[dolanbaker]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13338754
Why are Americans so angry about petrol prices?

Rising petrol prices in the US are expected to be one of the key issues in the 2012 presidential election. But Americans still pay half what Europeans fork out on the forecourt. So why is it such a big deal?

Whatever bounce President Barack Obama has received from Osama Bin Laden's demise, there is a widespread belief that his fortunes at the ballot box in 18 months will be decided by two things.

[Mesuge]

Exactly, even if you account for longer daily commuting routes and poor economy of most of their fleet (overbloated SUVs/pickups) plus usually non existant public transportation - it's still WAY cheaper than in other developed parts of the world (apart from Europe also incl. Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Aussie/NZ, Canada etc.)

One can read it as they are into very crude awakening or that the premise of non-negotiable american way of life will produce even more dramatic geopolitical effects in the near future.

[JohnRM]

There are several important points to make.

(1) Americans drive longer distances to work and other places they need to go.

(2) We're very used to low gasoline prices.

(3) Rising gasoline prices are doing real economic damage to our personal economy, despite how low they are when compared to the rest of the world.

(4) If any politician supports an increase in the taxation of gasoline, he will be a politician no more.

[Newfie]

Um, well, er....

Here, watch this, it will explain a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg

I wanna, I wanna, I wanna

[evilgenius]

Probably because the role of public involvement in the economy is so slight in America vs. places where the cost of gas is so much more. All that petrol tax pays for things in Europe. Taxes on American gas only pay for roads. When public money comes to bear there is an economic incentive and a multiplier at work that stimulates the economy to one degree or another. The American system lacks the spate of European multipliers.

[vision-master]

Remember, Americans don't get 'free medical care'. $800 Month could buy a lot of gas. lsol

[PrestonSturges]

Long commutes, no mass transit, the belief in wheeled land barges, veritable living rooms on wheels as an American birthright.

But the anger is partly because of the relentless use of classic propaganda themes that their lost tribal paradise has been stolen by "The Other," the sinister outsider that has become the Enemy Within.

In this case there is this mythology that the gummint is creating high oil prices, not the fact that we no longer find oil sitting around in puddles. Supply and demand, the free market, all these things are mysteries to the public, who seem to want or expect the gummint to nationalize the oil companies while worshiping at the altar of the Free Market.

The point I always make is that when someone's thoughts on a subject are incoherent to the point of being almost psychotic, then their default emotion is rage, especially if they are primed to look for scapegoats (The Other) rather than solutions.

[dolanbaker]

Remember, Americans don't get 'free medical care'. $800 Month could buy a lot of gas. lsol

Apples and pears! If you had European levels of fuel tax, would you still drive American style cars.
Where the tax goes, doesen't really matter, it's where it comes from (or not) that's your problem!

[Pops]

I'm not seeing any people in the streets where I live, unlike some places...

There have been three notable campaigns amongst many other protests in the 21st century. The first protest in 2000 was primarily led by lorry drivers and farmers. Blockades of oil facilities caused widespread disruption to the supply of petroleum products with knock on effects for the public and the authorities, as well as causing a reduction in popularity for the incumbent government. The aim of the protests was to secure a reduction in the fuel duty rate on petrol and diesel, which the government refused to enact. After the protest ended, the government did announce a freezing of fuel duties, and promised changes would be made to the way that goods vehicles were taxed which would include the taxing of foreign vehicles operating on British roads.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_prote ... ed_Kingdom

[diemos]

Why are americans angry? I suspect their thought processes boil down to:

We could have this before. Now we can't. Somebody must have taken it from us. Let's get em'! (once we figure out who they are)

Try to explain to the average person that our civilization depends on consuming a finite resource and will thus inevitably end and you might as well be trying to explain string theory in mandarin Chinese.

[PrestonSturges]

Why are americans angry? I suspect their thought processes boil down to:

We could have this before. Now we can't. Somebody must have taken it from us. Let's get em'! (once we figure out who they are)

Try to explain to the average person that our civilization depends on consuming a finite resource and will thus inevitably end and you might as well be trying to explain string theory in mandarin Chinese.

And if you do try to explain it rationally in terms of supply/demand/price/policy, something that you explain to someone 10 years old, you really see the violent anti-intellectualism. If it doesn't sound like a trailer for an action movie, they are going to angry.

[TheDude]

We're angry because we see the price of fuel spiking up and up, on top of already high taxes levied on our income. Europeans who can't figure this out need to imagine their payroll being cut 50 more krogmars or whatever each week. You'd be pissed, too. Angry, that is. You Brits would likely be getting pissed in the other sense you have for this word, too.

Also Americans who are politically conservative have bought into the myth that we'd have bountiful endless cheap oil if it weren't for all these tree hugging liberal homos blah blah blah. Their counterparts on the liberal side of the aisle buy into other myths, that the price of fuel is one big Wall Street scam, or that Obama could just snap his fingers and put a PHEV Prius in every garage, with solar panels on the roof to recharge its Greenness. La dee da.

[Newfie]

Old song....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kellyposter1970.jpg

[edit] "We have met the enemy..."
Pogo daily strip from Earth Day, 1971.Probably the most famous Pogo quotation is "We have met the enemy and he is us." Perhaps more than any other words written by Kelly, it perfectly sums up his attitude towards the foibles of mankind and the nature of the human condition.

The quote was a parody of a message sent in 1813 from U.S. Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to Army General William Henry Harrison after the Battle of Lake Erie, stating, "We have met the enemy, and they are ours." It first appeared in a lengthier form in A Word to the Fore, the foreword of the book The Pogo Papers, first published in 1953. Since the strips reprinted in Papers included the first appearances of Mole and Simple J. Malarkey, beginning Kelly's attacks on McCarthyism, Kelly used the foreword to defend his actions:

“ Traces of nobility, gentleness and courage persist in all people, do what we will to stamp out the trend. So, too, do those characteristics which are ugly. It is just unfortunate that in the clumsy hands of a cartoonist all traits become ridiculous, leading to a certain amount of self-conscious expostulation and the desire to join battle.
There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tinny blast on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.

Forward!

[Livewire713]

One thing that amazes me is that people don't even try to slow down and save on fuel when it comes to driving. When I drive I don't drive with a lead foot and I also dont race to the next red light. I try and drive at a speed where I can hit all greens and boy does this piss people off. They'll ride on my ass then race around me, sometimes yelling something out their window or giving me a dirty look. Most of the time Ill end up coasting by them as they are getting ready to lead foot it to the next red light. I would think they would catch on that they're really not getting to their destination any faster but people are just stupid and rude.

[Newfie]

No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.
H L Mencken quotes

[dsula]

Just to throw it in there. Europeans are also angry about cost of gas. I just listened to a German radio show discussing the problem and as funny as it is, the people on the street that were interviewed blamed big oil for big price.

[Queaks]

I can't answer for all americans, but I can give my thoughts.

First there is no reason for gas to be priced so highly. Some of the cost is from speculators which has risen recently, due to our Mideast involvement and the psychology of risk. Obama could remove the "risk trade" from the speculators just by opening up drilling permits. It would not affect real supply for the near term, but it kills the risk premium that speculators bet on. It happened within a few months in 2008 when Bush promised more drilling. For speculators, reality doesn't matter, it’s the future expectation. So some anger is at Obama for his refusal to allow drilling which would kill the risk trade and bring down prices.

Second, we do not have a current supply problem, there is as much oil here as last summer but the price is higher due to #1 above.

Third there are excess taxes on gas. While that varies by state, here in Michigan the tax is a road tax on the gas per gallon AND a sales tax of 6% based on the sales price. So ironically, the higher the price of gas goes the more money the state collects. No more services, not more gas just higher taxes as the price rises. Morally wrong in my opinion.

Fourth, every dollar increase in the gas means effectively a "tax" for which you get no services, and you can't avoid. Most of us live a distance away from where we work and you must commute to the job. Living close is fine in theory but, to get good housing, with good school systems mean the suburbs not the city, at least here.

Fifth, it seems to me that the president is purposely using his influence to keep prices high. You may not agree, but if you do feel that way how can you not be angry that the president is effectively manipulating prices or stealing from you? He is "green" at the cost of consumers.

Small cars are fine if you like them, but let's face it a smaller car (everything else being equal) is not as safe. So when a politician says drive a smaller it paradoxily means he wants more us to die. Sounds callus, but politicians are, and I'd rather my son be in a 2 ton car than the "Smartcar" deathtrap should an accident happen.

Peak oil is happening in the sense that we are running out of oil long term, but rationally it has nothing to do with the current prices of gas which is driven by the speculative trade.

[Maddog78]

educating-the-muscle-car-masses-t61591.html

Have a look at these threads.
Some of them are furious!
It's big oils fault!
It's the politicians fault!
It's greed!
It's corruption!
It's anybodies fault except themselves even though they bought new 400 hp muscle cars and now can't afford to fill them up.

Some genius from Kentucky even says "when I was a kid gas prices never changed."

As if it should be that way forever and ever and ever.

[Outcast_Searcher]

Most Americans (and I am one) are incredibly stupid about financial issues.

I keep seeing more and more documentaries about people in dire financial straits due to losing jobs during this nasty recession. I see some disturbing patterns that say it all:

1). (Almost) NEVER is ANYTHING said about personal responsabilty. About that saving is a good thing. That NOT saving is incredibly self-destructive.

2). (Almost) NEVER is ANYONE willing to admit that even part of the problem is their fault. It's the same things said about the gas prices in the posts above -- it's a dark conspiracy, it's the fault of the rich, government should magically fix it.

3). MANY of these people had good jobs for DECADES, or dual good income for decades. MANY of these people are in their 50's or older. I feel sorry for someone who is in their 20's and this happens to them. For someone in their late 50's with a well paying 35 year career under their belt, acting like they were hit by lightning within 6 months after losing their job -- there is NO EXCUSE. (How were these people planning on funding their retirement)?

4). The worst aspect of this is that DESPITE ALL THE EVIDENCE -- people appear to be LEARNING ALMOST NOTHING from this.

The ONE positive thing I expected to come out of this recession when it became apparent that the global economy would survive, say in early 2010 -- is that SURELY MANY people would learn about thrift, saving, investing, and not being completely reliant on the government to "save them" from all ills.

Clearly, I vastly overestimated the intelligence of the masses in America.

Gas prices upsetting folks? Just one small example of the above mentality (or mentality of a gnat).

(OK, the left can now feel free to roundly attack me for stating the obvious, and be sure to point out how a much bigger government will magically make everything better -- using great success stories like the DMV and the Post Office. And I'm a libertarian, not a GOP shill, BTW).