Agreed, if you can't handle an extra $20 a month, you shouldn't be driving a $30k+ sports car!

I run about 5k miles a year. At an average RX-8 mileage of 18mpg (my own real numbers), that means 278 gallons a year.

- At last year's prices of ~$2.70/gal, that means $62.50 a month for gas.

- At this year's prices of $3.50, that's $81/mo, or a whopping $18.50 extra.

- Even at $5/gal it's only $53/mo extra, or $1.75 a day.

Even on minimum wage, that's only an extra 20 minute's work per day. I just can't understand all the people b!tching about this affecting their work and lifestyle. Are people really so desperate? That's equivalent to half a pack of cigarettes, or maybe a couple bottle of beer. Unless you're working in McDonalds, driving a 12mpg hummer on a 50 mile daily commute, this is a non-issue!

 

Icemark,

I think most people who bitch about gas price can afford them.

but Does crude oil really worth 65.20 a barrel ?? (according to last friday's price)

the problem is that, we paid these *extra* money for no freaking reasons other than greedy government officials and fat middle east bastards (oil companies), oh wait, I almost forgot that Bush (and his buddies working in the white house) own lots of oil companies shares !~ woooooo

It might cost 5-10 bucks a gallon somewhere on earth, but you also have to remember, how much they pay in places like Iran? I can tell you, not even a buck.

Do you seriously think the gas worth the price right now ?

and Im sure you'll be alot happier if the gas cost 1.5 today.

 

Do you ******* read before you post? Or are you just college dropouts? It's already been established that the few extra bucks that we lose from our pockets for gasoline clearly isn't a big deal. We're talking about how the entire economy gets screwed in the long run and that should be something that concerns your ***.
Make it harder for bottom feeders to work and make less discretionary cash available across the population, and you end up crippling businesses throughout the country and driving up prices in nearly every single industry. But you wouldn't happen give a **** about any of that eh?

 

Nice job flaming...I sure am put in my place now.

 

Now that is just not thought out. Is your view really that tainted that you can't see see the benefits of getting rid of low cost energy?

You attitude is classic of someone that thinks only about themselves and what it means to them... are you a US Congressman? "bottom feeders" as you put it, will still make it too work, just fine... just like they have for the last 100 years. Someone needs to buy those Yaris and Sentras.

High energy costs stimulate progress, they stimulate the economy, they stimulate innovation.

Lets look at the last major gas crunch at the end of the 70's. What came from it? Radically more efficient and cleaner engines for personal transportation. Countless public transportation projects. New regulations for cleaner air, water, and food. New tech for modern plastics, packaging, even tires. The US got better because of it. Not stagnant as it had been for the previous 25 years in relation to transportation. Yet the prices of fuel jumped 150% in just a short time.

Did the economy collapse? Nope... it grew! Maybe you like the idea of using up the worlds supply of petroleum so that your children will have none. Cheap gas will keep us stuck to the crazies in the Middle east. I get it... you are not a Congressman, you are a fundamentalist from the middle east who wants the west all dried up and served on a platter too them.

Innovation, new tech, progress, all forced by higher energy costs will only help sever that noose of the middle east and the lot that, that situation puts us in.

 

Was the flaming rule removed?

Correct statement about the economy. People are losing jobs and businesses as we speech.

 

Actually the gas crisis in the 1970s (along with the Vietnam War) did hurt the US economy through the rest of that decade. But it was a lot more severe than what we're facing and otherwise I agree with Icemark: All the whiners should suck it up and deal.

We've all known for years that fuel prices could go up. I don't hear my friends who drive Priuses (Prii?) and Honda Fits complaining; it's the ones who drive SUVs and sports cars that are bitching. Cry me a river idiots. No one forced any of us to buy a car that gets 15 MPG... buy something more efficient and/or drive less. I chose to live and work within 10 miles specifically so I could bike or bus in (which I do often... and when I can't, I try to carpool). If a short commute wasn't an option for me, I wouldn't drive an RX8, simple as that.

Same goes for business owners... if what you do is hurt by rising fuel prices, you have my sympathies but the reality is that either you adjust to it or go under.

 

Ok folks, that's clearly enough. Too bad someone always has to get hysterical and start flaming/cussing to try and make their point. Thread closed.