[tomder55]

not sure why you're paying so much

I'd bet the Aussie giverment sees petrol taxes as a revenue source. Many of our States do the same . $5 gas is coming to the US soon enough. The Fed and the Treasury Dept has shown little interest in King dollar .They think a devalued currency is a way to bolster US exports. They are sadly mistaken .

[paraclete]

I'll complain whenever I want to. If you think that just because you pay $5/gallon everyone else paying less should be considered lucky then you're twisted. You should probably move or buy a different car (not sure why you're paying so much)

I am not going to feel better about this just because I know somewhere out there some dude is paying $5. Thats tough luck for you, you were short strawed buddy!

The thought of me only paying $3.19 but you paying $5 doesn't matter. It doesn't change my situation and certainly doesn't put gas in my cars.

Poor little you!

You live in a place where the prices are very much less than they are elsewhere in the world and you are getting a taste of the way it will be. You want sympathy, you won't get any from me. I have had to deal with sharp increases in fuel prices and its tough, but you adjust. You will just have to use your car less and suck it up. You want a solution; get a bicycle

[paraclete]

I'd bet the Aussie giverment sees petrol taxes as a revenue source. Many of our States do the same . $5 gas is coming to the US soon enough. The Fed and the Treasury Dept has shown little interest in King dollar .They think a devalued currency is a way to bolster US exports. They are sadly mistaken .

Yes Tom there is a component of tax, probably half and we haven't got to the days of greeenhouse gas reduction initiatives yet. I suggest you buy aussie dollars, they are going to improve in value. Back in the days when the aussie dollar was 50 cents to the US I didn't think I'd see the day again when the aussie was worth more than the US but along came yesterday. It's interesting we pay lots of taxes and we have a strong dollar and you pay less and your dollar is weak, I wonder if anyone has done any research on that.

Devaluing the currency does boost exports but it makes imports more expensive so it depends where the balance of trade is. I think it just makes you more indebted to China the way trade goes these days. It helps our exports too since some fool wrote our export contracts in US dollars and so our exports are cheaper too

[magprob]

The $US is rapidly losing its status as the World Reserve Currency. As the fed prints more and more dollars, the dollar looses its buying power. Prices of every commodity are going up, and will continue to do so, in the long run.
The normalcy bias refers to an extreme mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of the government to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred that it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.
The normalcy bias may be caused in part by the way the brain processes new data. Research suggests that even when the brain is calm, it takes 8–10 seconds to process new information. Stress slows the process, and when the brain cannot find an acceptable response to a situation, it fixates on a single solution that may or may not be correct. An evolutionary reason for this response could be that paralysis gives an animal a better chance of surviving an attack; predators are less likely to eat prey that isn't struggling.

[paraclete]

And... this provides us with what answer?

[tomder55]

Devaluing the currency does boost exports but it makes imports more expensive so it depends where the balance of trade is. I think it just makes you more indebted to China the way trade goes these days. It helps our exports too since some fool wrote our export contracts in US dollars and so our exports are cheaper too

Add a hat tip to the Chinese not floating their currency to it's true value. In my humble opinion that amts to protectionism bordering on trade war.

[paraclete]

Add a hat tip to the Chinese not floating their currency to it's true value. In my humble opinion that amts to protectionism bordering on trade war.

Yes it is protectionism but don't kid yourself the US hasn't used the value of its currency to its advantage. You guys can't talk about protectionism with your agricultural subsidies supporting inefficient industries. The reality is there is no level playing field in international trade and with hedge funds playing it fast and loose with the currency market I applaud the Chinese for not allowing their currency to be played with by the market

[tomder55]

The good news is that you have never heard me defend subsidies

[Athos]

Someone please explain the reasoning behind gas prices. I don't understand the increase, decrease, increase, bigger increase, even bigger increase etc....

It seems like it increases every Holiday. Who's pulling the strings?

"Who's pulling the strings?" is THE question.

Certainly, normal economic forces are always at play with prices, as noted in several posts here.

But, for the wild swings in gas prices, such as experienced over the last few years, look no further than the usual suspect - Wall Street.

As Califdadof3 first mentioned, it was the players in the Commodity Exchange (can you spell Goldman Sachs?) who began to speculate on oil, even though they were neither producer nor consumer of the commodity (a no-no), and who drove the price to almost $150 a barrel until that particular bubble burst.

Goldman walked away with untold billions in this little-known piece of financial manipulation. It's not easy to track this finagling because the commodity exchange is far from transparent and is not effectively regulated.

This fraud does not lend itself to soundbites; it's complicated, so the media simply does not, cannot, cover it. The politicians don't care because their constituents can't understand it.

If you're truly interested, educate yourself, run for office, and expose the mess. Good luck!

A much more "understandable" solution would be for Americans (and others) to stop being such pigs as consumers, but that is not likely to happen either. It's not unlike blaming the drug problem on Mexico or Afghanistan or someplace else, while the American culture of the pig continues to demand whatever drugs they want.

[paraclete]

" the American culture of the pig continues to demand whatever drugs they want.

I hadn't heard it explained quite that way but it's true you can't indulge yourself without paying the price. This pig culture doesn't stop at drugs, it exists in food, in autos and in many industries which are depenent upon consumption, without the pig the economy would collapse

[ITstudent2006]

Poor little you!

You live in a place where the prices are very much less than they are elsewhere in the world and you are getting a taste of the way it will be. You want sympathy, you won't get any from me. I have had to deal with sharp increases in fuel prices and its tough, but you adjust. You will just have to use your car less and suck it up. You want a solution; get a bicycle

Did I ask for sympathy? Especially your sympathy? I don't think so! I don't want sympathy from someone who tries to make me feel good about where I live just because he/she thinks they live in a sh1thole and they're worse-off then me. Suck it up!

You want a solution? Move!

[Athos]

I hadn't heard it explained quite that way but it's true you can't indulge yourself without paying the price. This pig culture doesn't stop at drugs, it exists in food, in autos and in many industries which are depenent upon consumption, without the pig the economy would collapse

I referenced the consumer culture which includes everything.

"Drugs" are a small part of the overall economy which CAN be stopped by less consumption.

As to the question of consumption in general, I understand there is no economy without consumption. But consumption does not need to be excessive for a viable economy.

When segments of society experience want and even starvation, and other segments of that society spend billions of dollars to reduce obesity, something is very, very wrong.

[paraclete]

I referenced the consumer culture which includes everything.

"Drugs" are a small part of the overall economy which CAN be stopped by less consumption.

As to the question of consumption in general, I understand there is no economy without consumption. But consumption does not need to be excessive for a viable economy.

When segments of society experience want and even starvation, and other segments of that society spend billions of dollars to reduce obesity, something is very, very wrong.

Yes I think Michael Moore summarised it well with supersize me, I am fed up with being upsold whether it is in fast food or in other goods. I don't need a king size bed, I don't need a two ton car etc. Drugs are a different issue symptomatic of a society that has lost its way

[Athos]

yes I think Michael Moore summarised it well with supersize me, I am fed up with being upsold whether it is in fast food or in other goods. I don't need a king size bed, I don't need a two ton car etc. Drugs are a different issue symptomatic of a society that has lost its way

Interesting point about drugs being a symptom of a larger problem.

Another, more basic, point about the nature of advertising; if I had to zero in on any single focus driving an excessive economy of consumption, advertising may be the primary culprit.

The power of promising love and happiness by purchasing the right kind of lipstick would be absurd if only it didn't work. But it does. In fact, it works beyond the dreams of any Madison Avenue copywriter that ever put pen to paper.

Discovering human motivations has been one of the most powerful and most destructive of all human endeavors. And there's no end in sight.

[paraclete]

Another, more basic, point about the nature of advertising; if I had to zero in on any single focus driving an excessive economy of consumption, advertising may be the primary culprit.

.

Yes I agree that advertising and marketing are the basic problem, people are being sold what they do not need, we have too much of everything and have been taught/motivated to want more

[paraclete]

Did I ask for sympathy? Especially your sympathy? I don't think so! I don't want sympathy from someone who tries to make me feel good about where I live just because he/she thinks they live in a sh1thole and they're worse-off then me. Suck it up!

You want a solution? Move!

For your information I live in a much better place than you do even if fuel prices are a little rich, so, buddy, you can stick your attitude where the sun don't shine. As you say suck it up! I'm glad you got that point at least. Pay the price

[ITstudent2006]

Attitude? I am simply talking to you like you were talking to me. (sucks huh)

How can you possibly justify suggesting where you live is better then where I do... ohhh I forgot, you know everything!