floating storage tanks in the waters of the Middle Eastern countries, waiting for the price and demand to go up. And I'll just bet that those floating tankers sat there until the demand was high enough so they could insist on any price they chose!
There are many laws on the books that forbid practices like price gouging - taking advantage of consumers in times of crisis. But wait, isn't that exactly what happened when prices jumped like a kangaroo on steroids when Hurricane Katrina hit? Even though it was said that none of the gas consumed in Southern Ontario even came from there? What about the artificial inflation when two people stick their tongues out at each other in the Middle East? Seriously, is there ever a time that is conflict free over there. If there is such serious tumult over there that half a world away, I am being made to pay the costs, how about finding a more stable place to get my gas?
How about that place be my own country? Certainly the cost of transportation would be less, but instead of decreasing our reliance on Middle Eastern imported oil, we are actually relying more on their black gold. Even though Canada is second only to Saudi Arabia in reserves and is the 7th largest producer in the world. So where is all the oil going? To the United States! Canada is the largest exporter of oil to the country to the south while we import 40% for ourselves. This is backwards thinking for sure. We should be weaning ourselves away from the reliance on these politically unstable countries - Take care of the home fires before the house comes crashing down.
It is the OPEC nations like Saudi Arabia and Iraq and Venezuela that are paying the lowest prices for gas. But this is largely due to the political perks of subsidies to keep a favourable relationship with the electorate, while we continue to pay our politicians in the form of a minimum 30% tax on every litre of gas we buy. Something needs to be done, or soon the only people who will be able to afford to tank up the car will be the presidents of the corporations and the politicians whose salaries we pay.
The old stand by is that gas prices fluctuate due to supply and demand, so every summer when it is expected that more people will take to the roads for day tripping and vacations, prices are expected to hit $1.50. Mind you that was last weeks prediction and will likely increase come May 2-4.
One last thought, if we revolt and drive less or convert to substantially more fuel-efficient (or even non-fuel) vehicles how is the government going to make up the shortfall in it's 30%+ tax grab? Maybe it is something that should be considered before that pay day dries up for them? I for one will be curtailing my driving trips significantly unless I manage to sell enough household furnishings to tank up next week!
At 6pm last night the price of gas averaged at $1.35 a litre, there wasn't a station that I passed in Brampton that didn't have at least 15-20 cars waiting in line. And as the night wore on, the numbers of irate motorists increased. It seems no one was home watching the results show of Canada's Got Talent! As the lines got longer, some stations had police officers keeping surrounding traffic moving and not one person in those lines looked too impressed. Of course with the frustration of yet another gouge to our bank accounts coupled with the long wait at the pumps fueled tempers. Indeed as I sat in that line up I saw one driver leave his vehicle to admonish the jerk in the pickup truck for using the sheer size of his armour to bully his way in line as if he were more important. Ironically, as if they were privvy to some knowledge that was held from the rest of us, the line-ups in the town where I live were not even 1/4 of what I witnessed in Brampton. And the real kick in the pants was that this morning - while the price of gas did go up it was not the 4.5 cents that was predicted. Was it fear mongering? Sitting down to do some rudimentary math, and using an average 50 litre tank of gas, at the price of $1.35 the tank would cost you $67.50 to fill. At the predicted hike to $1.40 that same tank would be $70. Was the line up and potential bloodshed worth $2.50? In some respects, yes it is because every increase just seems a little more ridiculous to me and hurts the bottom line of my fiscal stability.
The other day in the paper was the story of the gas sale as part of a Toronto travel company promotion - the story ran right above an add asking if I was overwhelmed by debt? Yes, truth be told, the cost of the car, it's gas and maintenance are slowly driving me to the poor house. Or I can sit at home and admire how nice the car looks sitting unused in the driveway! FlightNetworks.com offered at one gas station in the GTA (greater Toronto area) a one time price reflective of 1998 until all 10,000 litres had been pumped. 50 cents a litre! The catch was that you were capped at only 50 litres, but at today's prices that is a full third less. Would you line up for 3 hours to save $45? I do believe I would, even if it meant waking up at 5 am to do it.
I recall reading an article a few years back that was trying to make sense of the ever increasing price of gas. In less than a year since oil prices had hit record highs, demand for crude had dropped off. People it seems were so fed up with the price of gas that they curtailed their driving habits and used less fuel. Storage facilities in the United States remained full to nearly capacity. All while more than 30 supertankers holding an average of 2 billion barrels of oil sat like floating storage tanks in the waters of the Middle Eastern countries, waiting for the price and demand to go up. And I'll just bet that those floating tankers sat there until the demand was high enough so they could insist on any price they chose!
There are many laws on the books that forbid practices like price gouging - taking advantage of consumers in times of crisis. But wait, isn't that exactly what happened when prices jumped like a kangaroo on steroids when Hurricane Katrina hit? Even though it was said that none of the gas consumed in Southern Ontario even came from there? What about the artificial inflation when two people stick their tongues out at each other in the Middle East? Seriously, is there ever a time that is conflict free over there. If there is such serious tumult over there that half a world away, I am being made to pay the costs, how about finding a more stable place to get my gas?
How about that place be my own country? Certainly the cost of transportation would be less, but instead of decreasing our reliance on Middle Eastern imported oil, we are actually relying more on their black gold. Even though Canada is second only to Saudi Arabia in reserves and is the 7th largest producer in the world. So where is all the oil going? To the United States! Canada is the largest exporter of oil to the country to the south while we import 40% for ourselves. This is backwards thinking for sure. We should be weaning ourselves away from the reliance on these politically unstable countries - Take care of the home fires before the house comes crashing down.
It is the OPEC nations like Saudi Arabia and Iraq and Venezuela that are paying the lowest prices for gas. But this is largely due to the political perks of subsidies to keep a favourable relationship with the electorate, while we continue to pay our politicians in the form of a minimum 30% tax on every litre of gas we buy. Something needs to be done, or soon the only people who will be able to afford to tank up the car will be the presidents of the corporations and the politicians whose salaries we pay.
The old stand by is that gas prices fluctuate due to supply and demand, so every summer when it is expected that more people will take to the roads for day tripping and vacations, prices are expected to hit $1.50. Mind you that was last weeks prediction and will likely increase come May 2-4.
One last thought, if we revolt and drive less or convert to substantially more fuel-efficient (or even non-fuel) vehicles how is the government going to make up the shortfall in it's 30%+ tax grab? Maybe it is something that should be considered before that pay day dries up for them? I for one will be curtailing my driving trips significantly unless I manage to sell enough household furnishings to tank up next week!
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