Just to add my two cents on the gas prices drama...

[blackdeathdenia]

Since this topic has appeared several times on my flist today, I thought I'd make a little post on the topic instead of simply commenting, so as not to belittle anyone's concerns (although, I suppose this is mostly in response to Lori's post).

See the article I reference here.

Comments

[call_me_ps]

The thing is, those in the UK and other parts of Europe have access to a better public transportation system than 99.9% of us in the US. This means when gas prices skyrocket, they can start taking public transportation. I WISH I had that option. The other thing is that most of them do not have the daily commutes that most Americans have. As a country, we have longer average commutes than any other country in the world. Therefore, some of us use daily the same amount of gas as people in the UK and other parts of the world use weekly, or even monthly. I'm betting most of my European friends don't regularly make 3 to 3.5 hour round trips (and by that, I mean twice a month), as I do, nor do they make 7 hour round trips (and by that, I mean once a month) as I do. Their lifestyles are different, and since the cost of gas is historically higher over there, anyway, they also have more of their budget dedicated to gas costs than us in the US

[blackdeathdenia]

It's true that a lot of places have far better public transportation than the US, and I think it's crap that your area doesn't have better public transportation- even my piddly little area has free transport buses that run every hour or so between Dartmouth and the local towns. I don't know how the economy in the UK and Europe relates to gas prices- they have obviously been dealing with this problem far longer than we have- but I'd be interested to find out. A friend of mine from Brighton suggested that the average yearly income in the UK is 35,000 pounds. I don't know how accurate that is, if it is at all, but that certainly has some interesting implications for gas consumption, and what percentage of income that is, etc

[call_me_ps]

Just to clarify, I was never arguing that their net incomes are less than ours, but more that their gas consumption (because of circumstances such as commute time, car size, etc.) is less than ours, so they spend less per unit than we do, so a raise in gas prices doesn't hit as hard.

The other issue is how QUICKLY. MORE than doubled since the beginning of summer. That's unheard of. I don't think it's gone up that quickly in the UK (but I could be wrong, also having done very little research, and instead just relying on hearsay from those living there). The prices HAVE gone up, but not as drastically as they have here.

[blackdeathdenia]

No, I know you didn't mention their net incomes, but I thought it was an interesting side note, relevant or not. I'm pretty sure gas in the UK (and the rest of Europe, although I'm far less informed in that area) hasn't risen nearly as fast as we have. It's certainly different situations, but I think it might be a glimpse of our future if something isn't done.

[ani_magi]

Thank you, Nicole! Finally common sense when it comes to this "Gas Crisis". Thank you! I'm gonna link my Flist to your post about Gas. Actually, I see that it's friends only so if you don't mind, I'll copy and paste this in my journal. Go girl!

~Lonnie

[blackdeathdenia]

Go right ahead ^__^ I just made it public, so feel free to link, too.