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Welcome to the wonderful world of supply and demand... and OPEC, and a myriad assortment of other influencing authorities.
Its funny really, when you think about it, 10 months ago the contract price on WTI was in negative territory because it was literally impossible to purchase storage and here we are today back to normal.
If it makes you feel any better.... gas was 2.23 a gallon (here in British Columbia) at its lowest, sure its sold in liters but I did the conversion for my new American friends, that was in april/may of last year and today as i live and breathe it is 5.44 so believe me it could be a lot worse.
 
Welcome to the wonderful world of supply and demand... and OPEC, and a myriad assortment of other influencing authorities.
Its funny really, when you think about it, 10 months ago the contract price on WTI was in negative territory because it was literally impossible to purchase storage and here we are today back to normal.
If it makes you feel any better.... gas was 2.23 a gallon (here in British Columbia) at its lowest, sure its sold in liters but I did the conversion for my new American friends, that was in april/may of last year and today as i live and breathe it is 5.44 so believe me it could be a lot worse.
Our new president is pushing for higher gas taxes.
 
So, I was going to write a tirade in response to that in complete and utter favor of a higher taxation base... but then i remembered that this is how i make enemies. So i will just not do that.
But if ever want to get down to a fun, non confrontational debate about taxation you let me know. I live for economics. Its fun!
 
I know that high taxes on goods hurt poor people the most. And higher fuel prices raise the cost of all goods which also is hardest on the poor
It will raise the price of flooring two ways. Transportation and the cost of yarn will go up.
It will also make the price of lumber increase faster than it already is, so construction will slow.
 
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But the problem is not the fact that someone wants to impose a consumption tax, it is the causation. The causation is the ever lowering of the base of taxation that is available to draw from. When wealth is aggregated into the hands of a few, and those few control the "democracy" the proletariat suffer . We all collectively traded a Monarchy for a new class of oligarchy and we all know democracy never bloody existed in the first place so no point arguing about that. As the wealth is coalesced into smaller and smaller circles and largely driven out of the "economy" the existing tax base shrinks, less consumption=less tax. Wage stagnation and the ever shrinking power of the dollar have caused a relative decline in the purchasing power of John Q. American. Most recent studies of the effective buying power of a dollar over the last 50 years would put todays dollar at a 14-15% valuation of the same dollar 50 years ago. Ask yourself if you or anyone you know is making 667+% of what they were in 1970? I had not had the benefit of being born... but i think i know the answer. So now that that ramble is over, let us get back to the crux of the issue. With wage stagnation, lower tax base, the inability to raise income tax due to it being more toxic that syphilis and an aggregation of wealth we have left nothing but consumption tax. Gas is low hanging fruit with the proliferation of "green think" which i will not debate, its a wedge 100% and no one lives in the middle. I wont argue that it is not ideal to have anyone reach into my pocket and claim it is for my benefit. I am staunchly against government, or should I say the over reach of government but i would argue that for effective governance, money is required and as long as we are all being governed by those with the most to lose, we will never see policy that will garner their luxury for redistribution. We are collectively being groomed to be peasants but such is the price of an open market economy, or for that matter capitalism seeing as it is a zero sum game. Nothing can truly ever be "added" into this world, it can only be extracted, altered and gleaned.... but that is a whole other conversation and I have rambled on enough.

For anyone that cares to know, I am not a Liberal, I do not hate gun's, there are car engines laying around in backyard and No i do not think everyone's opinion matters or that we are all unique bloody snowflakes, unless you wanted to equate it to the fact that we are all melting and there is nothing to do to stop it. I am just an angry man that believes that once upon a time a few quasi rich men left monarchical tyranny in pursuit of a better life just to have another tyranny control them and frankly, that's bullshit. Taxation without representation is just as ludicrous as representation without taxation and that is what we have in our collective Americas.

p.s. I am Canadian, it is the very same here.
 
The one thing we never hear is what some of the filthy rich people do with their money. Not the filthiest of the filthy rich, just the average filthy rich.
Our town has a share of wish people and they've done some great things. I'm not speaking billionaires. We have a very large and successful boys and girls club. That was funded and brought about by one of those rich people. An anonymous donor but turf for the high school football field. I'm guessing that was around a million bucks to renovate the field from grass to turf. Last thing I'd want to do is penalize those types of people.
Taxing corporations more isn't a fix because all they will do if the taxes are raised 10% is raised the price of their products 12%, so we will end up paying the prices. People talk about tax loopholes. Is there such a thing? We have a tax code and anybody that does not follow it to make the best of it is stupid or doesn't have a very good financial advisor.
Billionaires by 2nd 3rd and 4th homes. When you buy a new home you have to renovate it, right. Spend 22 million on a new home and turn right around and invest another 15 million in renovations. Might as well buy a new Veyron to put in your glass garage. In the house in Florida you need to have a large slip for your $25,000,000 yacht..... And of course renovate that house too.
I wonder if the home renovations and the yacht are free or if they hire construction companies and hundreds of workers to build those things.
Problem is, we live in a world market, and if someone can produce a dish for 3 cents, then a company that's paying its workers high wages produces a plate for $5......... Well let's just say they're not going to be in business. We'd have to reduce the entire world's population of rich people to zero so everyone would be equal
That's not going to happen, so I don't know what to fix is. If Jeff Bezos annual billions would be return to workers in pay increases, would your local grocery store, appliance store, lowes, or shoe store be able to compete with their wages.
Of course they could. Jeff's billion dollar reduction in pay would benefit every worker hey swapping $1200 per year. ....whoopee! 😁. I'm just saying that even Jeff bezos being a total ass isn't the entire problem.
It's hard to compare 50 years ago with you today. I recall when Amana microwave oven came out I think they called it the radar range. I think Mom and Dad paid over $300 for it.
Almost 50 years later you can buy one for 39 bucks. Wages haven't gone down and stagnated but so has the price of the products we buy.
Tax in The living daylights out of the rich and corporations isn't going to do it. increasing the minimum wage only in the United States isn't going to work. China won't increase their wages so this would put us at even bigger disadvantage. Personally, I think China hopes we will raise the minimum wage to make it harder for us to compete with them.
I don't know what the fix for inequality is. Redistribution of wealth via the government based on what they think each of us should have? 😱
Mark, if you haven't noticed it a ways down in the Bucket...... Unlike tfp, we have a politics forum.
 
Just remember that what we speak is just a viewpoint. Viewpoints don't change friendships. If you're wrong all the time, I will just have to deal with it. 😁
See and thats ok, because everyone, even you highup, is entitled to their opinion..... even if it is wrong 🤣
..... i think this place might just work out fine lol
 
$3.67 at one of the lower priced stations. Seems like it goes up every time there's a holiday. That's to be expected though.
 
I watched an interview on OPB (PBS) with the head of Shell oil and he made a very good point. Everybody bitches about the price of gas but the real question is what are YOU doing to reduce your dependence on oil? Do you ride a bike or take public transportation (not really an option for non city folk). Maybe you purchase a fuel efficient vehicle. Or did you go out and buy another gas guzzling V8 truck because you think it looks cool but you never actually haul anything but once a year if that.
 
I watched an interview on OPB (PBS) with the head of Shell oil and he made a very good point. Everybody bitches about the price of gas but the real question is what are YOU doing to reduce your dependence on oil? Do you ride a bike or take public transportation (not really an option for non city folk). Maybe you purchase a fuel efficient vehicle. Or did you go out and buy another gas guzzling V8 truck because you think it looks cool but you never actually haul anything but once a year if that.
No public transportation, can't ride a bike for health reasons. Drive a car that gets 35 mpg.
 
No public transportation, can't ride a bike for health reasons. Drive a car that gets 35 mpg.

Sometimes that’s as good as it gets. Right about now I really wish I woulda thrown my bike in my van and brought it with me. Scottsdale has a great bicycling infrastructure and lookin at the rich old ladies early in the morning isn’t so bad😝
 

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