How about that gas price?

[Guest]

I filled up yesterday, had to wait about 15 minutes on a pump because everyone is going crazy.

The local stations keep going up and up, I drove passed the same station 3 times yesterday in under and hour and saw the price go up at least 4 times.

Here is what I'm paying for regular unleaded at the moment:

Monday: $2.56
Tuesday: $2.89 - $2.99
Wensday: $2.99 - $3.09
Thursday: $3.29 - $4.00
Today: ???

I'm half expecting to see $4.25 when I leave the house today.

[Zachery]

Glad I filled up on Monday

[free thinker]

Glad I drive a Honda Civic.

[Wayne Luke]

Glad I work at home. When I commuted to Los Angeles, it would be a tank of gas every two days. At $50 to fill up, that would be outrageous. Now we use less than two tanks (28 gallons) a month.

[Andreas]

$ 4.00 - is that per gallon?

Yesterday I paid 1.394 EUR/Liter (= approx. 7.93 $/gallon), and that was one of the cheaper Gas Stations.
Others took 1.434 EUR/Liter

[free thinker]

$ 4.00 - is that per gallon?

Yesterday I paid 1.394 EUR/Liter (= approx. 7.93 $/gallon), and that was one of the cheaper Gas Stations.
Others took 1.434 EUR/Liter

Approximately how much of your weekly? or monthly? or yearly income would you say you use for gasoline? I've always been interested to know this. Because I have heard for years of Europeans paying like way, way much money for gasoline...

Do you guys ever take leisure drives in the country? or go for a cruise in the car? or is it just too expensive?

We used to be able to do that here, but nowadays anymore...it's just too expensive.

[Zachery]

$ 4.00 - is that per gallon?

Yesterday I paid 1.394 EUR/Liter (= approx. 7.93 $/gallon), and that was one of the cheaper Gas Stations.
Others took 1.434 EUR/Liter

Yes per gallon. We don't get it in any other form here

[Andreas]

Approximately how much of your weekly? or monthly? or yearly income would you say you use for gasoline?

Hmm, depends. Most times it is approx. 15-25%.

Do you guys ever take leisure drives in the country? or go for a cruise in the car? or is it just too expensive?

At least not me. Way too expensive.

[free thinker]

Hmm, depends. Most times it is approx. 15-25%.

Holy Crap! They have you guys over a barrel. No pun intended.

My gasoline takes up about 5% of my income...that's not to say I'm rich, because I still can't afford a lot of things, health insurance being one of them.

[Andreas]

Health Insurance is mandatory; at least in Germany you must have one (it's a Law).
Normally it takes 12-16% of your monthly income.

[free thinker]

Health Insurance is mandatory; at least in Germany you must have one (it's a Law).
Normally it takes 12-16% of your monthly income.

Health insurance here for my family of three would cost me approximately 50% of my income...

[Wayne Luke]

Health insurance here for my family of three would cost me approximately 50% of my income...

Where are you looking for health insurance? I live in California and get health insurance for my family of 5 for $500 a month. Can pay less if I increase the deductible.

[chrispadfield]

I don't know of a single person paying 25% of their income on petrol, that seems very unlikely, that would in the UK £20 per day, which sould get you are good 200+ miles per day (7 days a week). I don't think the average person is driving that far per day!

free_thinker, I would guess the average person in the UK spends a similiar % of their income on petrol. The reason we don't spend much more is:

- we use public transport a lot more. Millions living in london don't drive to work
- cars are smaller and more efficient
- the country is smaller, people don't drive as far

Also general use of petrol:

- we use rail to transport a lot of "stuff" around, instead of huge trucks going up and down the freeways
- houses are smaller, uses less to heat them

[free thinker]

Where are you looking for health insurance? I live in California and get health insurance for my family of 5 for $500 a month. Can pay less if I increase the deductible.

Let me clarify. I have health insurance. But just recently. My employer covers a very basic Blue Cross PPO plan. He pays 75% of the cost (which today is almost unheard of). Anway, I pay $300/month for the three of us. My boss is paying $900/month for the rest. These figures are legitimate, I am not inflating or altering them. So basically the "actual cost" (if I were to try to purchase insurance w/o the help of my employers" would at about 50%, or more, of my take-home pay.

But there are a lot of people whose employers don't help them, or they can't even afford to pay their portion. What now? about 50 million uninsured here in America. In the end, with the right formula, it's got to be more expensive to have a sick nation than to nationalize quality health care...

I actually can't afford it, but I have to because my daughter has health issues. This year our family is "budgeted" for an $8,000 loss, which we hope will be offset by my fiance's graduation from nursing school. But whew, things are expensive.

[Andreas]

@chrispadfield
I am not driving that far, approx. 50 km/day, eg. approx. 1000 km/month.
My car uses approx. 7-8 l/100 km, so that's 75 liters/month => 75 Liters * 1,394 EUR/liter = approx. 105 EUR.
I earn about 450-700 EUR/month, so that is 15-25% for me