Gas just hit 4.00 a gallon in Orlando..

[spiders]

Um no. Are you claiming that high gas prices will no impact on demand? That is not what Econ 101 says. Most trips are discretionary. The traffic volumes are far higher from Friday evening to Sunday evening than they are during the workweek. The traffic starts backing up in central and southwest Washington over 100 miles from Seattle on Sunday afternoon.

I never suggested that high gas prices have no impact on demand. I said I don’t know anyone personally who is changing their driving habits right now and I too am not changing. Econ 101 also says that fuel is relatively inelastic. However, rising oil costs affect many things besides just personal driving.

If you’re on a fixed income then those people are more likely to change their plans. But even discretionary trips — I don’t think too many people are now going to choose to stay home instead of go to the mountains because it’s going to take an extra $15 to fill up a tank.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I never suggested that high gas prices have no impact on demand. I said I don’t know anyone personally who is changing their driving habits right now and I too am not changing. Econ 101 also says that fuel is relatively inelastic. However, rising oil costs affect many things besides just personal driving.

If you’re on a fixed income then those people are more likely to change their plans. But even discretionary trips — I don’t think too many people are now going to choose to stay home instead of go to the mountains because it’s going to take an extra $15 to fill up a tank.

RV-drivers will probably stay home from trips...and long distance driving vacations might get canceled (since the reason a lot of folks drive is b/c they can't afford to fly, so doubling to tripling the cost of the drive might also tip them into the cancel territory, especially as everything else also inflates in price)...

 

[dvcgirl67]

I never suggested that high gas prices have no impact on demand. I said I don’t know anyone personally who is changing their driving habits right now and I too am not changing. Econ 101 also says that fuel is relatively inelastic. However, rising oil costs affect many things besides just personal driving.

If you’re on a fixed income then those people are more likely to change their plans. But even discretionary trips — I don’t think too many people are now going to choose to stay home instead of go to the mountains because it’s going to take an extra $15 to fill up a tank.

I agree, for sure it's going to hit lower income households much harder. But, bigger picture....prices have gone up on everything, and I'm starting to read anecdotal comments from Americans saying that they're "going to have to cut back....". Where they cut back depends on where the income level is. Many I suspect will begin to cut back on discretionary spending and things like entertainment, dining out, and yes...vacations. Economists have been saying that the price hikes we've been seeing aren't fulling hitting Americans yet as the average household still has roughly $700 of stimulus money left. When that's gone....it'll become more real.

We have broken the record for the actual number with respect to price per gallon of gas, but we still have a bit to go before we hit a record factoring in inflation....that number is $5.35. I believe that $5 as an average price across the nation will have a real psychological impact on spending.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I said I don’t know anyone personally who is changing their driving habits right now and I too am not changing.

You probably will know at least some depending on how long the gas prices sustained at a large high increase. When the Recession hit it wasn't an overnight adjustment in driving habits.

I do think you have revenge travel where some people are just going to suck it up because gosh darn it they've been planning this trip since the beginning of the pandemic. This increase is happening right at Spring Break time, you may see people still go on trips but I'm not so confident that would be the case if say the increase started in early February and sustained itself at high prices like we're seeing now.

It's not really been that long with this sharp increase but given time you'd probably see more people curtailing some errands or putting off trips that are driving. Also right now fuel pricing hasn't reflected, to my knowledge at least, on airline travel but if that happens like it did in the past early summer and summer travel may dip down.

The conditions are different and yet the same in ways to the Recession. One thing that may alleviate some people from needing to adjust the amount of driving is the large work from home acceptance. We didn't have that during the Recession so people may be able to conserve gas as a byproduct of that leading to normal behaviors not having to change as drastically as before.

 

[mrodgers]

Gas is averaging 3.99 here in Texas. That’s high for Texas. Never seen it hit that high here before even in 2008/2009.

They downplay it on the news and announcements. "Gas prices hit $4, highest in decades!" Ah no, it's the highest it's ever been in the history of gasoline usage. Highest ever was 2008/9 at $3.99 (PA). It's now $4.39. That's the highest ever, not the highest in more than a decade.

 

[sam_gordon]

They downplay it on the news and announcements. "Gas prices hit $4, highest in decades!" Ah no, it's the highest it's ever been in the history of gasoline usage. Highest ever was 2008/9 at $3.99 (PA). It's now $4.39. That's the highest ever, not the highest in more than a decade.

Well, technically they'd both be right. If it's the highest ever, then it's also the highest in more than a decade.

 

[amylevan]

They downplay it on the news and announcements. "Gas prices hit $4, highest in decades!" Ah no, it's the highest it's ever been in the history of gasoline usage. Highest ever was 2008/9 at $3.99 (PA). It's now $4.39. That's the highest ever, not the highest in more than a decade.

When you factor in inflation, it was still higher in 2008.

 

[Sinder]

2008 average gas price $4.11, inflation 3.84%
2022 (current average) $4.31, inflation 7.5%

 

[amylevan]

2008 average gas price $4.11, inflation 3.84%
2022 (current average) $4.31, inflation 7.5%

Again, when you factor in inflation (In other words the difference of what your dollar could buy in 2008 versus 2022), $4.11 avg price in 2008 dollars is $5.25 in 2022 dollars.

So we may still get there, but prices have to go up another 20% to reach the all time high.

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm just sad because my daughter is away at school. We spent the last 2 years saying don't come home, it's not safe to mix households. Once this is over we'll get a chance to meet up more, maybe I'll come in for dinner, maybe you can come back for an occasional weekend. Then the very SECOND that subsides, the gas gets ridiculously expensive to make that prohibitive. Sad and angry.

 

[Praying Colonel]

There was a time several years ago where gas briefly hit $4/gallon where we lived. I remember because we were coming home from a WDW trip and stopped in Tennessee to get gas, and it was "only" $3.64/gallon. Felt like we were stealing from somebody.

 

[Southernmiss]

I'm just sad because my daughter is away at school. We spent the last 2 years saying don't come home, it's not safe to mix households. Once this is over we'll get a chance to meet up more, maybe I'll come in for dinner, maybe you can come back for an occasional weekend. Then the very SECOND that subsides, the gas gets ridiculously expensive to make that prohibitive. Sad and angry.

I'm sorry. How far away is your daughter? How many miles and would she drive or fly?

I can't imagine having gas prices prohibit a very long-awaited reunion between mom and daughter.

Is there no other place in the budget to cut back to make a visit happen?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Isn’t it sad when we’re happy that gas is ‘only’ $3.69 a gallon.

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm sorry. How far away is your daughter? How many miles and would she drive or fly?

I can't imagine having gas prices prohibit a very long-awaited reunion between mom and daughter.

Is there no other place in the budget to cut back to make a visit happen?

You're very sweet. She's 2 hours away so travel is all by car. It's not like she won't come home for spring break. It's that she's very stressed these days (junior year of Mechanical Engineering major) and an impromptu extra visit every now and then would be a nice break from the stress.

I want her to come back in April when "Singing in the Rain" comes to the big screen. It's been a real favorite of ours. Seeing it on the big screen would be lovely. Would it be worth an extra $65 tank of gas? I guess we'll see.

 

[GiaR]

pumping more oil

 

[RamblingMad]

Isn’t it sad when we’re happy that gas is ‘only’ $3.69 a gallon.

I remember when it was less than a dollar.

 

[MillauFr]

Isn’t it sad when we’re happy that gas is ‘only’ $3.69 a gallon.

What is really sad is the situation in Ukraine. The price of gas, not so much.

 

[Meriweather]

Just drove by where I usually buy gas. It was $4.59!!
I don't need to get gas often, thank goodness. But we have two driving vacations coming up so I need to get prepared for that!!

 

[MillauFr]

At these prices, if our oil companies could start pumping more oil, they would jump on it. It seems obvious to me our government is preventing them.

US Oil production is at an all time high. What has happened is that investors who have been burned many times over by investing in oil companies are demanded better returns for their investments. The amount of cash that is pouring into speculative oil drilling is drying up. Although with the recent spikes I suspect that will turn around.

 

[rangerxenos]

At these prices, if our oil companies could start pumping more oil, they would jump on it. It seems obvious to me our government is preventing them.

Actually, instead of lining the pockets of their executives and shareholders, they could actually DRILL under the okays they were given quite a while back. They don't need new permits, they've got them, they decided a while back that it was making them more money NOT to drill or pump more oil.