From Stark
Per-capita consumption of gasoline in Washington and Oregon is at a 50-year low, with high prices inducing many people to reduce their driving, according to a report from Sightline Institute.
“After decades of steady growth followed by years of level consumption, residents of Oregon and Washington are now using less gas. High, volatile prices; social and technological trends; and changing driving behavior are behind the trend,” Sightline says in summarizing the report findings.
Among other things, the report’s author, Clark Williams-Derry, finds that more efficient cars account for just a small part of the decline. A more significant factor is reduced driving by young people.
In Bellingham, gas prices have dipped in the last 24 hours, according to the AAA survey, but remain at a painfully high average of $4.185 for regular.
I was on vacation in the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming the last couple of weeks, doing my part to increase per capita fuel consumption. It was a shock to go from $3.50 gas in the Plains to the $4.20 gasoline on the West Coast.
Washington state is at or near the top in taxation of gasoline, and a California refinery idled by a fire is causing a supply shortage that is pushing local prices up.
Another factor on gas prices:
“Gas prices are rising due to the declining value of the dollar and to expectations of future supply. We could fix both of these, if we wanted to.
Oil and gasoline prices are set in world markets. If the value of the dollar falls, prices rise. The dollar is weakened by excessive Federal Reserve liquidity and our high budget deficits — not only this year, but stretching into the future. Inflation is picking up. This weakness is reflected in the dollar prices of all commodities, not just gasoline.
We need to cut government spending to stabilize the currency, and the Fed needs to phase out quantitative easing…….
http://www.politico.com/arena/perm/Diana_Furchtgott-Roth_F61F0BA1-4167-4FD8-9962-3003417E4B89.html
afy!!THEHEELOTSHEEPDOG!!!
You know the problem AFY…
Sell Low, Buy High, and Vote McCarthys best man for President too.
President Nixon, as part of his ill-fated price control program, had slapped controls on oil in March 1973. The U.S., which had been self-sufficient in energy as recently as 1950, was now importing some 35% of its energy needs. U.S. petroleum reserves were nearly gone. Governments, corporations and individuals were entirely unprepared for what would happen next…This ended up being the middle of the great bear market that would see the Dow go from its 1/11/73 high of 1051 to 577 by 12/6/74, a whopping 45% decline over nearly two years….
I moved to Bellingham from Las Vegas. And just one of the strong contrasts between the two communities that I noticed from Day One was this…
Las Vegas led the country in Hummer ownership at the time, and Bellingham had more Prius owners than I have seen anywhere.
I submit the relatively high ownership of hybrid cars may have something to do with this trend.
How long will denial and finger pointing allow us to ignore the underlying problem of un-sustainability?
Either get used to it, or find another lifestyle more firmly based in reality.
You could always buy a Volt, just make sure you buy a fire extinguisher too! You may have to wait a few months; they quite making them because people hate them!
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
It is great to hear gasoline consumption in the Northwest is going down. I hope it is true (“Don’t believe anything of what you hear and only half of what you see.”) Now we need to cut our gasoline consumption even further.
There you go Watts,
Reality and $. 32 in 1970, when an adverage house cost $18,000, and a new Klunker’s was $2500.
Reality PRICELESS!
Todays $4.00 a gallon and the $300,000 house, and the $25,000.00 Klunker?
Reality, a very cheap standard no matter how one adds up Jimmy Carter, or Barack Obama…just vote Klunker, and cash for Klunker’s in Business, for people who couldn’t find work in the real world.