 |
Unofficialbmw.com
The UnofficialBMW BB, answers for your BMW questions.
|
Support Unofficialbmw.com :: Download Free Healthy Habits iPhone app!
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Henry
Joined: 03 Apr 2001
Posts: 2878
Location: NYC
|
 Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:29 pm Post subject: Gass Buddy... |
 |
|
Try an instant link. However, you might have to type this in manually to get to the site. The graphic is a gas price map of the USA broken down into each county.
http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
|
beejay
Joined: 18 Nov 2002
Posts: 1158
Location: Eastern, Pa
|
| Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 1:29 pm Post subject: |
|
|
interesting.
I've always wondered why there was such a huge variance.
Is it state taxes?
_________________
Bob
92 325ic gone 
14 BRZ ltd
05 Tundra SR5 TRD
01 VFR800fi - 03 DR650S - 83 CB1100F - 82 CB900F - 69 CB750 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
scrat
Joined: 01 Apr 2005
Posts: 1251
Location: california
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:36 am Post subject: |
|
|
what happens after red does california blow up.
_________________
   |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Henry
Joined: 03 Apr 2001
Posts: 2878
Location: NYC
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:11 am Post subject: |
|
|
In Britain 66% of the cost per gas per gallon is relegated to tax. The article specfies the delegation of these funds. Britains pay less for other services...health and education. My friends in Germany (where fuel costs are quite high because of tax) will have the college education of their daughter paid for. This does not apply in USA. Please don't tell us how lucky we are. Check your wallets at the end of the day if you think we're in good shape.
And go to this lead and link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/28/AR2006042800672.html
Chevron Earnings Soar 49 Percent to $4B
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
The Associated Press
Friday, April 28, 2006; 9:07 AM
SAN RAMON, Calif. -- Chevron Corp.'s first-quarter profit soared 49 percent to $4 billion, joining the procession of U.S. oil companies to report colossal earnings as lawmakers consider ways to pacify motorists agitated about rising gas prices.
Am not advocating anything here. Just passing on information many of us would otherwise not have.
From Britain:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/27/AR2006042702197.html
As Gas Nears $7 a Gallon, More Britons Take the Bus
By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, April 28, 2006; Page A12
LONDON, April 27 -- David Graham pulled up to the gas pump in his shiny black sport-utility vehicle with a "for sale" sign taped in the window.
Graham, 48, a London building contractor, pointed at the price on the pump -- the equivalent of $6.62 a gallon, which means it costs him $125 to fill his tank. "That's why this is for sale," Graham said. "I can't afford it anymore. I have to walk everywhere. Things have gone mad." ... etc. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jamminjames
Joined: 18 Jul 2003
Posts: 860
Location: Wilson, NC
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 5:09 pm Post subject: |
|
|
And the rest of the story...
*****
In Defense Of Exxon
| Quote: | A House GOP leadership aide said that Hastert also responded to calls for hearings into the pay package for Lee Raymond, who retired as Exxon Mobil's chief executive in January. According to a recent proxy filing by the company, Raymond received $48.5 million in salary, bonuses and incentive payments last year; exercised more than $20 million in stock options in 2005; and in January received a lump-sum retirement payment of $98.5 million. The proxy said that after 43 years of service, Raymond had accumulated $183 million of stock holdings plus stock options worth a net of about $69 million at current share prices.
"The speaker is very concerned about compensation packages given to executives like Raymond at a time when families are facing choices between putting food on the table and filling their car with gasoline," Bonjean said. "We met with Exxon Mobil and several companies last fall, and it seems that the message hasn't gotten through."
Exxon had said that Raymond's package was in keeping with his performance as chief executive over the past 12 years, when the company's earnings soared to record levels.
"Having a profit is good. We believe in that as Republicans," Bonjean said. "But when you're making this kind of money and American families are being affected, there should be appropriate things done to bring prices down. We're going to be asking them again: What are they doing with their enormous profits?" |
Gas prices get high in an election year and next thing you know, you have Dennis Hastert doing his best Lenin impression. Since when are Republicans worried about what companies are doing with their "enormous profits" and the "compensation packages given to executives?" What business does anyone in Congress even have getting involved in something like that?
Listening to politicians in Washington complain about how much money a corporation like Exxon makes is like an enormous, bloated tick complaining that the Cocker Spaniel it's attached to is using too much blood. The truth is that if you add in the state gas tax, the Federal gas tax, and the enormous taxes Exxon and its employees pay out, you'll find out that the government drives up the cost of gas far more than any profits Exxon takes, even at $3.00 a gallon plus.
Yet, they're mad that Lee Raymond is making "too much money." Because I'm not running for anything, I can tell you the unvarnished truth, which is that Lee Raymond is probably UNDERPAID. The guy has been the chief executive of Exxon for 12 years and just last year they made a $36 billion dollar profit (which incidentally, is only a 9.7% profit). Considering how much money he has helped them make over the years, if they paid Raymond a billion dollars, it wouldn't be too much.
See, you're not supposed to say that though. Nobody likes oil companies. Nobody likes rich people. People are mad about how much they're paying at the pump. But look, folks, we live in a world where Derek Jeter can get paid $189 million dollars to play baseball for 10 years and top Hollywood actors can make $20 million plus per film. So, why shouldn't Raymond be able to make a bundle for running a company the size of Exxon? Just because it turned out that gas prices were extremely high when he retired? Please!
Lee Raymond deserves the giant pile of cash he's going receive, but he doesn't deserve the cynical carping from the politicians or the petty jealousy of people who are envious of his success. America is much better off because of high achievers like Lee Raymond and more people should recognize that fact instead of gnawing at his ankles in envy.
*****
Taxes cost you about $0.42 per gallon on average. So the next time you hear Sen. Chuck Schumer (D.-N.Y.) worrying about the price of gas having an impact on “working families,” such as those who I imagine work for him, just remember that the Federal government could lower the price of gas $0.184 per gallon overnight, if it simply suspended the excise tax it impacts upon those poor working families. State governments could reduce the cost by more than $0.22, if they really wished to.
Is it marketing and distribution making prices rise? Nooooooo. Although advertising on “The O’Reilly Factor” undoubtedly is expensive and delivering gas to every street corner in North America is quite a feat, these items are only a small part of gas costs: just $0.11 per gallon this last March. That’s pretty amazing when you consider the post office can’t get a lightweight and non-flammable letter to your neighborhood for less than $0.39.
Well then, maybe it is refining costs that have made gas so expensive. You’re getting warmer. Refining costs shot up noticeably after Hurricane Katrina, since several refineries were knocked out by the damage to the Gulf Coast. Most of our refineries are concentrated there because people on the East and West Coasts are too good to have to look at them. To ease the Katrina price crisis, the government suspended all sorts of very important and wise rules telling the petrochemical engineers that run the refineries how to best make gasoline. The price then dropped suddenly, proving that regulation does not affect cost much.
But now the rules are back in place. And the government added some new ones. Most fuel in the U.S. must now contain ethanol, which is expensive, cannot be transported in pipelines and is a pain in the barrel to work with. So costs have gone back up, and then up some more.
Well that just leaves crude oil costs. Have they gone up? Well, yes, apparently they have. In the three years in question they have gone from about $0.70 per gallon to $1.34 per gallon -- a 91% increase. Perhaps the rise in crude oil prices was an underreported story, and thus missed by Mr. O’Reilly? Together with the increased costs of refining by Congressional committee, the increase in crude oil prices totally explains the price of gasoline, without the need to examine if Exxon had a second shooter on the grassy knoll.
However, Mr. O’Reilly rejects the idea that the price of crude should affect the price of gasoline, because it is just a “paper price.” I’m not sure what other sort of price he thinks there is (a “street price,” perhaps?) but Mr. O’Reilly, a graduate of Harvard, thinks that the “paper price” is some sort of new-fangled hocus pocus created by speculators: “These speculators operate in the so-called commodities markets. They gamble on where the price of oil and other tangible assets will be months from now. These Vegas-type people sit in front of their computers and bid on ‘futures’ contracts.” -- Mac Johnson
*****
Today I'm writing about oil and gasoline (er . . . petrol) prices. Just in time, Daniel Drezner asks a great question:
| Quote: | So, here's my question to readers... why is a spike in gas prices considered such a political crisis?
[You're the political scientist... why don't you have an explanation?--ed.] I have one, but it's a bit loopy: gasoline is a unique commodity in three ways. First, it's tied into the politics of the Middle East, which allows media coverage to always give it that extra political twist... though during the Cold War, the only sources for platinum were the Soviet Union and South Africa, but no one fretted about the political implications.
Second, oil is one of the few commodities that's subjected to a supplier cartel... though I don't hear anyone besides myself complain about, say, the diamond cartel.
Third (and by far the loopiest), gasoline is the one commodity in which Americans of both genders possess close to full information. It's therefore the one commodity that might mobilize the mass public into seeking a political solution.
I place very little confidence in my explanation, however: readers are welcomed to chime in. |
My thoughts:
1) Most Americans buy gas at least once a week
2) They buy a lot of it
3) They buy it by itself--if the price of milk or orange juice rises, it gets lost in the overall grocery bill, which is still falling in real terms.
4) The price is visible and because demand is almost completely inelastic, little effort is made at price discrimination--there are no coupons for cut price gas.
5) There is relatively little variation in gas prices compared to, say, generic food/drugs vs. name brands.
6) Gas is heavily implicated in other consumption. When the price of milk rises, you stop drinking milk and start drinking calcium-fortified OJ (or vice versa). When the price of gas rises, you stop going to the movies and start watching the science channel.
7) There are very few good substitutes for gasoline consumption.
 It is relatively difficult to cut back on gasoline consumption, because commutes and things like grocery shopping make up so much of the total, and people only purchase new cars once every few years, if that.
In short, people have to buy it; they have to buy large amounts of it frequently; it's very difficult and painful to economize on; and the cost is highly visible. That's what makes it different from groceries or furniture. Or anyway, that's my guess. - Asymmetrical Information
*****
But what do I know? I just read something other than what the MSM feeds to the Moonbat Lemmings. I find out what's past the propoganda...
Of course, now the Moonbats will chime in...
_________________
Some say time is the fire in which we burn.
--Dr. Soren
91 325ic "Tasha" 145K
04 X3 2.5 "Yet Unnamed" 45K
95 Dodge Neon "Beater" Work Car 125K |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
panzerkeil302
Joined: 10 Mar 2004
Posts: 2182
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 6:34 pm Post subject: |
|
|
geesh james, we're starting to agree with each other. 
biodiesel might be great...but my Cobra ain't ever gonna crank 350hp on bio  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
panzerkeil302
Joined: 10 Mar 2004
Posts: 2182
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Henry
Joined: 03 Apr 2001
Posts: 2878
Location: NYC
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 10:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Prices going up frequently and multiple times a day. Short answer: Greed. All that fancy footwork with words cannot mask greed. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
scrat
Joined: 01 Apr 2005
Posts: 1251
Location: california
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
3.30 average price per gallon. going up again. 
_________________
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mad_Milo
Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Posts: 600
Location: Akron, OH
|
| Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 10:05 am Post subject: |
|
|
| panzerkeil302 wrote: | | but who needs 22mpg and 800hp and 1400ftlbs of torque? |
/me raises his hand 
_________________
Mad_Milo
1984 325e - Delphin Grey
Mods: JC Chip, Euro headlights & grille, stock look stereo upgrade, working dash lights.
 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
panzerkeil302
Joined: 10 Mar 2004
Posts: 2182
|
| Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 10:32 am Post subject: |
|
|
trucks on spiketv kicked off the new season by doing a duramax diesel buildup.
nitrous, propane, larger injectors, etc, etc, etc...they "topped out" the dyno on torque at 1200ftl/bs...1450ish would have been the number....
banks sells a pda based display so you can choose your powerlevel 1-6
that's such an insane amount of power...got me thinking   |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Henry
Joined: 03 Apr 2001
Posts: 2878
Location: NYC
|
| Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 1:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
maniac(s) So...rode my Merlin (titanium bicycle) up 15 miles to the top of the Santa Fe ski area...from base altitude 7,000 ft. to end of rode at 10,400 ft.. Ahhh. Altitude.
2 weeks ago in Tucson...16 miles up Mt. Lemmon from 3000+ ft. to +-7,500 ft.. Rode bike till rode sign indicated a mother bear and cub. Then stopped.
Meanwhile, at the pumps...hey...I tried to tell people with W stickers on their monsta vehicles to smile...it was only a supply and demand problem...hell...I even told them that almost 1/2 a billion retirement bonus was chump change and that they could check the post of my good ol buddy j to get the truth. Shooo...hell...why should they be so so glum. It's only a hundred bucks a tankful. And they know it's just fine...you know they've their snowflakes, sanctity and soon to be 100 bucks a barrel. I tell'm to smile (bend over please) 'cause they've gotten exactly what they asked for.
And if they read that post...hell...they've even got a reason.
And that's all it takes to be  .
Hell...my 318is gets between 31-35mpg and you know what...shooo...I won't have to put a dime into that tank for a few days. But when I do...I'll look for that  republican. The one with the eyes that look like . Compassionatation.
i could go on but u get the idea
Last edited by Henry on Tue May 02, 2006 1:14 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
scrat
Joined: 01 Apr 2005
Posts: 1251
Location: california
|
| Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 9:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I guess we need to do a group buy in the oil industry.
_________________
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
donaldan
Joined: 01 Jul 2001
Posts: 1881
Location: Ft. Myers, FL
|
| Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 9:43 am Post subject: |
|
|
Henry, thanks for bringing it up. That Gas Buddy map is remarkable. Whoever developed it deserves a medal. It looks pretty accurate overall. Very useful for travel planning.
By the way, the higher cost of gas in California is due in large part to the state's peculiar blending/formulation requirements.
_________________
Don |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
scrat
Joined: 01 Apr 2005
Posts: 1251
Location: california
|
| Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 11:44 pm Post subject: |
|
|
you forgot the state and federal taxes. You know if they really wanted to help the people the would lower the amount of taxes imposed on gasoline.
_________________
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
