Yeah but do we get free healthcare and all the other goodies they get for paying such a high price via taxes? No.

I have recently been shopping for a new, fuel efficient new car. The vast majority of the choices are Japanese or Korean vehicles, and these vehicles are commanding full sticker price and more. The entire fleet of new vehicles for sale need to be trimmed down in size for greater fuel economy. People are trading in their 8 cylinder Tahoes for small Toyotas, Nissans, etc.

There are only 2 viable American made small cars, the Ford Focus and the Chevrolet Cobalt. Chrysler has the Neon and quit making them. The American automobile manufacturers are basically out of touch with reality, and have been for quite some time.

I think LNG was 88 aus today. And rising, like everything. Petrol was $1.62 today

Where are you? I'm in NT, Aus (which means my prices are probably higher than the average).

Since everything is so far away out here, it really hits everyone hard - but the Holdens - the 4x4's are the worst. You see a car and you can predict the wage of the owner because it'll be based on it's fuel economy! And fuel efficient cars are rising in price too, since everyone wants them... We're looking a bit backwards when I put it that way!

what is LPG going for these days in Oz?

folks who own the big old Holdens must be getting it in the neck.

I loved my 1970 Kingswood 186 wagon., Dirty Pierre was his name and he was a beaut.

3 in the tree.

I miss Melbourne

Which means, compared to that, we (where I am in Aus) are paying
$1.60 Aus = 1L

And that's a number that rises every day.

Diesel costs about $1.82 per litre and rises even faster.

For now, you guys are lucky!

I recall paying $0.89 to $0.99 per gallon, not too many years ago.

When I was growing up, less than 50 years ago, the gas station on our corner had gas for about $0.27 per gallon all year long. A pack of cigarettes cost that same amount.

You youngsters should try to imagine what I am going through now. It is torture.

I go on joy rides often. I love driving, so the gas prices dont bother me much.

100 mpg is better than your hybrid single commuter.

I'm not sure what our breaking point is (we are close to $4 where we are...). I think at some point it will get to $10, especially if we elect McCain, and he up and invades Iran (or Bush does it before he leaves office).

But perhaps if gas keeps going up like this, we will all start making enough noise for alternatives to be seriously looked at (not ethanol based on a food product however... that I think is proving a bad solution). This might be a silver lining, environmentally, politically, and economically.

Mindy

The ONLY reason gas is so expensive now is because our government has been printing money like there's no tomorrow to pay for its wars and illegal surveillance programs, among other things.

If you convert your savings to gold or silver, you won't have to worry about food or gas inflation, since precious metals are inflation-proof.

The point at which people look around a nd see that the alternatives are right there but political payola , industrial inertia and share holder greed have all stopped progress for decades and will not assist in sorting things out unless they are again allowed near monopolies of any emergent industries.

The truely stagerringly awful fuel mileage of US cars is extraordinary.

The rise of the SUV in particular was The Big 3 auto manufacturers lobbying hard to have industrial vehicles excluded from laws governing gas mileage targets, then defining those 19th century buses called SUVs as industrial vehicles,ie TRUCKS.

That's just the tip of the ice berg.

The thing is that carbon fibre bodies, double glazed car windows and alws controlling all vehicle mpg ratings are all easily doable right now, hell you don't even need to abandon the internal combustion engine at all.

Really, if you trimmed the car weight down by four fifths, which is waht carbon fibre would do, and installed double glazing thus n olonger needing domestic sized AC units, you could all sit in proper sized cars.

A one litre engince capacity is only a weak engine when it is dragging a huge an=mount of weight, remove most of the weight and it's quite a powerful unit.

But if you used modern super efficient engines , the ones that turn off at the lights or at idle, that'd help too.

All I'm saying is that a country that invented "Armoury Technique" the fore father of mass production, invented the aeroplane, the modern car and miryiad other innovations, it should be humiliating to be seen as as such a technologically remedial bunch nowadays.

The gas prices are only so high and hurt so badly because you you use so very much for so very little effect.

Come on USA, you're the heart of the industrial world, implement the innovations that are already at hand, revitalise your own economy, make detriot the motor city once more, except this time a carbon fibre motor city.

It is all here, all to hand and all doable.

Except that you now have a feudal ruling class who would rather see you all dead than dream of relinquishing their strrangle hold on power.

And remember, the Bush family, and all their pals consider themselves to be a superior species to you lot.

i have an amazing idea for a new vehicle, and i think it would work, but i'm not a mechanic or engineer and don't know the exact intricacies of my project. it uses segway technology and solar power... intriguing, no? i've emailed a couple people familiar with this technology telling them my idea (of course not disclosing all of my plans for fear of having it stolen), but no responses yet. anyone in here know about segways?

also-- my dad is really looking into engines that run off of water. you have to build the engine yourself, but the parts only cost around $3500 and i'm sure there is an instruction book. he said that if he gets it to work well, he's going to do the same in our (mine and my siblings) cars as well. of course, i'm trying to think of ways to illeviate the need for ANY resources capable of depletion, so i would probably collect and purify rain water instead of pumping out of a hose or whatever.

but i don't think we need to think of ways to lower gas prices because it's just not happening. we have already reached peak oil, and our supply IS running out no matter what OPEC tells us. and even if it's not running out now, it will run out in the next couple centuries. that is our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. i don't want them to live through this sh*t, why not use what awesome technologies we KNOW are useful and change the face of society?

Combine this with the ever increasing annual car tax we pay to keep our cars on the road it’s becoming harder to keep a car running.

I live in Denmark, and the prices here, 9-10 $/gallon, has now caused med to drive slower to save fuel. And public transport is not an alternative where i am currently living.

You might consider this high, but my country, the Netherlands, a gallon (3.78 liter!) costs $9.22.