...are friggin' insane.

The two stations up the road from my house are at $2.09.9.

I paid $1.83.9 on Sunday!

26 friggin' cents in two days!

You ain't seen anything yet according to the news predictions. Wait till it hits that magical 3 dollar mark! And there isn't a darn thing we can do about it either. :(

$2.20 for 92 octane at the 76 station down the street (MTBE free)

dang......
 

I thought i had it bad here in atlanta, ga....paying 1.55 for 91. Oh by the way does anyone else have 91 octane by them? Just wondering cause there is only one station that has it. Peace ya :cool:


Chris

Re: dang......
 

92 seems to be the popular number here in California. There is one 76 station that sells 100 octane. I think last time I checked it was $4.10. Unfortunately I'm not that rich :D

Octane
 

We have 87, 89 and 93 in TN. Best local prices (as of last weekend) were 1.59.9, 1.69.9 and 1.79.9. 93 octane coming through KY last Monday was 1.87.9. Don't know what it is today, as I haven't bought fuel since Monday.

I don't wanna talk about it. :mad:

Re: dang......
 

I've only seen one station in these here parts with 91 Octane. It was laced with ethenol. Now, mind ya, I got nothin' ag'inst corn squeezin's, I just don't think they should be wastin' it runnin' cars. :D

Re: Re: dang......
 

Thats all we have out here. Your choice of MTBE or ethanol. I think our govenor said we have to get rid of MTBE by 2002 so my SVX will be on a strict corn diet from here on out.

Re: Re: dang......
 

Agreed. Yer sposed to feed cows and pigs with corn, not cars. I just got back from gassing up the *wifes* SVX, and 92 octane premium at the texaco, (I generally prefer Chevron), was 1.62.9 a gallon. :p

humm
 

2.20 here in chicago. Should i sell my car or go learn some self defense (oxymoron here) to go beat up the gas industry execs? You all are welcome to join.

Oh. I also thinking of buying a plot of land and drill for my own oil and refine it to gasoline. :mad:

Gas prices & inflation
 

Since I probably drive more miles each year than the majority of people posting here (typically 25 - 30 K/year), I'm not too thrilled to see prices increase. However, if you factor in inlation, gasoline at $2.00 or even $3.00/gal may still be cheaper than it was 20 years or so ago. Any economists here? Anyone know how much inflation has been for the last 20 years, and exactly what gas prices were then? Might be an interesting exercise.

Plus, the current fondness for low mileage SUVs is not going to help the problem any.

Gasoline price data and inflation calculations
 

OK, I got curious about this, so I looked up some data:

First, the inflation rate from 1981 to the present: According to the Dept. of Commerce's neat little inflation calculator (http://stats.bls.gov/cpihome.htm), $1000 in 1981 dollars now requires $1938.39 in 2001 dollars. Call that a multiplier of 1.94.

Now, according to their price data (http://146.142.4.24/labjava/outside.jsp?survey=ap) the US city average for a gallon of unleaded premium gas in September 1981 was 1.47.1, and the same number in March 2001 was 1.63.8. However, if we take the 1981 price and multiply by 1.94, we get 2.85.4. So, until gasoline hits 2.85 a gallon, it's still cheaper than 1981 gasoline, adjusted for inflation.

The lowest price I spotted was in Nov. 1986, when the US city average for premium was 0.98/gal. The inflation multiplier since then is 1.61, giving a price of 1.57.8. So if we compare present gas prices to the very lowest price in the last twenty years, it's higher. However, those prices only lasted a few months.

Doing the same thing for gasoline prices in May, 1986 - 1.07.5/gal X 1.61 = 1.73.1.
For May 1991 - 1.33.1 X 1.294 = 1.72.2
For May 1996 - 1.507 X 1.123 = 1.69.3

So, compared to twenty years, ago, gasoline is cheaper. Compared to more recent years, it has been relatively constant, until the last series of price increases. $2.00/gallon will make it about 18% higher than it was 5 years ago.

The price data can also be retrieved for major cities, various regions of the country, etc. You might try running the numbers for your particular location, and see what you come up with.

Disclaimer: I'm not an economist, so I may have this all wrong. But it makes sense to me.

FWIW

I'm going to do something about it!
 

I'm gonna do something about it...I'm going to buy Exxon stock!

:D

Re: Gasoline price data and inflation calculations
 

If only wages had increased at the same rate.... (well, assuming your not a CEO)