Petrol Prices: $4 a gallon coming soon to a pump near you?
According to Price Waterhouse and Bloomberg we very well could see prices at the pump this summer hit $4.00 per gallon. Over the past year prices have slowly crept back up to near $3.00 a gallon for most of us. The vast American public has simply adjusted their spending to accommodate the gradual rise in pricing. If anything should happen to disrupt the flow of crude into the continental US, such as increased tensions in the middle east or natural disasters such as hurricanes to hurt the refineries, we will see those close to $4.00 a gallon prices.
Recently myself and some of my other engineering geek friends and a few of my physicist type friends have been discussing this matter at some length. We feel that there needs to be a dramatic raise in the price of petrol, say fix the price at $5.00 to $6.00 a gallon as in some of the European States. If the price was fixed it would allow the government to monkey around with the taxes all the wanted to without impacting the price to the consumer. We also feel that such an increase would finally outrage the American public to such a degree that they would finally demand a change. There are fuel additives out there now that would add miles to the gallon on the current petrol being sold in the US but the Oil Industry doesn't want them released mainstream and has managed to keep them hidden and then manufacturers tied up in so much red tape. There are 6 cylinder engines out there that get 30 to 40 miles to a gallon but they are prototypes that wouldn't benefit the oil industry nor the auto manufacturers.
Something really has to happen to piss the American public off to such a degree, so that they would stop being so apathetic and finally stand up and demand a change.
So just how much is too much for a gallon of petrol in your mind?
Would you even notice if the change was slow and gradual over time?
Recently myself and some of my other engineering geek friends and a few of my physicist type friends have been discussing this matter at some length. We feel that there needs to be a dramatic raise in the price of petrol, say fix the price at $5.00 to $6.00 a gallon as in some of the European States. If the price was fixed it would allow the government to monkey around with the taxes all the wanted to without impacting the price to the consumer. We also feel that such an increase would finally outrage the American public to such a degree that they would finally demand a change. There are fuel additives out there now that would add miles to the gallon on the current petrol being sold in the US but the Oil Industry doesn't want them released mainstream and has managed to keep them hidden and then manufacturers tied up in so much red tape. There are 6 cylinder engines out there that get 30 to 40 miles to a gallon but they are prototypes that wouldn't benefit the oil industry nor the auto manufacturers.
Something really has to happen to piss the American public off to such a degree, so that they would stop being so apathetic and finally stand up and demand a change.
So just how much is too much for a gallon of petrol in your mind?
Would you even notice if the change was slow and gradual over time?