tecoyah

Seems a bit on the unfair side to me...I only fill my tank halfway at a time (because it makes me feel better to see $10 vs. $20), yet I am helping cover someone elses fuel.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...iraq_cheap_gas

Guess it really does pay to be occupied.

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MSD

I hope that they decide to return the favor when they get their oil production up and running.

At least someone appreciates our help.

Kadath

Does anyone remember back when they couldn't get gas? When the line for the pumps stretched for several miles? That probably sucked.

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assilem

It's their oil in the first place. I think it is only fair enough. Like you said, it pays to be occupied. Now if it stayed like this forever I would be more than a little miffed.

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Superbelt

Gas prices under Saddam have always been a few cents a gallon as well. It's like that in most of the massive oil producing countries. It won't change. That's a perk of living over the oil fields.

Hell go to St Croix even. Shell has their refinery on the island. Gas on the island is somewhere around 45 cents.

onetime2

Additionally, there are a heck of a lot of taxes within the price of gas in just about every country. I'm sure there isn't any (or very little) on gas in Iraq. Throw in the shipping cost and you've got yourself a much different market.

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apeman

At least the article does point out the cost of living/average wage difference... apart from that it's a waste of bandwidth IMO

If you put the prices up much it would a) cause riots and b) kill the economy, such as it is

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Locke7

Yup, article said average wage is 1/30th the average wage of U.S. 1/30th of $2.00 (lets say that is the average price of gas). Is $.06.

Don't see what the big deal is. I'd rather pay $2.00 rather than over $5.00 like it is in Europe...

Superbelt

Gallon of gas goes farther in Europe. 'Peons are smarter about their choice of transportation. (Specifically because of the high gas taxes. A little bit of social engineering is good for you.) Europe also uses the heavy gas tax to pay for the excellent transit system that they enjoy and americans do not.

MSD

"Although Iraq is a major petroleum producer, the country has little capacity to refine its own gasoline. So the U.S. government pays about $1.50 a gallon to buy fuel in neighboring countries and deliver it to Iraqi stations."

It isn't their oil that they're getting.

seretogis

Yikes, regarding the bolded statement. I would much rather people be able to choose to throw their money away than to have an option in vehicle restricted by the government by means of excessive taxes. Never throw away freedoms for what you think, at this moment, is right.

We lack a quality mass-transit (rail) system in most places but this country is much larger than a European country and so our interstate highway system makes more sense. The goal for the USA should not be to be like Europe, it should be to do what is best for this country.

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Locke7

I guess what my point was that lots of people in America are going crazy about "high" gas prices. I don't see the point of all the hype. I didn't mean to pick on the higher prices in Europe. Although it is a generalization about choice of transportation. I have many friends that drive hybrid vehicles that get wonderful gas mileage. But to force people to use certain types of transportation because of high government taxing is wrong. In fact, taxation as a means to strong arm the public in any way should be frowned upon.

I would have to agree with seretogis though. The mass transit system in Europe may be wonderful, but I don't think it is practical here in America.

apeman

no, because you've got such low gas prices. argh! I'm even calling it gas when it's really called petrol

In Britain we have the third way - high petrol prices and a shitty public transport system. Damn we're good

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Superbelt

I'm not afraid of social engineering. Nor using taxes to facilitate it. I don't want to see people able to throw their money away in their own vehicle choice because like it or not it has an impact on me. It impacts me because american is forced to import fuel to keep our economy going at this rate. This fuel is highly volatile ($) and the recent spikes are enough to show you how they can effect us. It's not subjective that Europe has a better grasp on transportation. They have a big lead over us in tech and preparations. We may be giving up a bit of our trans choices but we are gaining more national stability and an improved transportation system overall. So there are tradeoffs.

Europe overall is comparable in size to the US. Don't just think of them as their individual contries. We don't have to have a transit system in the midwest. In a comparison you should be looking at europe to the north east quadrant of the US. That is where density comparisons will be similar. We DO need transit on the level of Europe in the east. About 40% of our population is within 8 hours of Washington. We need to stop building so many highways and start building transit systems.

I work in transportation, with PENNDOT and traffic engineers daily. I see good light rail proposals get shot down for lack of transit money but highways almost immediately get greenlighted for widenings. We should be prioritizing our money better and stuffing it quickly into the various forms of mass transit. And the best way to get americans onto mass transit is to increase gas prices. You do it now while we still have some breathing room. If we wait until market forces decide then we will be stuck and we will be paying even more for the improvements.

Gas is a limited and vital commodity and as such NEEDS to be strictly regulated. Think of it this way: You live in Arizona. Water there is already pretty tight. A 450 home subdivision gets built in your town and everywhere you look, people are running sprinklers and washing their cars in the middle of the day, etc.. You can see the water running down the streets in a torrent every saturday at noon. These people are putting YOU at risk because of their ignorant and dangerously excessive use of the precious water. Your towns reservoir starts to dip and dip and dip. Does your town want to allow them to continue with their lifestyle or do you crack down and require everyone to stop watering their lawns and cease with all other wasteful activities?

cthulu23

Yes, it must be so great to live in Iraq, what with the stability and security there.

gdr2004

I'd rather pay some more money for gas then to put my life at risk :-p But that's really crazy how cheap gas is.

moonstrucksoul

anybody know what an apple costs over there? i bet it's not as cheap as Washington state. it's all about where you live. i would rather have abundunt food sources than ultra cheap fuel.

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BigGov

Superbelt, there's a major problem though with your idea. 40% are within 8 hours of D.C. via rail travel I assume.

You raise gas prices and a good portion and a very, VERY, large amount of the central states is just screwed. It isn't practical to build a rail system in Wisconsin, while for some school children it's a 30 minute drive to school. So, take the bus? Ok, meanwhile that person can't take a job. They can't take a cab everyday to work. They are royally screwed.

So, have the prices high in the east and low everywhere but the Pacific coast? Then ever small town in New England can be in trouble.

When you live in the middle of no-where, gas gets used up pretty quickly. You're talking about quarentining most people in small towns across America to their town.

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Wax_off

Umm... RTFA. or, as an alternative, read the thread...


I bet apples would be expensive in Washington if we had to ship the trees to Mexico to have them harvested.

assilem

Thank you, I was not aware.

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moonstrucksoul

ahh but we do import mexicans to pick them, does that count

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Superbelt

I believe they have enough refinery capacity for domestic Iraqi uses. But we need to import refined oil now because it just isn't sufficient for our occupation uses.
The Iraqi's have been paying mere cents for gasoline for 30 years now. To go from driving for basically free to paying anywhere near even 50 cents a gallon would really cause widespread riots. I suppose we sell it to them at a loss now to keep that from happening.

apeman

yep, the country was functioning before the occupation with gas at that price. The occupying forces really don't need any more hassle at the moment, so I guess someone has to pay for the cheap petrol. Hell, you've payed well over $50 billion anyway, this probably ain't a drop in the ocean compared with the amount of hardware that just went up in smoke in the "shock and awe" phase.

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