Comments on: I just don’t get it – what is the big deal about gas prices?

By: mapgirl

mapgirl — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:48:58 +0000

Great post. Followed here from Clever Dude. What I will say in her very small defense is that San Jose is NorCal and a lot of ppl have SUV’s so they can spend their weekends skiing in Tahoe. Putting chains on a Honda Accord can be less than thrilling in heavy snows going up to the mountains. The mountains you see on the map are the Santa Cruz mountains, and rarely are they graced by any snow, fog at worst. You hardly need an SUV for that, but an active lifestyle camping, surfing, kayaking, etc, can make an SUV handy out there.

HOWEVER, having lived in NorCal for many years, I also know she can rent an SUV and drive a small economy car the rest of the year. There isn’t really a need for her to have a truck that size. She can ride a motorcycle and get 70MPG out there and have 90% of the days be perfect for riding, AND SPLIT THE LANE in stopped traffic. (The only state in the union which allows lane splitting, but only in this circumstance.)

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:51:09 +0000

The one thing you don’t include in this is that gas is an intermediate good that is used everywhere. Anything and everything from transporting the food you eat to just transporting the gas. All of this requires gasoline. So, any increase in gas would require an increase in price of all goods. Sure, the immediate effect on consumers at the pump would be small, but as soon as you take in effect the increase of price in all goods, it adds up quickly.

By: My Financial Journey » Saving money on books

My Financial Journey » Saving money on books — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 13:06:06 +0000

[...] Then this last weekend I had a revelation just as I was about to checkout with my audio book copy of The Millionaire Next Door. I remembered hearing something about these places called libraries. Basically they are just big buildings that store books and they let you read them for free. In fact you can even rent them and take them home for a certain period of time and that’s free too. They also happen to carry audio books, in fact a library in my area even carries an audio cd version of The Millionaire Next Door. Seeing as how I don’t listen to my audio cd books more than once I figured I could try this library thing out. Sure enough I got my copy of The Millionaire Next Door for free. Granted I had to actually go get it from the library, but my parents own a store directly across from the library so I just had my mom run across the street and pick it up for me so I didn’t have to pay mileage. Even if I did though, remember gas prices are cheap. [...]

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:47:54 +0000

@Wylie: How about a Subaru? The Impreza gets 25 mpg combined (manual transmission, which is the only way to drive anyway):

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/22746.shtml

By: My Financial Journey » Carnival of Personal Finance No. 91

My Financial Journey » Carnival of Personal Finance No. 91 — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 12:56:50 +0000

[...] Personal Finance #91 is being held over at The Sun’s Financial Diary this week. My article on I just don’t get it – what is the big deal about gas prices is down towards the very [...]

By: My Financial Journey » Million Dollar Kids - Give me a break

My Financial Journey » Million Dollar Kids - Give me a break — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:20:17 +0000

[...] for another rant, but I’ve been spending a little more time at yahoo lately and have been actually reading [...]

By: LivingAlmostLarge

LivingAlmostLarge — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 18:44:17 +0000

I live in snow weather and snow tires would do me way better than a SUV. Although the space would be nice to go snowboarding. However a minivan is a better option than an SUV, seats more people comfortably, and gets better gas mileage.

But it’s so uncool. DH and I were arguing about it this weekend, we hate the idea of a minivan but I bet practicality wins out in a few years.

By: Carnival of Personal Finance No. 91 - The Sun’s Financial Diary - Accumulating wealth is like building The Great Wall, one brick at a time

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:53:40 +0000

[...] at My Financial Journey couldn’t understand why people would drive 10 miles to get gas that’s 10 cents cheaper. I am sure he’s not [...]

By: Shadox

Shadox — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 16:33:02 +0000

This right on the money. However, I actually think it’s a good thing that the media is making a fuss about gas prices. The higher the perceived value of gas the more people will (hopefully) start trying to reduce their gas consumption, whether by driving less or by switching to a more fuel efficient vehicle. In addition, the higher the price of gasoline and of oil, the more attractive atternative fuel options become.

This can only be good for the environment. So, go ahead media, hype it up…

By: FMR

FMR — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 14:36:45 +0000

Great post. The best part about Ms. Nunez was that she was working a couple extra hours a week to “help soften the blow”. As if she was taking a $60 per week hit and these extra hours were only making it a $20-$25/week hit.

In reality… with your calculation of this gas hike costing her about $9 extra a week… if overtime qualifies as time and a half… even if she worked a low-paying $7.50/hr job… overtime would be $11.25. So a couple hours IN ONE WEEK of overtime would completely cover her extra gas expenses for a solid month. And that is if she was paid with a minimum wage job.