POLL: What do you think the Public "Breaking Point" will be on Gas Prices?

[NEOBuckeye]

Poll question: POLL: What do you think the Public "Breaking Point" will be on Gas Prices?

At what point do you think people will become so fed up with paying for gas that some sort of "mass public reaction" will result? What do you think that mass public reaction will be? Protests? Riots? Calls for impeachment of Bush?

Keep in mind, the higher gas prices rise, the higher costs for virtually EVERYTHING are going to climb. Food, heating, cooling and transportation (planes, trains, buses) are all going to increase dramatically.

Welcome to the Post-Oil World, folks. Your comments are much appreciated!

[Tace]

1. I Voted $5

I don't think more than a few percent of the population will make the connection between the price of gas and the price of everything else.

[ispeculate]

10. When it goes above $3 per gallon people will be talking...

$3.50 per gallon = shock

$4.00 per gallon = anger

My prediction is $3 per gallon by summer's end.

$4 per gallon? maybe in a year.

Unless we have some kind of technological breakthrough with fuel cells were going alot higher though...Just judging from the chart.

Higher all time highs with higher average daily trading volume. Reminds me of the charts you would see during the internet dot com bubble. How high is high? I dont know but were gonna find out...

[funflower]

30. Why do you think $3 by fall?

[newyawker99]

34. Hi ispeculate!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[kestrel91316]

16. So true ...............

heck, the average American apparently hasn't figured out the connection between supply and demand.

[lizzieforkerry]

2. Yesterday a Repub friend of mine was laughing at

someone because they were complaining that gas was so expensive. "It's not that high"

[Massacure]

5. lmao, you sure he was a repub? It sounds like he came from Europe.

[Union Thug]

21. I could be wrong, but I thought that I read that the US actually pays more

than many European nations for oil, but the taxes added to the cost at the pump pushed their prices higher. Anyone heard this?

[WCGreen]

25. Yep, they use a heavier crude for their refineries...

Cheaper..

Just look when they quote the futures..

North Sea Crude is always anout 5-10% less that Light Sweet Crude

US refineries are geared toward Light sweet Crude because most of the Oil from the Gulf and from Texas is light sweet crude....

[Union Thug]

20. Repukes always force out a chuckle...

when they don't know how they should reply to something. They try to belittle their opponents that way.

[Cobalt Violet]

3. I voted for $3.00.

But I really think it will take more in some parts of the country and less in others. Lots of people are pissing and moaning about it already. As for me, every time it goes up I have less food money.

[proud patriot]

7. I voted for 3.00 also

that would really hurt my family .

[Massacure]

4. Somewhere between $2.50 and $3.00, depending on the area.

Large populated areas will probably be closer to $3.00 while rural areas will be closer to $2.50.

Todays equivalent oil price to the 1970's oil embargo would be about $80. It may be possible to see that within the next year or so if there is instability in the middle east, several hurricanes that hit the gulf coast, plus a very cold winter.

[Cobalt Violet]

12. There is already another hurricane brewing and it's only July.

2.50, 3.00, 3.50, it won't be long. It's going to hit the fan soon.

[AndyTiedye]

13. We're Already over $2.50 in California and Going Up Fast

We'll probably go over $3.00 by Labor Day.

[fortyfeetunder]

6. Mass public reaction -- oh no way!

Because the Great one in the White House is gonna rustle us some cheap oil from Iraq!

Seriously, Americans have not been ones to protest high prices. They didn't balk significantly in the original energy crisis of the early 70's and take to the streets. They'll bitch but will pay up eventually.

[barb162]

15. and I think it was more expensive back then, consumrer price

indexed

[justinsb]

8. I did a poll on a similar topic recently

I asked people at what price point they would consider giving up their cars, most said that they could not give up their cars based on logistics - too far from work, stores etc. I don't know what the breaking point will be, but I know that gas prices aren't coming down substantially and will keep going up year over year forever.

[Esra Star]

33. Then it WILL run out and we will be forced to a new paradigm

[AndyTiedye]

9. The Public is Already Broken

There will be no mass public reaction.

[Tommymac]

11. I picked $4.50 because

for the average car that will mean about $50 to fill their tank. (based on an 11-13 gallon tank.)

I pay almost $30 now and cringe ...

Of coarse, if it is gradual over a few years nothing will really happen...but if it goes up drastically in a short time span then people will get angry.

[tocqueville]

18. $4 gallon : it's what it costs in Europe (1 euro/liter)

and Europe still goes round, even if people complain. This situation has been now for decades...

BUT :

1) 80% of this price are taxes. Taxes go to welfare.
2) European cars don't guzzle that much...
3) Collective transportation (buses, subways, tramways etc... are more developped than in the US)

Where I live, cars are forbidden in the center of the city. Allowed only half an hour/day for delivery of goods. If you are not a resident, you have to pay a fee...

is that too tough for the States ? My guess it is..

[Tommymac]

22. No, but comparing the European lifestyle

to the American one when it comes to automobiles is almost like comparing Apples to Oranges.

I understand where you are coming from, but IMHO the thrust of this thread is to discuss American's political breaking point over high gas prices and it's effect on the attitude of the sheeple toward the * regime.

Off topic on your point, our whole culture is based on the Automobile and cheap gas...to our detriment in the long run.

We do need to wean ourselves off it...should have started 30 years ago but the Oil lobbies have kept us down.

Expensive gas will come...but we need to have a societal paradigm shift too...and that will take time if it is to happen peacefully.

[tocqueville]

26. that was my point

and in Europe the progressive forces think that our actual level is already environmentally disastrous...

I tend to agree with them and that means that we need our "societal paradigm shift too"

[funflower]

28. Welcome to DU, tocqueville!

BTW, I liked your book!:hi:

[barb162]

37. Yes, I have always been very impressed by the European gas prices

and Europeans basically drive much smaller vehicles, take the trains more, etc. Europeans just don't think, well this weekend I have to drag my speedboat or trailer over to X or Y lake. Every weekend I see my neighbor with this enormous high powered speedboat that he shackles up behind his SUV and it is very obvious he likes to drag it around to different lakes. The waste! The American way of life is so wasteful

[barb162]

14. maybe 6 bucks and I hope it hurts like hell because that is the

only way the people in this country driving the big gas guzzlers will get rid of them for fuel efficient vehicles and other modes of transport. We have been too damned spoiled for too long.

A person I know went camping this past weekend so he dragged a trailer behing his SUV. Of course, he needs an SUV to drag the big trailer. Well, how much gas did he waste doing that? Does he care? How many people drag boats behind their SUVs this time of year?


One of my favorite segments on the news is when the gas prices take a spike so they show the assholes filling up their SUVs at gas stations and whining about the cost and how they can't afford it. WHat a total joke as they stand there next to their very expensive vehicles.

[Cobalt Violet]

32. At that price they'll either have to raise wages a lot or...

The rich will have to start cleaning their own toilets and doing all the services they buy themselves. The working class will no longer be able to commute to the rich neighborhood to service them.

Maybe I should right a book " How to Clean Your Own Toilet for Dummies" or " The Idiots Guide to Cleaning Your Own Toilet"

[lapfog_1]

17. Most of middle america is now a commuting nation

driving 15 to 25 miles one way each day...

50 miles a day, 300 miles a week, 1200 to 1400 miles a month.

And they LOVE their 12 mile a gallon (on a good day) big trucks
and SUVs.

100 to 120 gallons of gas a month... at $4.00 a gallon is now
a huge portion of their income ($500/month).

So the car they love goes to $1000/month ($410/payment, $120/month
insurance, $480 to $500 gas) and that doesn't include maintain ce.

That will really start to cut in on leisure expenses...

Rent+bills, SUV+gas+bills, Food, Medical. All of sudden middle
America will have to earn $75,000/year or more to break even...
and the second income from a spouse working won't offset as much
because that means a second car+gas+...

They will cut out non-essentials... no more movies, not as many
toys, no unneeded electronics, no big ticket items, and no vacations
(too expensive to drive). And our economy depends on them spending
for those things. And that promises to be a big recession (the
housing bubble will finally burst, accelerating the plunge down).

The Feds are so much in the red that the usual cure (lower interest
rates and increased Fed spending) just won't happen this time.

[Union Thug]

19. The real question is...

when will they figure out that our disinvestment in public transportation and total lack of interest in alternative energy has been largely the result of oil company influence and pressure that kept us in our cars, created ugly suburban subdivisions many miles from places of employment, and essentially enthralled the citizens of this country to their cars? And then, if they do figure that out, what will they do about it?

Geez.. I wonder what it will take for my employer to figure out the most of what I and my team do can be handled from a home office 4 out of 5 days a week and allow us to telecommute?

[barb162]

38. The transport funds have been used almost all for highways

rather than trains. But the love affair with the big SUV and our high-powered cars is strictly from us and we are to blame. To most Americans, I think, the bigger the vehicle, the better. (Same with houses and a whole lot of other things)

[Tommymac]

40. We have the MSM to thank in part...

Humans are social beings with strong tribal instincts ... we all want to 'fit in' ... and when the MSM and corporations show that 'everyone' is doing it, well, it becomes an okay thing to do. Especially when it is broadcast at us 24/7 for all the years of our lives.

If instead, in the 1970's, we had had the need to change trumpeted to us, the need to find alternative energy sources, the need to develop true convenient public transportation solutions; the need to revitalize our cities...and been shown that we could have a BETTER standard of living through these changes than we do now...

But we got instead the MSM/Corporate powers of the time creating an American Dream including a gas guzzler for every individual; miles and miles of expensive, excessive, pollutive new hiways and a suburban substitute utopia miles away....so they could keep raking in the profits until the resource is used up.

[queeg]

23. My breaking point was in 1973 at .75

[lovuian]

24. I picked $4.00 In Europe its $5.00 but they have Mass transit!!!

we are almost at $3.00 and we are still going strong but $4.00 is definitely going to make a serious impact on everything!!!

[Renew Deal]

27. $3 will hurt the economy and that will start the chain.

$4 will set off protests. More than that and I think riots. I am not sure if we will see $5 in the next few years. The situation would have to change for the worse.

[funflower]

29. The guvmint will do everything it can to keep prices down until after the

2006 elections.

When the anger does come, it will probably be expressed in a "throw the bastards out" mentality at the ballot box.

[Kool Kitty]

31. I don't know what the hell is going on,

but gas prices here (central NJ) went up about 17 cents in the past five days. If there is a reason for this, I must have missed it.

[JHBowden]

35. People *are* free to buy efficient automobiles.

If yuppies were to protest about how oppressive it is to drive their SUV, they need to be beat.

Higher gas prices provide a greater incentive for businesses and citizens alike to be more efficient during our daily lives. I'm not worried about it.

[ComerPerro]

36. 4 will be the breaking point, but who will they blame?

Because, I assure you, they will not be blaming Bush.

[Turn CO Blue]

39. Actually, I kinda hope it does go to $4 or $5, because bio-fuels

will then become a viable solution for further investigation, investment, development. Soybean fuel, sugarcane fuel, hybrid cars -- these are all better solutions than being dependent on fossil fuels.

I read a great article (wish I could find it) about how Brazil is investing everything they can into sugarcane fuel (ethanol). It's a huge gamble for them, but they're already seeing a payoff.

The acres upon acres of dark leafy greens are very good for cleaning up carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, too. And Brazil has developed mechanical strippers (to strip the leaves off the sugarcane - so that they don't have to burn it off), to counter the most often mentioned counter-argument.

They say that they will be able to get the fuel down to $2.xx per gallon already, and when they really ramp up, it will be even lower.

They also report that you can convert any car for about $200-$300 dollars to burn bio-fuel.

[Ms. K]

41. We drive an Echo

Between two adults, and one of us works 11 miles away.

We're hoping to sell our house, and get the hell out of the 'burbs, because it's ungodly expensive to live here.

We're seriously considering moving to a city, to an apartment. What do we need a big ol' house for, there's just three of us?

And right now, we're not exactly hurting budget-wise for gas, but my God and my Jesus, the price of gas is going to be three bucks a gallon in another month out here in California. That will hurt.

We're hoping to sell our house soon....please send us house-selling vibes!