Someone bought five dollars in gas before I arrived

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonnycat26 @ Apr 11 2006, 12:07 PM) [snapback]238029[/snapback]</div>

Yeah... PA isn't all concrete and toxic waste

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Danny @ Apr 11 2006, 01:14 PM) [snapback]238063[/snapback]</div>

I don't know if it's necessarily IQ... There are a lot of people who have made poor choices in their lives and ended up there, a lot of people who ignored their potential, and now somehow expect those of us who didn't make poor choices to bail them out.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Apr 12 2006, 11:18 PM) [snapback]238915[/snapback]</div>

How the hell could that possibly work? Interest-only loan? There's no possible way that someone making 70k could afford a half million dollar monthly payment and the taxes on that property without outside help. 70k translates to about 5.8k gross per month... the P&I payment on that loan itself would be almost $3k a month... not to mention that their taxes are probably 3 times what mine are (3.7k/yr), which adds almost another 1k a month to the payment... not to mention the ungodly insurance they could have to carry if they don't have an uncapped RCV policy like I do and have to get a policy for the full value of the mortgage.

What bank in their right mind would finance someone to pay ~67% of their monthly income on housing alone? What person in their right mind would do that to themselves?

 

I have put just $5.00 in before to get tme to a cheaper station that I knew was on my way and also due to time constraint (it was a really slow pump and I was running late for work)

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(naterprius @ Apr 10 2006, 12:40 PM) [snapback]237645[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Apr 12 2006, 08:29 PM) [snapback]238775[/snapback]</div>

I can't really speak to being a maid or janitor as a person's career, but someone should be able to make fast food service/other basic service field their career without being looked down upon.

There are several people I know of that have worked their way up in a company from an entry level position to managing a store/several stores/owning stores. They made a conscious choice in the matter and some are even making more money than I will probably ever make with my 10 years of college. To some though, if they can move up enough to provide for their family, have some time off to spend with them, and have a little money in they bank they are happy. The idea that a person has to have the best career possible and have a job they love is very much a Western value dependant on SES that not everyone necessarily holds (not to say that having those things is bad).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(micheal @ Apr 25 2006, 06:35 PM) [snapback]245128[/snapback]</div>

Absolutely. I know a guy who started working at McD's right out of high school (we graduated together). I went to college, he didn't. No interest, bad grades, no money. He is now a district or regional or some such manager for McD's, and making a damn good salary! He worked his way op from making fires to directing the transfer of TONS (literally) of fries to varius restaurants. He wasn't college material, but he does his job well, and he's happy. I'm very hapy for him.

To each his own.

 

Comming from a country where gas prices are at about 10.8$ per gallon and where the average cars consume 40MPG I find this topic very amusing.

It's amusing to see american cars around, they are called here, bathtubs, because they consume so much fuel. And that's not that is needed, it's not like they are faster or anything. They are just incredible inefficient.

I bet if gas prices went up to 11$ in USA that car manufacturers would all suddenly have dozens of models with 40MPG consumption. And hey there isn't the (false) technological excuse that EV's have, it has been around for years.

So saying you have seen a guy putting 5$ on is something unsusual makes me laugh. I see that all the time. Very very common.
I've been in USA several times and I must say I was amazed at the lack of public transportation in some areas. It's just insane and incomprehensible.
In my country people don't live more then 10km from their jobs and the ones that does, have great public transportation like trains. (not buses that's stupid).

It seams to be a total lack of planing and concerns about the environment. Can't people see that they are making a worse way of life? It doesn't make much sense. I really can't understand it seams so stupid. But then I turn the TV on and watch the news about the wars and shit and I get it.

Complaining about housing? I can't understand much how the market works. But I must say here, 80% of the families bought their own house. Everyone can afford buying a house. Sure that's not a miracle and the purchasing power is even lower then in USA but there isn't much speculation and there's a lot of offers around, even in the middle of large cities. And I do known a lot about it since being a real estate agent I do sell a lot in the centre of major cities.

For comparation a teacher here earns about 1200€/month less taxes (minimum) about 4.000€ max. The average mortage per month for a NEW and good house is 450€/month. A prius costs 28.000€. A monthly commute pass costs 50€. About 16% of the income is to pay taxes.
But then, there's almost no private schools, all education including college is free for everyone. Healthcare is free too. Medicines are cheap too.
I was shocked to see a topic here of a guy with cancer that has to pay loads of money to get treated. That's just insane and immoral. What about poor people that can't afford? they die? Only rich people get treated? that's sick. 3rd world. I had a friend with cancer, he paid an average of 50€/month to get treated. And hell with did complain a lot about it. He's ok now fortunately.


I do complain a lot because things are not perfect but then I read things like this topic and omg I love where I live I'm not ever going to complain again.

 

Wow, talk about thread resurrection. This thread has been dormant for six years.

Tom

 

Tom,

This little thread is a gift from the past.
It is amazing for its humanity and humility.

No blaming, no name calling, no outright politicizing, no rants.

This isn't the way things are done nowadays, a scant six years later.

I have to wonder, what has happened to our society as a whole and to
PRIUSchat to make it so difficult today for a thread like this to remain
thoughtful, civil, and uncontentious?

 

On the topic: putting $5 worth of gas in your tank feels like it's on the other side of a psychological landscape, in the neighbourhood of PayDay Loan outfits and scratch-and-win lottery tickets.

 

Hey I used to pay $5 for gas when I was in high school. That's all I could afford. But then again, gas back then was $.89/gal and $5 fills up half of tank.

 

I spend like 105usd to fill the tank of my prius.... and I do it 3/4 times a month.

 

Hi -_-_---

I hope you know that more than $80 of that $105 is taxes. It's a reason why, even with a Prius, I could never live in Europe.



This reminds me of when I worked at a gas station during college - right after our current President was elected, gas was $1.62 a gallon for a while. And people returned to normal (filling up their cars, driving madly inefficiently, etc.). But as gas prices went back up above $3/per, more people started getting set amounts of gas - $5, $10, etc. And ironically enough, business started to increase, probably because people had to stop for fuel more often. And most people also took the chance to get a bag of chips or a fountain drink, as well.

I haven't worked at that place in about two years, now - but this effect was exacerbated because there were two Section 8 apartment complexes nearby, and you could literally see them pinching pennies as gas prices rose.

 

Actually it's about 56% of taxes. so, about $58.8 USD of taxes. still insane...

LPG is at about 3.5 USD per gallon.
KWh is at about 0.17 USD.

I spend about 4500usd per year in petrol.

I really need help converting to phev.... http: // priuschat.com/forums/ prius-phev-plug-in-modifications/106419-plug-in-hybrid-electric-vehicle-kit-questions. html

 

An interesting observation. Also of note is the number of the posters involved in that previous discussion who are no longer active here. I'm not suggestion a causative correlation, just making another observation.

Not necessarily. It all comes down to what it costs to provide the infrastructure, and who pays for it. ALL forms of transportation are highly subsidised, including automobiles. Direct user fees, such as gas taxes, are among the fairest of funding methods.

 

Six years ago the Prius was still a tree hugger's car. Conservatives looked down their noses at it and didn't trust the battery.

Since then, the Prius has gone mainstream. Now it's just a car that burns less gas. As the car has gone mainstream, Prius Chat has become more representative of the nation at large, which, sadly, is more conservative, more religious, and more contentious than the liberal environmentalists who were the Prius Chat membership in the early days.

 

Could it be that the nation itself, without singling out any particular
segment or point of view, has become more fragmented over time?

Something along these lines?

Paolo Mancini believes that media fragmentation openly threatens the very
basic tenets of journalism, namely neutrality and objectivity. According to
Mancini, for a society increasingly fragmented in its choice, the morning
newspaper thud on doorsteps increasingly provides news that the reader likes to
read at the cost of objective reporting. Divided in their dinner table
conversations, people are reading or watching what rhymes with their politics.
This choice and the biased reporting that caters to it, Mancini says, create
fragmentation.



He raised some critical questions: Is the Internet reshaping and helping create
more fragmentation? As a logical extension of the “more fragments” argument
asks, is objective journalism possible in a world of more internet journalism?
Mancini mentioned a 1992 paper written by Daniel Hallin. In The Passing of the
‘High Modernism’ of American Journalism, Hallin writes, “The prosperity of these
organisations was closely connected with their universality: their audience knew
no bounds of class, politics or any other social distinction.” Not any more, if
Mancini is to be believed.
 


Objective journalism has less and less room in a crowded market place, Mancini
argued. An audience targeted on the basis of ideological, cultural, and political
variables is leading to a partisan, advocacy-oriented journalism that in turn leads
to polarisation. The internet, Paolo Mancini says, is the driving force in this
divide. Mancini maintains that the internet is not just a crucial medium for
spreading the idea of democracy but also a cause of the fragmentation of the
audience ...     
Reuters Institute

 

For those that don't get out much, there is a size able part of our population that really are struggling. Like the long term unemployed, homeless, serious alcoholics, druggies, mentally ill, invalids, etc..
My 50 year old alcoholic brother doesn't have a job, car, insurance or any prospects. He has had 3 DUI's. If he is lucky enough to be able to borrow a friend or family members car he has to get a "gift" of $5 for gas. A gift because he won't be able to pay you back.
I see lots of homeless people here that would "die" for a car to just sleep in.
Makes me count my blessings daily.
on the other hand, I see the gas pump with $80-120 on the gauge , makes me count my blessings too.

 

How?

I filled mine the other day and it came to just shy of £50.00(US$80). (What cheeses me off though is that when I got the car it cost about £33 to fill it).

Fuel isn't that more expensive in Portugal than here. Remember also that the US gallon is different to the UK gallon if you're doing conversions. I think that's why metric became popular - its always the same.

 

We should bronze this and hang it on the wall around here somewhere.

Everything we do costs something and someone has to pay for it. Even when we don't pay for something out of pocket, we still pay in some other way. It's a simple concept, but not widely understood.

On second thought, maybe it is understood, but willfully ignored as being inconvenient.

Tom

 

The End of the Trail, James Earle Fraser

 

Very interesting!