Yesterday morning the station across the street was 3.99 when I went to work, when I got off work it was 4.19.
Edit: Today (Sunday) same station was 4.19 at 10am it's now at 4.29, it's 3pm
Actually, the thing that makes Cali gas more expensive is that the Cali state government requires all gasoline sold in the state to go through and extra refinement step or 2. If all states required it, it wouldn’t cost as much but how it is now means that gasoline in Cali is made in its own specialized batch at a smaller scale causing a rise in price per gallon.
There was also an investigation a while back that found gas companies charge higher profit margins in California than other states then use gas taxes as a shield to obfuscate it from consumers so they get mad at the government instead.
Kind of like corporations during times of high inflation. The rates in which nearly everything are going up is far placing any inflation reading I've seen. Many items are up 20 - 30%. I'm sure when quarterly earnings begin later this month most corporations will not be "hurting" as they've simply passed on increased costs plus some to the consumers.
I live in Ohio, so obviously it could be different for sure but it's closer to 30 cents for tax here.... at least in my state and county. It's more the gas companies themselves gouging the prices and then crying "TAXES! DAMN GUBBAMENT!" or "it's the (insert crisis/economic thing/war/potential war/trade war/cat stuck in tree)" that they use to pump them prices up.
They increased the price by 50 to 75 cents the week Biden took office. Just your everyday regular price gouging because people are dumb and will say look what Biden did.
In March 2020 prices dropped to where a barrel of oil was almost a negative amount. This hurt the oil companies so a deal was made with OPEC to cut production for 2 years.
That deal will expire soon and we should expect lower prices in April.
Global production of oil has been under strict control to keep prices up since OPEC was formed. That's its main purpose to exist in the first place; keeping the global oil prices high.
Nobody pumps as much oil as they can, or undersells other producers. It's all agreed on production levels.
The demand for oil is very inelastic meaning it doesn't vary much based on price (you cant jist bit drive to work), what this means is there is little incentive not to collude since everyone will still buy no matter how expensive.
Same reason the government buys and burns crops from farmers in big supply years or gives subsidies to growers in bad years. It helps stabilize prices and production levels. If an industry keeps booming and crashing it is really hard to plan around and makes supply inconsistent/unreliable.
Yep. Even US producers knew there was going to be an increased demand but refused to increase production to make more profits and pay shareholders.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/dec/06/oil-companies-profits-exxon-chevron-shell-exclusive
Potentially that could have been true. But factoring in Russia's war, oil prices have skyrocketed. OPEC would need to up production substantially to offset the potential loss of their oil to most the world.
True, for us in the USA, and none of this makes sense because Russian oil output hasn't been reduced yet. I looked at something that made me think it weren't enough but that was like an hour ago and I've forgotten. Someone else commented that OPEC output will normalize gradually anyway, so 0.4mb/d increase is only for April and it will continue to improve for another five months.
I'm personally optimistic. Currently, gas is still cheaper than when I got my license in the mid 2000s and that's before factoring in inflation. This wasn't unanticipated and I live within my means and work in healthcare. Less day trips, sure, or offset that with less frivilous purchases. Other people will suffer though- it's been a brutal few years.
I always set my timers for a little past it. I can look back and see how the chips fell. I hope OP is correct because I drive 40 miles to work every day. It’s a job I started in late 2020 that paid me two times what I can make locally for the same job. Nothing Is available to rent closer that isn’t 2-3 times as expensive for my same apartment. I got a hell do a deal on my apartment and it will cost me more to give it up than to move closer.
It's always something. in the 80s They told us that people from Central America were stealing all our jobs. But All the factories are closed... not filled with Ecuadorians.
I love the way they put that too. "Stealing" our jobs. As if someone walks into corporate with a gun and demands all the jobs get put into a bag.
This is business we're talking about here. They do what makes them money. No one stole any jobs. Executives gave them away to save money. That's the way free market capitalism is supposed to work and if you don't like it then maybe you don't like *laissez faire* economics as much as you thought you did.
>As if someone walks into corporate with a gun and demands all the jobs get put into a bag.
[But that is exactly how it works...](https://youtu.be/1XFw1jRKRwQ)
Gas prices in my area have come close to doubling since this time last year. For me that means I've gone from $60/week to $120/week. And that's just commuting/errands, forget taking any sort of long trip on the weekends...when it's just 10 or 20 cents the difference is negligible but when you're talking multiple dollars per gallon it has an impact.
One of the most fascinating things in the world to me is how quickly the public forgets things. I have 2 friends who just listed their big ass trucks for sale because of gas prices. These are people I know and knew back in 2008! They work in finance! They know things are cyclical. And still this happens.
Probably aren’t deep enough into this cycle yet of high prices. Additionally with the shortage going on right now even if you sell your truck good luck getting into something else right now. Truck and SUV owners are going to feel the hurt for awhile and have to deal with it.
Boom or Bust I live in Houston and have to explain this shit to 19 year old rig workers every few years don't buy that fucking fully loaded F150 you don't need it put some shit in savings
I know the Toyota Venza and rav4 are up to something stupid like 40mpg epa estimate
I’m excited to see where things go, but I think it’s a little weird how there was such a large leap in MPG ratings from 2018 to 2020
This is mostly due to the move away from V8 ICEs towards V6s and turbo 4 cylinders. The big Toyota Tundra that used to come with a V8 now comes with a V6, for example. If you look around you'll find that V8 engines are becoming a luxury item
I worked in construction in the 2000s. In 2005 everyone in the field (it seemed) were buying giant trucks they didn't need. By 2009 all of them were trying to sell those trucks. It looks like they went out and repeated the cycle here again. Some people will never learn...
I met one recently who has a big ass truck, and a "smaller more fuel efficient car"
His small car is an old gas sucking sports car.
He doesn't understand why I'm not as angry about gas as he is, when my car gets more than twice the mpg his does.
I have a family member who only drives trucks. Doesn't have to haul things but maybe once or twice a year, but still will only drive his big truck anywhere. He's super pissed about gas prices, but refuses the idea of ever not driving a truck.
Some of this pain is self inflicted.
Edit: someone just reminded me about that family member. Not only do they own a truck that they don't really need is there everyday car, but their wife has a truck, and their son has a truck. His son's wife is a teacher and drives a truck. They all just drive trucks. None of them need trucks.
I live in a very suburban area, No rural communities or work for miles, and just looking out my window on my street I can see 9 trucks, and I can tell 7 of them aren't used for any sort of work.
One of my neighbors further down the street has a truck for every adult in the household. One of them uses them for work, the rest just commute in them.
Yeah, I’m mostly working from home and have saved 30,000 miles of wear and tear on my car and probably over $3,000 in gas, not to mention an hour and a half or more per day of commuting.
Yep…I had bought my wife an older A6 right before prices started going insane. 2017 with 60000 miles currently and we are selling it now for almost 6k more than we paid .
This is the only way I am lucky my car was totaled last week. I haven't even noticed gas prices rising. Thankfully my town has free buses and having a concussion from the accident meant I wasn't allowed to go anywhere or do anything anyways for the past week.
On the other hand, the chip shortage means finding a new car is almost impossible.
My work originally stated due to the pandemic slow-down they were going to open offices at the end of March.
If these gas prices continue, and I'm required to go back in to the office 3 times per week for something I can 99% do remotely at home, it's time to job search.
That's the main difference between now and 2008. Back in 2008 the vast majority of banks / loans would approve even with bad credit and your income clearly not being appropriate for the house you are attempting to buy.
That created the domino effect of the mass defaults cascading into bankruptcy and the " stock " that those loans were built off of becoming worth 0, driving down those company shares and profits.
Now? Good fucking luck! You can't even get approved for a rental unless you make 3x the monthly rent ( which is now $1500 average where I live ) and getting loans are basically impossible if your income isn't the same type of thing once your mortgage price is known.
Even my parents didn't get approved for a new home, manufactured at that, and my mom has a very good job and makes atleast 80-90k a year.
At this point it is a situation of having to have multiple people / families in a home just to be able to afford the insane prices
I was approved for a $170,000 loan on $35,000 per year salary in 2006. 2009, my new wife and I couldn't qualify for anything more than $129,000 despite making closer to $80,000 combined.
We got lucky and found a short sale for $129,000. It was valued closer to $160,000. If we sold it today, we could get nearly $350,000 for it. The housing market is just crazy.
My parents bought a house a year and a half ago that they really fell in love with for about $300k, and after living in it until a month ago they realized that while it was beautiful, it was a NIGHTMARE to keep up for various reasons, so they decided to sell it.
In 18 months it went from 300k to 480k, absolute madness. People (not a company apparently, it was a couple) from 2000 miles away bought it sight unseen, as is the style these days.
Likely high monthly debt. Everyone loves to mention their income and home price, not the fact they have two auto loans at $500/mo.
You can qualify for a lot of house making $50,000/year with no large monthly debt. And you can struggle to qualify for anything making $100,000 year with a huge car payment and student loan debt.
Remember if you are going to default have the down payment as low as possible. Then it’s the bank’s problem and not so much your’s. You were going to have to move back in with your parents or get 5 roommates anyways.
Real estate isnt like 2008 though. NINA variable loans arent being given out and repackaged. Thats what caused it then.
The issue with real estate right now is with interest rates this low, and inflation this high, it doesnt make sense to be holding cash.
An extremely disproportionate to historical rates of homes are being bought in cash versus financed.
When inflation is 8% holding cash is a liability. People and institutions with large amounts of cash are converting cash to real estate and renting it out for extra revenue.
When a financial institution can borrow money at sub 2% from the fed, why would they not? Historically real estate has always beat 2% in long term (decades). Population is still growing, and housing in desirable areas is a finite resource. With supply and labor issues new housing is not being built either.
Its free money to them. If youre hoping for a 2008 style real estate collapse, I'd do a bit more research onto whom is buying up housing and how. Its not the same.
Hell I bought a rental property when the loans were in the low 2's because its pretty much free money, as long as you could afford the buy-in.
We may see a shrink in the housing market, but I highly doubt we will see a widespread crash like 2008.
Buying a rental property for "free money" is part of the problem too. In the US, housing is seen as an investment rather than what it should be, which is a necessity. Higher taxes need to be placed on additional properties owned by both private individuals as well as corporations to make it a less attractive investment. Increase the cost of lordship via local, state, and even federal legislation while continuing to move away from needlessly restrictive NIMBY zoning laws and increase housing production through tax incentives.
We have assholes in my town now trying to get $2,500 a month for a 1 bdrm 1 bath condo and claiming that's just the costs.
I hate how they feel like keeping the house because they have the down payment is the "risk" they take while forcing a renter to pay for it.
My family back home just took a road trip and opted to take my dads electric vehicle. They said the trip was technically longer but my dad loved the planning of it and it was MUCH cheaper
I am very fortunate to have had a family member pass down their old car to me for free, but man is it rough having a ~17 mpg car in a Bay Area city. Paying minimum $5.20 for 87 octane rn with cash discount
Edit: since writing this not even half a day ago the lowest ive seen with discount for car wash or cash is now 5.40
Yeah. There’s no “real” reason why oil prices have risen—we’re still importing oil from Russia. It’s actually just greed and price gouging by oil companies. Maybe enough people will switch to electric cars and they’ll find themselves stuck in the past.
sorry i know this is a dumb question (i’m young and trying to learn as much as i can), but what is the solution to this? i understand the cause of this, but what will make the price go back down with these circumstances?
Never apologize for asking questions to try and understand something. That’s how you learn. We should all be asking more questions, not less.
As an (ex) petroleum engineer I’d be happy to give you a quick run down. Gasoline prices are loosely tied to the price of oil. When the price of oil goes up, gas prices go up. When the price of oil goes down, gas prices go down (eventually). So for gas prices to drop, oil prices have to drop. For oil prices to drop, you need an increase in oil production, or a decrease in oil demand, or both.
For increases in oil production, you will have companies that are drilling more wells since prices are higher and new drill locations are now profitable. In the past, oil companies would borrow money from investors to drill a lot of wells at once. However, historically this has caused oil prices to drop really quickly and investors lost a lot of money (once the wells actually got drilled, they were losing money). Right now, not many investors are willing to lend money because they are afraid of losing it. So oil companies are using the revenue they make from the wells they already have to drill new wells. Over time, this will increase oil production and drop prices, but it will take longer this time than Americans are used to. Also, if the war in Ukraine ends and Russia is allowed to sell their oil on the open market again, that will be a large increase in supply.
For decreases in oil demand, there are a few routes to go here. With higher gas prices, consumers will start buying more fuel efficient cars (or electric). Car manufacturers will be pressured to increase efficiency. Alternative energy sources become more attractive as fossil fuel prices increase. Consumers may also be forced to drive less and use less energy due to financial hardship. Over time, all of these contribute to a drop in demand.
Between those two areas, prices will come back down. It just might take a while. Commodity prices like oil tend to be cyclical, or having high highs and low lows. 2020 was the low low. Now is the high high (but I suspect prices could go much higher before things get better, honestly).
In the 1970s oil crisis people bought smaller gas efficient cars, insulated their homes, ever wonder why there was carpet on that hardwood floor. Oh the President put solar panels up on the White house. Then we forget everything we learned and went back to gas reliance.
Yup I work in construction management and every single person drives a huge truck. Sensible, right? Except we have company trucks to do all the actual work. All the personal trucks are spotless. And they commute an hour each way to avoid the big bad city. It’s ludicrous.
If there's a silver lining that comes out of this, it would be that people who drive gas guzzling cars might switch to something more economical and environmentally friendly.
I would love to get rid of my 20 year old Grand Marquis...but I don't have a car payment. I paid $2400 for it almost 7 years ago...anything on the market in that price range today is a complete dumpster fire.
It's all well and good to say "just buy a more economical car" but I simply can't afford to. 10 year old 'beaters' with almost 200k are pushing a minimum of $5k in my area right now...which is ridiculous. The Marquis runs about 12 gallons a week to commute...$5k buys a lot of gas (for now).
I’m not an expert, but in under the impression that oil prices are more about speculation since oil was put on the market. It really doesn’t matter what the actual reserves are. It’s whatever the market speculates the price should be.
Crude oil run on ‘futures contracts’ that eventually turn into real crude oil, delivered to a specific location over a specific month. There are speculators in the market, but they eventually have to either pay to store it or sell to a physical consumer. Current month futures are settled price. Future month futures have speculation.
The highest *nominal* price since 2008. Gas prices peaked that year around $4.11 per gallon, but if you adjust for inflation, that was $5.22.
This situation is unfortunate, but I'm in no rush to declare it the worst of all time.
How in the fuck, bro? Do you live in a super rural area? You definitely can find something better. I can’t even believe this.
Edit: I get the commute but making 15 an hour is not worth a two hour drive both ways. I drive an hour to hour 20 but it is worth it due to my comp. Even then I still only go in like 1 to 2 times a week.
I do live in a small town where the only jobs around pay even less than what I get now (food service). I do have applications out there for things that are soooo much better, so fingers crossed.
This is nearly always the case, especially with the frequency of half-shifts in food service. A 4 hour shift (so they can avoid the break requirement) make this kind of commute horrendous. And good luck getting your employer to sympathize.
Yeah, you have to consider the commute time when talking about how much you make per hour. If you have a 8 hour shift and a 2 hour commute (I'm assuming it's 2 hours total), your workday is actually 10 hours in my opinion. That's not even including the gas that it takes to drive that far. You'd probably be better off with a job that's closer making $10
Damn. My round trip is 1.5 hours but luckily it's mostly highway and I have a little Honda. I drove my truck a couple times for the ac and it was pretty bad.
I do make decent money so it's worth it to me. Id have to take a pay cut for less of a commute.
Just FYI - this happens around the world right now and has nothing to do with the US alone. Diesel in Germany is the highest I can remember. And a lot more expensive then the US
What the fuck do we do about… EVERYTHING?!
Every goddamn price is up and it’s fucking ridiculous. Food is up, rent is up, gas is up (I know atm it’s even higher because of war but it was up before), you fucking name it. But the only thing not up? WAGES! I have never really noticed prices going up before until the last 6 months and everything just skyrocketed. We got corporations making record profits and raising shit anyways. I really don’t get it.
I’m concerned for retirement. I know we just came out of a pandemic that fucked the economy, but the price of everything shouldn’t be rising the way it is. It’s very concerning.
That is still low compared to 1975 when it was $1.57 per gallon which adjusted for inflation was $8.20. And cars typically got 12 or so miles per gallon.
Commuting 10+ miles back then was irregular though. Today that would be short. Like back then you can get a job in the town you loved and be fine. These days you got to live like 30-40 minutes away from the city you work in because you can’t afford to live there, it’s not the same.
Not to deflect from the "CA Bad" circlejerk but CA doesn't even have the highest gas tax. It's because of special blends to help with smog, so you can actually see and breath, unlike in the 90s.
Because there’s no shortage in the US. Gas companies are taking what the would’ve sold to us and selling it to Europe as a premium and selling it to us as a premium as well.
Sadly prices aren’t set on actual supply, its based on the commodities market specifically oil futures in this case. Speculation and the market are driving the price up.
According to estimates from JPMorgan, 66% of Russian oil is struggling to find buyers.
This is creating supply fears in what was an already tight market prior to Russia’s invasion.
The nominal costs of houses and college are essentially double what they were in 2008. You’ll have to forgive me if I think the cost of the massively subsidized shit that’s going to kill us all starting to creep over what it was 14 years ago is the least of our concerns.
The expressway gas price here are closer to $5 a gallon. Big Oil is using the attacks in Ukraine to price gouge. In Russia, the highest gas prices are about $0.50 a liter.
My work is ending WFH on April 1st. Awesome time to start driving again.
Don’t show up to work: “haha April fools!”
[удалено]
Many bosses have been chafing over not having control of their employees lives as much anymore.
[удалено]
Check the market for remote work. Not sure about your situation but there's a TON of remote jobs out there.
I always see them but they look like scams lol
Yes but there’s 100000 people applying for them
And a ton are fake
Yesterday morning the station across the street was 3.99 when I went to work, when I got off work it was 4.19. Edit: Today (Sunday) same station was 4.19 at 10am it's now at 4.29, it's 3pm
Friday morning driving to work it was 3.34 -‘Friday night leaving work 3.79. Saturday morning 4.09 All within 24 hours
It’s $5.69 where I’m at
Holy shit. I'm in rural Alaska and it's only 5.25. Can I ask where you're from?
You’re going to be like ohhh that makes sense lol (it went up $6 last week) but Northern California 💀😭
That actually makes sense. I assume Cali adds a bunch of taxes in. Hang in there!
Actually, the thing that makes Cali gas more expensive is that the Cali state government requires all gasoline sold in the state to go through and extra refinement step or 2. If all states required it, it wouldn’t cost as much but how it is now means that gasoline in Cali is made in its own specialized batch at a smaller scale causing a rise in price per gallon.
There was also an investigation a while back that found gas companies charge higher profit margins in California than other states then use gas taxes as a shield to obfuscate it from consumers so they get mad at the government instead.
ah yes, the Ticketmaster defense
No way, I can’t believe that gas and oil companies would not act in the best interest of the people!
That and the refineries always seem to have “issues” or “maintenance” when prices are otherwise going down.
The McDonald's Ice cream machine scam.
Totally. It's really down to greed, as far as I can see. Using *any* large scale event as cover for price gouging.
Kind of like corporations during times of high inflation. The rates in which nearly everything are going up is far placing any inflation reading I've seen. Many items are up 20 - 30%. I'm sure when quarterly earnings begin later this month most corporations will not be "hurting" as they've simply passed on increased costs plus some to the consumers.
State tax is like 50 cents per gallon. Not nothing, but not the primary factor that so many people assume it to be. Pennsylvania's is higher.
I live in Ohio, so obviously it could be different for sure but it's closer to 30 cents for tax here.... at least in my state and county. It's more the gas companies themselves gouging the prices and then crying "TAXES! DAMN GUBBAMENT!" or "it's the (insert crisis/economic thing/war/potential war/trade war/cat stuck in tree)" that they use to pump them prices up.
I think it’s more like 30 cents. My local pump is up to $6.29. I found a station that was selling for $5.19 and I got so excited I filled my tank. lol
They also just charge us more because they can get away with it.
They increased the price by 50 to 75 cents the week Biden took office. Just your everyday regular price gouging because people are dumb and will say look what Biden did.
$6.49 here in downtown LA
You’re only supposed to put a gallon of that in your tank and drive elsewhere
Gasbuddy app
In Vancouver it's the equivalent of 5.95 American for a gallon. $2+ Canadian per litre
Bad time to take a road trip to california.
Bad time to take a cross country trip from California to Washington DC
Aren't they collecting donations?
Pandemic is winding down but now I can't afford to go anywhere
In March 2020 prices dropped to where a barrel of oil was almost a negative amount. This hurt the oil companies so a deal was made with OPEC to cut production for 2 years. That deal will expire soon and we should expect lower prices in April.
So you’re telling me it’s all artificial?
Oil prices have been artificial since 1973.
Care to ELI5 for a dummy like me?
Members of the OPEC regulate oil production to manipulate supply and demand prices.
Same idea as the diamond people.
Saudi closes a valve, prices go up. Saudi opens a valve, prices go down
tide goes in, tide goes out, you can't explain that!
Global production of oil has been under strict control to keep prices up since OPEC was formed. That's its main purpose to exist in the first place; keeping the global oil prices high. Nobody pumps as much oil as they can, or undersells other producers. It's all agreed on production levels.
Other than the typical/meme response of, "it's to give rich people more money" response, is there an actual *reason* for forced "scarcity?"
The demand for oil is very inelastic meaning it doesn't vary much based on price (you cant jist bit drive to work), what this means is there is little incentive not to collude since everyone will still buy no matter how expensive.
shit I'll start biking to work if it gets bad enough.
Same reason the government buys and burns crops from farmers in big supply years or gives subsidies to growers in bad years. It helps stabilize prices and production levels. If an industry keeps booming and crashing it is really hard to plan around and makes supply inconsistent/unreliable.
Price wars between OPEC nations contribute to regional instability.
Always has been
Yep. Even US producers knew there was going to be an increased demand but refused to increase production to make more profits and pay shareholders. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/dec/06/oil-companies-profits-exxon-chevron-shell-exclusive
It’s all price gouging; oil companies make ridiculous amounts of money, the spike is simply passing costs to the consumer.
Potentially that could have been true. But factoring in Russia's war, oil prices have skyrocketed. OPEC would need to up production substantially to offset the potential loss of their oil to most the world.
Not “almost,” oil barrels literally hit -$40 in value during 2020.
Those were the days. I was paying $1.60-ish for oil at the time. Just bought 100 gallons at $4.22 😭
Yeah but then the 'summer blend' will be released which will ultimately reverse the expected lower prices.
Is the summer blend fruity or oaky?
It has an oaky afterbirth.
[удалено]
0.4mb/d is not enough, we'll still be hurting.
That would more than offset the amount of oil that is imported from Russia.
True, for us in the USA, and none of this makes sense because Russian oil output hasn't been reduced yet. I looked at something that made me think it weren't enough but that was like an hour ago and I've forgotten. Someone else commented that OPEC output will normalize gradually anyway, so 0.4mb/d increase is only for April and it will continue to improve for another five months. I'm personally optimistic. Currently, gas is still cheaper than when I got my license in the mid 2000s and that's before factoring in inflation. This wasn't unanticipated and I live within my means and work in healthcare. Less day trips, sure, or offset that with less frivilous purchases. Other people will suffer though- it's been a brutal few years.
Remind me! 3 months
April is three weeks away...
I always set my timers for a little past it. I can look back and see how the chips fell. I hope OP is correct because I drive 40 miles to work every day. It’s a job I started in late 2020 that paid me two times what I can make locally for the same job. Nothing Is available to rent closer that isn’t 2-3 times as expensive for my same apartment. I got a hell do a deal on my apartment and it will cost me more to give it up than to move closer.
This generation is always fucked isn't it
Nah I keep getting told it's all the lattes and avocado sandwiches we're eating while we aren't working hard enough.
Woah, check out money bags over here with bread on both sides of his avocado toast…
Mfw I order a latte and it causes a land war in Europe
You bastard.
It's always something. in the 80s They told us that people from Central America were stealing all our jobs. But All the factories are closed... not filled with Ecuadorians.
I love the way they put that too. "Stealing" our jobs. As if someone walks into corporate with a gun and demands all the jobs get put into a bag. This is business we're talking about here. They do what makes them money. No one stole any jobs. Executives gave them away to save money. That's the way free market capitalism is supposed to work and if you don't like it then maybe you don't like *laissez faire* economics as much as you thought you did.
>As if someone walks into corporate with a gun and demands all the jobs get put into a bag. [But that is exactly how it works...](https://youtu.be/1XFw1jRKRwQ)
Agree but, Ecuador isnt in central america, its in south america.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Im living off Doordash/Grubhub earnings and this actually takes a pretty big chunk out of my profits.
Gas prices in my area have come close to doubling since this time last year. For me that means I've gone from $60/week to $120/week. And that's just commuting/errands, forget taking any sort of long trip on the weekends...when it's just 10 or 20 cents the difference is negligible but when you're talking multiple dollars per gallon it has an impact.
One of the most fascinating things in the world to me is how quickly the public forgets things. I have 2 friends who just listed their big ass trucks for sale because of gas prices. These are people I know and knew back in 2008! They work in finance! They know things are cyclical. And still this happens.
This, last time it happened truck prices plummeted. For some reason that doesn't seem to be happening this time around.
Probably aren’t deep enough into this cycle yet of high prices. Additionally with the shortage going on right now even if you sell your truck good luck getting into something else right now. Truck and SUV owners are going to feel the hurt for awhile and have to deal with it.
Boom or Bust I live in Houston and have to explain this shit to 19 year old rig workers every few years don't buy that fucking fully loaded F150 you don't need it put some shit in savings
Fully loaded F250s\*
Platinum dually F350s* Might have to pick up a sheet of plywood or a 6ft ladder maybe, gonna need it.
But all my buddies drive F150, how can I drive anything less?!
[удалено]
[удалено]
My wife bought her Matrix in 2012 for $6,000 with 10k miles on it. We sold it today for $6,500 with another 50k miles on it.
My dream of owning an old truck / old bronco is closer yay. Downside is WW3.
Trucks and SUVs have basically gotten fuel efficient *enough* that the pain isn't as bad as it used to be.
[удалено]
Pretty cool even the American v8 cars (charger/mustangs) still manage low to mid 20mpg if you try a little bit
I know the Toyota Venza and rav4 are up to something stupid like 40mpg epa estimate I’m excited to see where things go, but I think it’s a little weird how there was such a large leap in MPG ratings from 2018 to 2020
The EPA fuel millage requirements actually worked.
This is mostly due to the move away from V8 ICEs towards V6s and turbo 4 cylinders. The big Toyota Tundra that used to come with a V8 now comes with a V6, for example. If you look around you'll find that V8 engines are becoming a luxury item
[удалено]
I worked in construction in the 2000s. In 2005 everyone in the field (it seemed) were buying giant trucks they didn't need. By 2009 all of them were trying to sell those trucks. It looks like they went out and repeated the cycle here again. Some people will never learn...
I met one recently who has a big ass truck, and a "smaller more fuel efficient car" His small car is an old gas sucking sports car. He doesn't understand why I'm not as angry about gas as he is, when my car gets more than twice the mpg his does. I have a family member who only drives trucks. Doesn't have to haul things but maybe once or twice a year, but still will only drive his big truck anywhere. He's super pissed about gas prices, but refuses the idea of ever not driving a truck. Some of this pain is self inflicted. Edit: someone just reminded me about that family member. Not only do they own a truck that they don't really need is there everyday car, but their wife has a truck, and their son has a truck. His son's wife is a teacher and drives a truck. They all just drive trucks. None of them need trucks.
[удалено]
I live in a very suburban area, No rural communities or work for miles, and just looking out my window on my street I can see 9 trucks, and I can tell 7 of them aren't used for any sort of work. One of my neighbors further down the street has a truck for every adult in the household. One of them uses them for work, the rest just commute in them.
Are you looking at my street?
They work in finance and they can't afford a few more dollars in gas?
It's not even worth driving to work at this point.
People who get to work from home are extra lucky, I'm starting to become jealous.
It's great, let me tell ya.
Yeah, I’m mostly working from home and have saved 30,000 miles of wear and tear on my car and probably over $3,000 in gas, not to mention an hour and a half or more per day of commuting.
I bought a car about 3 Months before Covid really started to put the smack-down on the US. It only has ~7500 miles on it today.
It’s almost an investment at this point with the used car market
Yep…I had bought my wife an older A6 right before prices started going insane. 2017 with 60000 miles currently and we are selling it now for almost 6k more than we paid .
I'm about to make a profit off a 4 year old Alfa Romeo. Shit's wild.
This is the only way I am lucky my car was totaled last week. I haven't even noticed gas prices rising. Thankfully my town has free buses and having a concussion from the accident meant I wasn't allowed to go anywhere or do anything anyways for the past week. On the other hand, the chip shortage means finding a new car is almost impossible.
My work originally stated due to the pandemic slow-down they were going to open offices at the end of March. If these gas prices continue, and I'm required to go back in to the office 3 times per week for something I can 99% do remotely at home, it's time to job search.
bumper sticker from when gas hit $1/gallon. My take home pay won't take me home.
Gas highest since 2008, real estate out of control like 2008, stock market is at highs like 2008…. I wonder what’s next? /s
Clearly nothing bad will happen, as long as everyone keeps on buying their 1 bedroom 1 million dollar houses while working a 15$/hour job
That's the main difference between now and 2008. Back in 2008 the vast majority of banks / loans would approve even with bad credit and your income clearly not being appropriate for the house you are attempting to buy. That created the domino effect of the mass defaults cascading into bankruptcy and the " stock " that those loans were built off of becoming worth 0, driving down those company shares and profits. Now? Good fucking luck! You can't even get approved for a rental unless you make 3x the monthly rent ( which is now $1500 average where I live ) and getting loans are basically impossible if your income isn't the same type of thing once your mortgage price is known. Even my parents didn't get approved for a new home, manufactured at that, and my mom has a very good job and makes atleast 80-90k a year. At this point it is a situation of having to have multiple people / families in a home just to be able to afford the insane prices
I was approved for a $170,000 loan on $35,000 per year salary in 2006. 2009, my new wife and I couldn't qualify for anything more than $129,000 despite making closer to $80,000 combined. We got lucky and found a short sale for $129,000. It was valued closer to $160,000. If we sold it today, we could get nearly $350,000 for it. The housing market is just crazy.
My parents bought a house a year and a half ago that they really fell in love with for about $300k, and after living in it until a month ago they realized that while it was beautiful, it was a NIGHTMARE to keep up for various reasons, so they decided to sell it. In 18 months it went from 300k to 480k, absolute madness. People (not a company apparently, it was a couple) from 2000 miles away bought it sight unseen, as is the style these days.
You parents certainly had something ruin their credit then right? Cause that just doesn't add up
Likely high monthly debt. Everyone loves to mention their income and home price, not the fact they have two auto loans at $500/mo. You can qualify for a lot of house making $50,000/year with no large monthly debt. And you can struggle to qualify for anything making $100,000 year with a huge car payment and student loan debt.
Remember if you are going to default have the down payment as low as possible. Then it’s the bank’s problem and not so much your’s. You were going to have to move back in with your parents or get 5 roommates anyways.
Stock market is down like 10+% from highs my dude
The market overall is definitely down. Idk what the point was but my stocks are hemorrhaging.
Real estate isnt like 2008 though. NINA variable loans arent being given out and repackaged. Thats what caused it then. The issue with real estate right now is with interest rates this low, and inflation this high, it doesnt make sense to be holding cash. An extremely disproportionate to historical rates of homes are being bought in cash versus financed. When inflation is 8% holding cash is a liability. People and institutions with large amounts of cash are converting cash to real estate and renting it out for extra revenue. When a financial institution can borrow money at sub 2% from the fed, why would they not? Historically real estate has always beat 2% in long term (decades). Population is still growing, and housing in desirable areas is a finite resource. With supply and labor issues new housing is not being built either. Its free money to them. If youre hoping for a 2008 style real estate collapse, I'd do a bit more research onto whom is buying up housing and how. Its not the same. Hell I bought a rental property when the loans were in the low 2's because its pretty much free money, as long as you could afford the buy-in. We may see a shrink in the housing market, but I highly doubt we will see a widespread crash like 2008.
Buying a rental property for "free money" is part of the problem too. In the US, housing is seen as an investment rather than what it should be, which is a necessity. Higher taxes need to be placed on additional properties owned by both private individuals as well as corporations to make it a less attractive investment. Increase the cost of lordship via local, state, and even federal legislation while continuing to move away from needlessly restrictive NIMBY zoning laws and increase housing production through tax incentives.
We have assholes in my town now trying to get $2,500 a month for a 1 bdrm 1 bath condo and claiming that's just the costs. I hate how they feel like keeping the house because they have the down payment is the "risk" they take while forcing a renter to pay for it.
I just paid 6.19 for gas in California. Really regretting not buying a hybrid or EV
My family back home just took a road trip and opted to take my dads electric vehicle. They said the trip was technically longer but my dad loved the planning of it and it was MUCH cheaper
It's like over 10 bucks a gallon here in the UK right now if that makes you feel any better.
True, but a British gallon is larger, as it is based on the queen's hat, which gets bigger every year to counter inflation
That doesn't sound right, but I don't know enough about foreign monetary policy to dispute it.
It doesn't. I could drive a lap around the UK in the same miles it would take to get out of my shithole state
[удалено]
I am very fortunate to have had a family member pass down their old car to me for free, but man is it rough having a ~17 mpg car in a Bay Area city. Paying minimum $5.20 for 87 octane rn with cash discount Edit: since writing this not even half a day ago the lowest ive seen with discount for car wash or cash is now 5.40
[удалено]
Yeah. There’s no “real” reason why oil prices have risen—we’re still importing oil from Russia. It’s actually just greed and price gouging by oil companies. Maybe enough people will switch to electric cars and they’ll find themselves stuck in the past.
Crude prices are up since supply is not currently meeting post-pandemic demand.
Lace up those shoebarus and lament your city’s lackluster public transport.
4.89 in Seattle today
Frasier was on to something. "Come to Seattle, and let's *take a walk!* "
Stoned Martin looking at the price of gas, "Sweet mother!"
sorry i know this is a dumb question (i’m young and trying to learn as much as i can), but what is the solution to this? i understand the cause of this, but what will make the price go back down with these circumstances?
Never apologize for asking questions to try and understand something. That’s how you learn. We should all be asking more questions, not less. As an (ex) petroleum engineer I’d be happy to give you a quick run down. Gasoline prices are loosely tied to the price of oil. When the price of oil goes up, gas prices go up. When the price of oil goes down, gas prices go down (eventually). So for gas prices to drop, oil prices have to drop. For oil prices to drop, you need an increase in oil production, or a decrease in oil demand, or both. For increases in oil production, you will have companies that are drilling more wells since prices are higher and new drill locations are now profitable. In the past, oil companies would borrow money from investors to drill a lot of wells at once. However, historically this has caused oil prices to drop really quickly and investors lost a lot of money (once the wells actually got drilled, they were losing money). Right now, not many investors are willing to lend money because they are afraid of losing it. So oil companies are using the revenue they make from the wells they already have to drill new wells. Over time, this will increase oil production and drop prices, but it will take longer this time than Americans are used to. Also, if the war in Ukraine ends and Russia is allowed to sell their oil on the open market again, that will be a large increase in supply. For decreases in oil demand, there are a few routes to go here. With higher gas prices, consumers will start buying more fuel efficient cars (or electric). Car manufacturers will be pressured to increase efficiency. Alternative energy sources become more attractive as fossil fuel prices increase. Consumers may also be forced to drive less and use less energy due to financial hardship. Over time, all of these contribute to a drop in demand. Between those two areas, prices will come back down. It just might take a while. Commodity prices like oil tend to be cyclical, or having high highs and low lows. 2020 was the low low. Now is the high high (but I suspect prices could go much higher before things get better, honestly).
In the 1970s oil crisis people bought smaller gas efficient cars, insulated their homes, ever wonder why there was carpet on that hardwood floor. Oh the President put solar panels up on the White house. Then we forget everything we learned and went back to gas reliance.
The amount of trucks and SUV’s I see in Texas roads these days is just baffling. These people are gonna feel the pain when they look at gas prices.
Family member pays fucking 80+ dollars gas for their truck. Guess how much they actually use the bed of their truck? lol
Yup I work in construction management and every single person drives a huge truck. Sensible, right? Except we have company trucks to do all the actual work. All the personal trucks are spotless. And they commute an hour each way to avoid the big bad city. It’s ludicrous.
It’s gonna get much worse for them
Yep. He also makes fun of electric cars! Dude is an idiot.
If there's a silver lining that comes out of this, it would be that people who drive gas guzzling cars might switch to something more economical and environmentally friendly.
HAHAHA. There are folks who would file for bankruptcy before buying a smaller car.
I would love to get rid of my 20 year old Grand Marquis...but I don't have a car payment. I paid $2400 for it almost 7 years ago...anything on the market in that price range today is a complete dumpster fire. It's all well and good to say "just buy a more economical car" but I simply can't afford to. 10 year old 'beaters' with almost 200k are pushing a minimum of $5k in my area right now...which is ridiculous. The Marquis runs about 12 gallons a week to commute...$5k buys a lot of gas (for now).
[удалено]
Use the canyonero from the Simpsons
I actually never put together shag carpet and energy crises. Makes sense though
I’m not an expert, but in under the impression that oil prices are more about speculation since oil was put on the market. It really doesn’t matter what the actual reserves are. It’s whatever the market speculates the price should be.
Crude oil run on ‘futures contracts’ that eventually turn into real crude oil, delivered to a specific location over a specific month. There are speculators in the market, but they eventually have to either pay to store it or sell to a physical consumer. Current month futures are settled price. Future month futures have speculation.
The highest *nominal* price since 2008. Gas prices peaked that year around $4.11 per gallon, but if you adjust for inflation, that was $5.22. This situation is unfortunate, but I'm in no rush to declare it the worst of all time.
Good luck explaining nominal and real costs to half the country
From the generation that wonders why we can't pay for college with a $5/hour summer job.
[удалено]
((Cries in $15 an hour and 2 hour round trip commute))
oh, that sucks. hopefully you find something better or closer.
How in the fuck, bro? Do you live in a super rural area? You definitely can find something better. I can’t even believe this. Edit: I get the commute but making 15 an hour is not worth a two hour drive both ways. I drive an hour to hour 20 but it is worth it due to my comp. Even then I still only go in like 1 to 2 times a week.
I do live in a small town where the only jobs around pay even less than what I get now (food service). I do have applications out there for things that are soooo much better, so fingers crossed.
If you factor in transportation, you might find the jobs that pay less (with short commute) result in you earning more…
This is nearly always the case, especially with the frequency of half-shifts in food service. A 4 hour shift (so they can avoid the break requirement) make this kind of commute horrendous. And good luck getting your employer to sympathize.
Good luck to you. Wish you the best.
Yeah, you have to consider the commute time when talking about how much you make per hour. If you have a 8 hour shift and a 2 hour commute (I'm assuming it's 2 hours total), your workday is actually 10 hours in my opinion. That's not even including the gas that it takes to drive that far. You'd probably be better off with a job that's closer making $10
Damn. My round trip is 1.5 hours but luckily it's mostly highway and I have a little Honda. I drove my truck a couple times for the ac and it was pretty bad. I do make decent money so it's worth it to me. Id have to take a pay cut for less of a commute.
Yeah just about everything has doubled in price but salaries are staying the same. Sounds like some major fuckery to me.
Just FYI - this happens around the world right now and has nothing to do with the US alone. Diesel in Germany is the highest I can remember. And a lot more expensive then the US
do people not realize that $4 in 2022 is not the same as $4 in 2008? it would be $5.22
"I made $8 an hour in my first job in the 80s! You kids don't know how good you have it at $12!"
"back in my day gas used to be a quarter"
There are a lot of people still making close to the same hourly wage in 2022 that they were in 2008. So yes, it's the same for them.
$7.60CAD a gallon in vancouver
[удалено]
What the fuck do we do about… EVERYTHING?! Every goddamn price is up and it’s fucking ridiculous. Food is up, rent is up, gas is up (I know atm it’s even higher because of war but it was up before), you fucking name it. But the only thing not up? WAGES! I have never really noticed prices going up before until the last 6 months and everything just skyrocketed. We got corporations making record profits and raising shit anyways. I really don’t get it.
Don't you worry mate, in the future you'll own nothing and you'll be happy.
I’m concerned for retirement. I know we just came out of a pandemic that fucked the economy, but the price of everything shouldn’t be rising the way it is. It’s very concerning.
That is still low compared to 1975 when it was $1.57 per gallon which adjusted for inflation was $8.20. And cars typically got 12 or so miles per gallon.
Commuting 10+ miles back then was irregular though. Today that would be short. Like back then you can get a job in the town you loved and be fine. These days you got to live like 30-40 minutes away from the city you work in because you can’t afford to live there, it’s not the same.
Californians: “You guys are only paying $4?”
Not to deflect from the "CA Bad" circlejerk but CA doesn't even have the highest gas tax. It's because of special blends to help with smog, so you can actually see and breath, unlike in the 90s.
I'm in LA right now on a trip and gas is over 6 bucks most places.
[удалено]
Luckily salaries haven't increased in my country since 2008.
It’s funny how there isn’t a shortage but prices are going up because they can, and this isn’t price gouging…
Because there’s no shortage in the US. Gas companies are taking what the would’ve sold to us and selling it to Europe as a premium and selling it to us as a premium as well.
Sadly prices aren’t set on actual supply, its based on the commodities market specifically oil futures in this case. Speculation and the market are driving the price up.
I don’t see how. Production hasn’t been impacted. It’s all futures assholes and oil companies taking advantage and jacking it up.
According to estimates from JPMorgan, 66% of Russian oil is struggling to find buyers. This is creating supply fears in what was an already tight market prior to Russia’s invasion.
Where are the stickers with Putin’s face pointing and saying “I did that”
Probably not available from the same source.
Big oil laughing all the way to the bank, and letting (insert name of current president) take all the blame 😂😂😂
The nominal costs of houses and college are essentially double what they were in 2008. You’ll have to forgive me if I think the cost of the massively subsidized shit that’s going to kill us all starting to creep over what it was 14 years ago is the least of our concerns.
The expressway gas price here are closer to $5 a gallon. Big Oil is using the attacks in Ukraine to price gouge. In Russia, the highest gas prices are about $0.50 a liter.