Friday, May 4, 2007

gas boycott : don't buy gas on May 15th, consumer power!

its that time of year again; gas is $3/gal and it could reach $4 this year!

Funny thing is that gasoline prices are still lower today than they were in the early 1980's according the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflator, ConsumerPriceIndex (CPI). Gas prices skyrocketed in the 1980's primarily because of psychological consumer fears that gas would run out. With everyone filling up every gastank and container, they actually created a shortage. The current processing could not keep up with the artificial demand. When demand exceeds supply, prices become inflated. Can you visualize the effects of 100M cars that previously had 5 gallons and suddenly are maintained and topped off at 20 gallons of gasoline?

Today's CPI index is 205.3 which means that today's US dollar buys half of the value as it did in 1982-84 which is the base year with an index of 100. This is calculated as CPI_base / CPI_current. (100/205)= 49% Today's dollar has half the purchasing power due to inflation. Gas prices in the 80's were over 1.50. http://www.bls.gov/cpi/

Taxes have remained constant through the decade. 50 cents of every gal is State and Federal excise and sales tax. Taxes are larger than the combined profits of extractors, refiners, transporters, and retailers combined! Pump prices were $1.50 in 2002; 30% was tax!

There are many ways to 'stick' it to the gas man, but a temporary boycott will just gouge your pocket and not work. It is amazing that this energy price has stayed so low, especially in the time of this enduring war.

The best way to save fuel and fuel costs is to use the lowest octane possible. Modern engines adjust the timing to handle the pre-ignition of low octane. High octane gasoline provides 20% lower gas mileage over 6 points. So it cost you twice : 20 cents per gallon for premium unleaded plus less MPG.

FUEL COSTS per 1000 miles :

  • 85 octane = $82.5
  • 91 octane = $112.5

(who else is going to tell you this little secret!)

URBAN LEGEND :
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-43/1178286661266530.xml&coll=5
http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the lesson! I didn't know this was a hoax. I'll be back.

May 9, 2007 at 8:55 PM
TestPilot said...

Hey Biby. I appreciate the kindness and the link to your very active Kerala Articles. I'll put a link from my blog. http://keralaarticles.blogspot.com/
One article Top 5 countries has India as #5! Have you seen India referred to as one of the BRIC?

May 10, 2007 at 1:28 PM

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