Chart Of The Day: A Look At Global Gas Prices

Lou_BC, I guess that really is the heart of the matter, isn't it? My Canadian brother-in-law enjoys the best of both worlds in that he lives in the Seattle area married to my sister, but draws his income from the properties he inherited from his Canadian parents. He has two personal vehicles all his own -- an econobox with Canadian plates on it that he uses to drive down from Canada to the Seattle area, and a V-8 powered F250 four-door for use while in America. But when he and my sister go up to Canada to visit, they take one of her cars, depending on the length of stay and the amount of baggage they take with them, either her Sequoia 4X4 or her Tacoma 4X4. At no time is there ever any discussion about the price of gas or the amount of pollution the cars wreak on the environment. They just put in the gas, and go. It's where we each put 'money', or the lack of it, on the list of our priorities. My point: if 180 dollars for a tank of gas has some bite to it, for you, then it must rank pretty high on your list, even if you can afford it. For others, like myself, money is a tool. It's the utility we buy with it. And for me, and others like me, driving in comfort beats walking at any price. Once the money is gone, it's gone. Until then, get the most for it that does the most good. Maybe for my brother-in-law and his Canadian-titled econobox, it is more about image (while in Canada). Maybe he just doesn't want to project the image of living a life of largesse driving a V-8 F250 solo in Canada. From a personal perspective, my Tundra 5.7 is a thirsty beast. In addition to that I have two gasoline-fired AC generators and one diesel-powered AC generator,and therefore keep two 55-gallon drums of gasoline on my property and a 25-gallon drum of diesel. I fill up my wife's Grand Cherokee at home from my stash if she doesn't have a chance to fill it up while in town. Ditto with the Highlander my 16-yo granddaughter is using for her daily ride. And until recently I also fueled my 22-yo grand daughter's Elantra. So I buy a lot of gas, sometimes more than 100 gallons a week, depending on how much driving we each do. SOME of my expense for gasoline is mitigated if I do work and travel for the business owned by my wife's family. But that is usually no more than topping off the tank, since I start with a full tank to begin with. Since I can go through as much as $400 (American) a week in just buying fuel, which is near the top of my list of priorities, I don't worry about how much it costs. I need to have it, at any price. What has been drastically reduced in my life has been spending on the daily lattes, eating out most meals, getting my hair cut (my wife does that now), and/or snacks. Austerity has an effect, on others, not on my priorities. I mention this, just so you know that I'm not a wealthy individual. There is a limitation to the amount of money I get and can spend every month. I bring this up only to illustrate that MOST Americans do the very same thing with their money. They choose what they want to drive, fuel it to keep it going, and cut back on less important things.

@highdesertcat - The 0.1% and the 0.1% are probably the only people who aren't faced with limited resources. I would prefer to spend less on fuel. The part that bites is as you have pointed out, means you have less to spend elsewhere. I purchased my truck fully cognisant of the fact that fuel consumption was something that goes with the territory. When I was single, I did not give a sh!t. When one has family to support then it does become an issue to look at. I look at the allocation of my finite resources. I make good money but never the less, money is a finite resource. I'd rather put money into my children's future than put money in my gas tank.

@highdesertcat, I normally do believe what you state is true. But in the case of the fuel you are buying only holds true because you have adequate resources to buy the stuff. If you didn't you would have to find an alternative. Not everyone is in your position financially. How can someone in the US earning between $10-$20 per hour even consider fuel as an open resource? They will buy what they can afford. That is what you are doing. But, it appears you view the rest of the US lives and has available the resources you have. This is quite naïve of you.

Lou_BC, at my age there are even more things to consider, like being able to get in and out of a vehicle. Most of all, comfort! In my case, I trade my money for what gives me the most of what I am looking for. I am actually starting the process of pinging the Toyota dealerships of my choice to let them know I will be in the market to trade my wife's 2012 Grand Cherokee for a 2015 Sequoia 4X4. This worked very well when shopping for the 2008 Highlander and the 2011 Tundra, which, incidentally, I bought from the same dealership in El Paso, TX. At the end of next year (2015) I'll be trading my 2011 Tundra 5.7 for a brand new one, this time with four doors and 4X4. Hope it comes together. Else I'll have to step back into antiquity and buy a 2016 F250 with the largest gas motor I can find. A couple of things about money, though. No matter how much you make, it is never enough. And it isn't how much you make -- it is about how much you actually get to keep! What riles me is when people start belly-aching about the cost of gas, yet they drive what they choose to drive (regardless of brand). The best selling vehicle in America is the F150! If people are so concerned about the cost of fuel, they always have the option not to buy it. That will drive the price down and the supply up for gasoholics like me, people who MUST buy gas because without it we would be lost, stranded, our lifestyles destroyed.

@Big Al from Oz BAFO, I can't even begin to tell you how many times over the decades I have run out of money and still had a lot of month left at the end of the dollars. Actually, it is my belief that the vast majority of Americans have far greater financial resources than I do. I have real estate, property, but actual cash money is limited to my official pension and social security, and of course what I can scrape together unofficially. Just because my wife's dad keeps bags of cash money at our house does not mean I can dip into those funds. But when I do a job, I expect to get paid when that job is done. And since I do a lot of maintenance and repair on the properties owned by my wife's family, they have been pretty good about paying when the job is done. It is equally true, that as we wind down the business and sell off the excess properties, my need for gasoline has somewhat lessened. But there are times, like the past two weeks, when it is balls to the walls in getting property ready for sale. Fortunately, that is for the business, and the business picks up my gas and expenses. But, really, the bottom line remains: Americans keep buying fuel until their money runs out. We've seen this time and again as fuel costs have sky-rocketed. I don't think it is naive to observe people's behavior and document that. I've seen plenty of people whip out the credit card to fill up the gas tank. If they really were so concerned, why don't they change their behavior and stop buying the gas? Why aren't they all switching to PEVs? If the planet actually ran out of oil, I bet that would change a lot of things. But most Americans know there will be plenty of oil during their lifetime, and live their lives accordingly. Why aren't the environmentalists all jumping on the EV bandwagon? If they did a lot more EVs would be on the road now.

@highdesertcat - I fully understand your point of view. I find that my priorities have changed over time. When I purchased my truck there were other trucks with better fuel economy but they did not have other features, options, or durability that I wanted. I hated the Chevy and it and the Titan didn't even make my short list. The Sierra I liked looks wise but the 5.3 is a torqueless wonder and I couldn't get a 6.5 box. The Ram got dumped of the list due to poor durability data. I ruled out the 6.2 due to mpg. It became a choice between the Tacoma, Tundra, and F150. The Tacoma did not have the tow/haul capacity that I wanted. So it fell next. The Tundra has a wonderful drivetrain BUT it was considerably more expensive than the F150 and didn't have a 6.5 box crew. Fuel economy wasn't a huge priority but I did look at it. I can get 15 mpg (US) and 20.5 mpg (US) just by driving more cautiously. Winter time with heavy snowfall or -25C (-13F) or colder kills mpg and I can easily consume a tank of gas in a week. My truck gets the job done in that weather and meets all of my other wants and/or needs. It is ultimately a luxury I want and am willing to pay for. It does not mean that I will continue to choose to pay for that luxury. If Toyota comes out with a Cummins powered Tundra I may choose that as my next vehicle or my life could take a turn where I don't want a truck any more. The price of fuel is just one more variable that I juggle along with all of my other costs.

@highdesertcat - I've seen the same behavior with cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs. People will make huge sacrifices or sacrifice their families to get what they want. In reality for most of us a tank of gas like cigarettes is a want and in some respects is as addictive as tobacco. We do not know what price fuel will have to reach to start changing behavior. Most economic indices indicate that a large percentage of Americans cannot afford their current lifestyles.

@highdesertcat Lou_BC, and you will find that as time progresses your priorities will change even more, including that of transportation. For most Americans, fuel is a necessity, not a luxury. Knowing that, people still buy the vehicles they do but at the same time complain about the cost of fuel. I know what MY priorities are and gasoline is high on the list. I also know what I want out of life and what I will give up to attain what I want out of life. Been that way all of my life! Personally, I believe that when a person opts to buy a truck, they have already fixed in their mind the why and wherefores that go along with that purchase. Yep, that includes what it will cost to feed the beast and what the buyer is willing to forego in order to enjoy it. I cannot envision MY life without a truck! I have owned many trucks, most of them used. I have only owned three brand new trucks and in each case I bought what I wanted -- not necessarily what I could afford. My next trucks should be the last one I'll buy during my lifetime and you can bet that it will be exactly what I want, with all the bells and whistles, and all the toys.

Lou, point was, sometimes WHAT you drive matters more than HOW you drive it. I remember from my younger days how some of the guys driving hot cars, like Porsche, Corvette, BMW 6-series, bought with their re-enlistment bonus, would get speeding tickets. I had a couple of them working for me. In the US military, getting a speeding ticket back then was a big deal, often resulting in double jeopardy for the same offense. Like you pay the fine to the civilian court and then you get your driving privileges taken away by the military, especially overseas. The Commanders and the SJA didn't fool around, and the senior NCOs were tasked to enforce the rules. I think if a person willfully breaks the rules there should be consequences. And when my #2 son was CHiP for 12 years he wrote a lot of tickets that were deserved. He cut a lot of people slack so it would save them some money on the fine by charging them only for 10 over instead of their actual clocked speed. But when the courts ran low on money and the judges told the cops to get on the ball and raise more money with stricter law enforcement by writing more tickets, it gave new meaning to the phrase, "mining the highways." Money poured in! In many cases faster than the clerks could process the payments. Problem for out-of-staters is, who's going to contest the ticket? You're a traveler, passing through, and you have no way to prove that you were not speeding. And who wants to come back to go to court and be saddled with the additional expenses of lodging, food, fuel, plus the fine and court costs on top of that? You know beforehand, you're going to lose. That whole racket is a pretty sweet deal. Hell, even New Mexico is doing it to out-of-staters. Good thing they leave us locals alone, else my lead-footed wife would have been cited numerous times.