Gas going up AGAIN!!!

[mjbaby]

Living here in England the gas prices are even higher. I pay .94 pence a litre and after you change it over to the dollar it's about $8.32 a gallon. So when we go to WDW the end of July it will be cheap to buy gas even if it's over $3 a gallon.

Thanks for the perspective! I try to remember that even at $3+ per gallon, gas here is cheap from a global perspective.

Today the kids and I are having a "home day" - we try to do this at least once (sometimes twice) a week where we don't go anywhere and make our own fun right here at home. In the winter we don't even get out of our pajamas - it's quite cozy! Anyway, I was making a list of all the errands I need to run this wek before we leave for vacation and realized that 90% of them could wait until tomorrow when I have an appointment in a town about 10 miles from me - no need to rush out today to do them in my own town at all.

It's a nice feeling to have this "duh" moment and even nicer to know that at least one pressure on my day - thinking I needed to get the kids dressed and out the door - is gone. Saving gas in the bargain is the icing on the cake.

 

[Golf4food]

Thanks for the perspective! I try to remember that even at $3+ per gallon, gas here is cheap from a global perspective.

The problem is that America builds out, not up, and so our cities are sprawling and our housing communities are mostly in the suburbs, meaning that Americans have to drive more than most people in Europe, for instance. Also, America is horribly lacking in public transportation. Very few cities in America have adequate public transit or housing nearby to places of employment.

In my city, I have to drive 16 miles one way to get to my job, my wife drives about 12 miles one way. If I were to want to take a bus, I would have to drive to a nearby mall a few miles away, take multiple connections, and still wind up many blocks from my job and have to walk down a busy street to get there, with no shelter from the 90+ degree temps, thunderstorms, etc. and it would take me forever to do so because the bus system is so slow and terrible. Subways are not an option because 1) the city is so freaking spread out, and, more importantly, 2) we'd all drown since it is Florida and the water level is just under the surface in most places.

So while it might not be such a pain to people in NY City or Chicago were mass transit is common and well developed, for the rest of the country the higher gas prices are killer.

Either America must start building housing and job sites closer together or start making better use of public transit, which of course would require the city governments to actually care enough to try to fix the terrible public transit systems, but that would require spending money that they don't have because the mayor and other city officials make six figure salaries...

 

[mjbaby]

The problem is that America builds out, not up, and so our cities are sprawling and our housing communities are mostly in the suburbs, meaning that Americans have to drive more than most people in Europe, for instance. Also, America is horribly lacking in public transportation. Very few cities in America have adequate public transit or housing nearby to places of employment.

<snip>

Either America must start building housing and job sites closer together or start making better use of public transit, which of course would require the city governments to actually care enough to try to fix the terrible public transit systems, but that would require spending money that they don't have because the mayor and other city officials make six figure salaries...

Please don't misunderstand, I get the problem, it's root causes and any problems associated with solutions (although I'm not at all sure that city officials' salaries are among them). But knowing all of this doesn't devalue the sense of perspective one gains from learning that despite our recent price increases, U.S. gas prices are really quite low when viewed from a broad perspective.

As for sprawl...well, voters in this country vote time and time again against measures that would limit development, provide affordable housing in major commercial areas, develop mass transit and also consistently and in great numbers move farther and farther away from their workplaces in an effort to get "more house for the money". They may well be getting more house, but at tremendous costs in terms of gas and environment. Personal anecdote: a good friend of mine built a house in what was just recently the "exurbs" so that she could have a house twice as big as she could buying in established towns. To get her four children to and from their activities and herself to work (in the original town) she also bought a Tahoe. Now, she in bemoaning the cost of heating the big house and driving to and from the town where she works and lived in the first place. AND, her once little sub-division (on the site of a former farm) is now in the thick of development mania, with a Sams, Barnes and Noble, Target, Megamarkets and an Old Navy WITHIN SIGHT of her backyard. She's furious and takes every chance to talk about how "they" are ruining things. All I can say is, "Dude, you're part of the problem. You and all your neighbors."

The point is, everyone's got a reason why they are special and shouldn't be subject to market forces. But you know what they say, right? If everyone is special, that means no one is. Every dollar one spends is a vote for the kind of world we want to live in.

 

[OhMari]

The problem is that America builds out, not up, and so our cities are sprawling and our housing communities are mostly in the suburbs, meaning that Americans have to drive more than most people in Europe, for instance. Also, America is horribly lacking in public transportation. Very few cities in America have adequate public transit or housing nearby to places of employment.

In my city, I have to drive 16 miles one way to get to my job, my wife drives about 12 miles one way. If I were to want to take a bus, I would have to drive to a nearby mall a few miles away, take multiple connections, and still wind up many blocks from my job and have to walk down a busy street to get there, with no shelter from the 90+ degree temps, thunderstorms, etc. and it would take me forever to do so because the bus system is so slow and terrible. Subways are not an option because 1) the city is so freaking spread out, and, more importantly, 2) we'd all drown since it is Florida and the water level is just under the surface in most places.

So while it might not be such a pain to people in NY City or Chicago were mass transit is common and well developed, for the rest of the country the higher gas prices are killer.

Either America must start building housing and job sites closer together or start making better use of public transit, which of course would require the city governments to actually care enough to try to fix the terrible public transit systems, but that would require spending money that they don't have because the mayor and other city officials make six figure salaries...

Well said.

I have a train system, that runs trains at least every 20 minutes thru my town. Not one of those trains carry passengers. Funny thing though, I saw over 40 trucks being hauled towards the north-I've never seen that before, usually I just see lumber and hazardous waste.

I agree, the U.S. farming communities and anything not related to Chicago and NY really need public transportation-there is really nothing else to use, except our vehicles.

 

[ducklite]

but that would require spending money that they don't have because the mayor and other city officials make six figure salaries...

I see no problem with a city executive making a competitive wage with what an executive of a corporation would make--in most cases much less.

To recruit talent you must pay talent. IMHO one of the reasons we can't get "the best wo/man for the job" in Washington is because we pay our executives a pittance. It's actually quite embarassing how little many politicians make for the amount of responsibility they have.

(And I'll agree that there are more than a few politicians who don't deserve what they earn, but for every one of them there are three hard working people out there caring about their constituents and working their butts off for them, for far less than what their counterpart in the private sector makes in his 9-5)

Anne

PS--This is not meant as a political post, nor does it represent any political opinion or party affiliation. It is an overall generalized statement designed to point out exactly why the best and the brightest generally shun public life.

 

[wdwfamilyinIL]

It has been running 3.09 here (central IL). I have also noticed increases in prices at the grocery store. Everything goes up, but paychecks stay the same....

 

[Samandmom]

I live in CT and we were in NJ/PA this past weekend. On Friday night we were in Mount Holly, NJ as we were driving by gas station we watched them lowering the price to $2.89 a gallon. The place was PACKED!!! People were lined up in the street also. A little ways up there was another gas station and they were charging $3.10 a gallon and NO one there!