Sunday, 7 August 2016

gas prices

most people love to complain about the price of gas, myself included.  i don't mind paying the oil and gas companies for the fuel, but i do get a little tired of all the taxes.  what really galls me is the fucking carbon tax on natural gas. with the current low prices on natural gas, the carbon tax was greater than the cost of the commodity. to add icing to the shit cake, the carbon tax just goes into general revenue for our provincial government. it's just another tax.

and here in the great white north we pay a goods and services tax to the federal government on almost everything we purchase. and if that isn't enough, we pay a goods and services tax on the fucking carbon tax.

TAX ON A TAX!!!

this is all leading to the best interactive chart on global gasoline prices that i've ever come across:

Gasoline Prices Around the World: The Real Cost of Filling Up

go the map of the world and click on the country of your choice. better than just giving you the price of gasoline, it will give you the price in the global currency of your choice  in either imperial or metric volume. it then will give you the percent of a days wages that it costs to buy a gallon of gasoline and the percent of your annual salary that you will spend based on average consumption.

of course average consumption can be misleading just as the consumer price index is an incredibly poor index of inflation for poor people. but it's fun to compare.

when i gassed up the scooter today, i calculated the mileage to be 138 miles per imperial gallon. i've only been purchasing premium gasoline for the scooter thinking that the premium gasoline didn't contain ethanol. but lo and behold, i recently discovered that all premium fuel is not created equal. and the sons of bitches don't really tell you. at least chevron clearly stated on the pump that the ultra premium is ethanol free. esso (exxon) just says that their gasoline may contain up to 10% ethanol.

that goddamned ethanol caused me nothing but headaches with my dad's gasoline lawnmower. it's fine if the gas is always fresh but leave that shit sitting in tank over the winter and you're up shit creek.

and hey, let's be careful out there.

14 comments:

  1. We had that exact problem with our gas lawnmower. There are only two stations in our town that use ethanol free gas. One is quite far off but luckily one is within a mile. We use it for the car too.

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    1. they really should put warning labels on lawnmowers.

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  2. It's still about 2 bucks a gallon here.

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  3. This reminds of the 'Collected Bulletins of President Idi Amin', a politically incorrect spoof written in the 1970s. Here is dialogue of Amin trying to sell a car of the Asians he expelled from Uganda.

    Dis brown coachwork is damn elegant. What de fuel consummertion like?

    Gittin' aroun' two hunnerd mile per gallon, cheapest fuel. Dis car designed to run on anything. Conk out in de middle of nowhere, jus' piss in de tank, you is good for another fifty mile. Also note de fine upholstery.

    You can read it on-line here: http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/corena/chap2.htm

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    1. hah! i had a neighbor who used to get drunk and piss in the tank of his vw bug. as far as i know it didn't affect the good old bug.

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  4. I do hate filling my car up with gas, especially since I bought a gass-guzzling behemoth. I need a scooter like you, but I don't think it would get through the Chicago winters.

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    1. it also gets a wee bit cold in canada during the winter. the scooter is scheduled to go into dry dock at the end of october.

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  5. I sort of pay attention to gas prices. I bought some regular for $2.39 this evening. I have to have gas in rigs and I have to pay the price.
    But I thought the links you share was interesting. I always was curious what percentage I pay for our monthly up-keep. Coffee is on

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    1. i paid $1.48 per liter of ultra premium a few days ago for the scooter. i save a few bucks on gas for the scooter but if you factor in the price of the scooter, insurance etc; i could drive the mighty hyundai to the moon and back.

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  6. A Proud Republican11 August 2016 at 04:50

    Did you ever try eating shit? So that your blog would sound more authentic than just readin the asinine thing that you say!

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    1. endangered species are always welcome in the pond. make yourself right at home.

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  7. The man is always getting somehow, and we have bent over that oil barrel for a long time now. I can't wait for the next tax they come up with and make us pay. It's OK though as Donnie T. is going to make America great again and we will not even care about taxes. =)

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    1. you guys need a consumption tax, it would solve deficit problems. but i'm pretty sure the politicians would just spend more money and you'd be back to a deficit pretty quick.

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