US Average Gas Prices = $3.45 - We Have World's #111th Most Expensive Gasoline - CNN

[hatrack]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Despite daily headlines bemoaning record gas prices, the U.S. is actually one of the cheaper places to fill up in the world.

Out of 155 countries surveyed, U.S. gas prices were the 45th cheapest, according to a recent study from AIRINC, a research firm that tracks cost of living data.

The difference is staggering. As of late March, U.S. gas prices averaged $3.45 a gallon. That compares to over $8 a gallon across much of Europe, $12.03 in Aruba and $18.42 in Sierra Leone.

The U.S. has always fought to keep gas prices low, and the current debate among presidential candidates on how to keep them that way has been fierce. But those cheap gas prices - which Americans have gotten used to - mean they feel price spikes like the ones we're experiencing now more acutely than citizens from other nations which have had historically more expensive fuel.

EDIT

http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/01/news/international/usgas_price/index.htm

[LakeSamish706]

1. I just got back from Aruba and it wasn't that high when I was there...

Damn, they must have gotten smacked in the last week or so... crap, that sucks.

[DJ13]

2. Here comes the MSM excuses about our gas being so "cheap"

Right on que.

Every time the price gets high enough to justifiably outrage Americans the corporate medis rides to the rescue of big oil with this same tired old halftruth.

:eyes:

[BeFree]

13. Yep

Gotta protect their buds. Screw the working man.

[KansDem]

3. Yeah, well compare us to those other nations in regard to health care coverage...

access to education, infrastructure, etc. Go ahead CNN: compare us! Who receives the benefit of "high gas prices?" The people or the corporation?

Being the "45th cheapest" doesn't impress me if all that "gas price" goes to Big Corp.

[Coyote_Bandit]

4. For comparison sake it would be interesting to know

just exactly how access to public transportation in the US compares to that in the 110 coutries having higher gas prices. I'm pretty sure a number of those countries have much better public transportation.

[Bok_Tukalo]

5. Good thing Europeans don't pay for their gas with dollars

<OPE>

[krispos42]

6. t's been going up at 15% a year for 6 years

When that happens with food, we get riots

[catnhatnh]

7. Since Aruba and Sierra Leone were cited,I took a look...

Aruba...Island slightly larger than Washington DC.
Sierra Leone...Slightly smaller than South Carolina.Less than 500 miles of paved road.

Both fairly remote (shipping wise) with slight demand and no indication of indiginous petro-chemical industries.

[DFW]

8. Oh no! Not Sierra Leone!

My daughter is going there as part of the UN War Crimes tribunal this summer.
Not only are we scared shitless about exposure to 3 dozen tropical diseases,
but now I hear that gasoline there costs more per gallon than their Gross
National Product (blood diamonds and bribes not included).

Not that a car will get you to the airport to get the hell outta there: the
Freetown airport's only access to Freetown by ferry or helicopter (!!!!!).

[JohnWxy]

9. The REAL cost of gasoline after you figure in program subsidies and the defense of oil fields:

http://www.iags.org/n1030034.htm
"NDCF report: the hidden cost of imported oil

The National Defense Council Foundation (NDCF), an Alexandria, Virginia-based research and educational institution has completed its year-long analysis of the “hidden cost” of imported oil. The NDCF project represents the most comprehensive investigation of the military and economic penalty our undue dependence on imported oil exacts from the U.S. economy. Included in this economic toll are:


Almost $49.1 billion in annual defense outlays to maintain the capability to defend the flow of Persian Gulf Oil – the equivalent of adding $1.17 to the price of a gallon of gasoline;
The loss of 828,400 jobs in the U.S. economy;
The loss of $159.9 billion in GNP annually;
The loss of $13.4 billion in federal and state revenues annually;
Total economic penalties of from $297.2 to $304.9 billion annually.
If reflected at the gasoline pump, these “hidden costs” would raise the price of a gallon of gasoline to over $5.28, a fill-up would be over $105. "

NOte that this estimate was done before we invaded IRAQ so the defense outlays are vastly higher now. also, of course this doesn't consider the human cost of oil in terms of dead and wounded._JW


http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmgmt/The_Real_Price_of_Gas.pdf



http://www.iags.org/costofoil.html

[MISSDem]

10. As bad as I hate to pay the higher prices, I think it might be a

good thing. If it goes high enough people will have to stop the unnecessary driving, me included.

[catnhatnh]

11. Gasoline in Aruba....

Well first my prior post is partially in error-Aruba DOES have a refinery,however the refinery does not produce gasoline. As to $12.00 per gallon, I believe the figure is in error. The below link was the most current info I can find.

http://www.arubalife.net/gasoline/html

This link has an error but will bring you to a page of "Aruba Life".On the top right of the displayed error page click on "Gasoline" and you will show that as of April of 2007, the price was $4.92...so unless something catastrophic happened, I think the $12 figure must be in error...

[elocs]

12. I don't buy the "well so many of these other countries have good mass transit"...

Most larger cities in this country have good mass transit systems. I live in a small city of about 50,000 and we have a good bus system that also allows riders to load their bikes on the front of the bus. When gas was $1.50 a gallon these busses were mostly empty much of the time. Now when gas here is $3.59 these same busses are still running mostly empty with cars and trucks still be-bopping around town with just the driver. People here resent having to pay taxes to support a bus system that always loses money because people will not ride. Even here people could carpool, but choose not to do it because it is inconvenient and impinges upon their personal freedom.

When gas prices were cheaper, people even here where I live had no problem in choosing to live miles from where they work. They also had no problem buying the gas guzzlers, the SUVs, the big trucks. Life is about choices and consequences. Certainly, many do not or did not have a choice in where they live in relation to the distance to where they work, but many did have that choice, just as they had the choice to buy a more fuel efficient car and did not (I see a good number of people driving around in those big Ford F150 type trucks--alone. Break out the violins for the high gas prices there).

I could choose to go and eat a fast food meal at McDonalds and spend $5, but that same fiver would put enough gas in my car to make round trips to work for over a week. That's a choice just as some people choose to get a coffee and donut every morning, maybe spending enough every couple of days to pay for a gallon of gas, but they will complain about the price of gas. Choices.

Unlike the gas shortages and higher prices of the Carter years, let's hope that this time the high gas prices have an impact that will actually cause us to change our lives and address the problem. Think of where we would be today if we actually took the energy crisis seriously 30 years ago. Gas is the American drug of choice and we want our addictive drug of choice to be as inexpensive as possible so we may drive the big cars and trucks wherever and whenever we like--mostly alone. Even where I live people could carpool, but choose not to do it because it is inconvenient and impinges upon their personal freedom.

I am more concerned about the high cost of fuel and how it impacts the price of food and other goods than I am about its impact upon personal travel. The way it is often portrayed one might think that people here in the U.S. only drove out of necessity, such as traveling to work. I think that most people choose to drive many miles that are convenience trips and not complain about that, but will about what it costs to drive to work.