The price of gasoline in my area is currently $3.89 per gallon. It was $2.89 a couple of months ago. So what changed? Just the price. That's a sweet deal for whoever is manipulating the price of gasoline. One thing for sure, it's not the "market" that's doing it.

The price of gasoline in England is currently about $8.71 per gallon. Ouch! A lot of that is tax. But wait! Take a look at the gas mileage their cars get -- around 80 mpg!

What?! How come English cars get twice the mileage American cars get? Why don't we have cars like that in the USA?

Somebody is messing with us. Who has that kind of pull?

The big money men. Sociopaths.

So Chico true story: when I was a waiter at the Marriot Marquis Hotel at times square in New york (my home town!) I worked with a lot of actors and other fun people. I lost a bet to one of my dear waiter friends, a big queen of a man. He told me that during the 30's Los Angeles had developed the best mass transit system in the country. I was like no way! anyhow while the date escapes me he was correct...Essentially Los Angeles had an incredible cable car/train system that took people from LA to Orange County and all over the place.

The reason we never hear of this is because this system was destroyed, i.e. dismantled, butchered to make way for the interstate and highway system....The promise was cheap gas and the affordability of commutes to the outlying districts. These bastards destroyed the best mass transit system.... and made people dependent upon the car. The rest is history.

Los Angeles the best city ever built in the middle of a fucking dessert, next to Las Vegas...an illegal sydicate system built in the middle of a fucking dessert....basically sucked the region all the way up to your neck of the woods dry...to create a culture emulated as far and wide as Dubyia and Paris! To this day when San Francisco has water shortages the fat fucks in LA can be seen watering their lawns.

Would you believe that I read the book?

"Internal Combustion" by Edwin Black

This story is just another example of how money makes all the wrong decisions. Money ruins everything.

Yes, I knew LA had a phenomenal cable car system in the 30's. Speaking of Los Angeles: Has anyone see the film "Who Killed The Electric Car?"

http://vimeo.com/19863733

Hi Chicodoodoo,

I think your question should have been "What sort of car do you drive?"

The American people tend to drive bigger heavier cars with bigger engines because the car in the US is deemed more of a status symbol than in some other countries. We need look no further than newsreels and films to see the size of the average American car.

My car is a Fiat Palio 1.0 which seems to be the most popular type of car where I live getting around 14 km per liter (work that one out in gallons!) - it's around 45 miles per gallon. Other popular cars are also Fiat Uno, GM Celta and Corsa. If I was to drive my Fiat in the US I would be a laughing stock because of the status symbol predjudice.

In the UK there are stricter guidelines for cars, having to go through a rigorous test each year (if the car is over three years old) and is prohibited to be used on a public road if the car fails this test.

Petrol prices here are around $5 a gallon.

Also driving conditions, town driving and congestion all atribute to heavier fuel consumption. I don't know if an automatic car would use more fuel than a manual car, but in the US it seems that the automatic is more popular, whilst here manual is prefered.

So there are many arguments to be considered regarding MPG in cars.

Also considering the relatively cheaper price for petrol in the US, I imagine the average US citizen doesn't really mind getting less mileage for the extra comfort driving a "gas guzzler" as they aren't all that expensive to run. Once the price of US petrol is brought to the same as in the UK for example, US cars will be made to do 80 MPG too as the people (market) will demand it.

Best regards.

My car is a dented old beater which gets about 15 miles to the gallon. I don't travel in the kinds of circles which would deride my vehicle as most people I know take the bus or cabs. I don't see anyone pointing and laughing at my car though despite how awful it looks.

My car is 20 years old. I get about 20 mpg. Gas is up to $4.23 for regular. I am pondering another vehicle if I can afford it somehow. I am looking for the most economical options. I want a small wagon or hatchback.

Few years back my intention was to move to a small town further north where I could work for my self and live where I worked. No commute, walk to town, and use my bike. It didn't work out. My commute is 10 miles each way, beautiful country roads. A car is a must here, no mass transit.

I live in the country and was commuting 20 miles to and from work too. It is expensive but my vehicle is what it is and I do not have the option to upgrade to one which would get better mileage. It's a miracle that it still runs. I high five every time I turn the key and it starts up.

Gas goes up and down here but roughly costs 30 % more than in the USA. My solution to the gas price crunch since being off work has been to drive once a week or only in emergencies or unless I have to see a doctor, and my family takes public transit which is less than a mile down the road or rides bikes. I try to do everything in one fell swoop in a single foray into the concrete jungle and get out. If we run out of milk it's cheaper to hike to the convenience store/gas station than drive to the market. My family can drink regular milk in a pinch or forego it. Me though? I need creamo for my coffee and will walk a mile for it or make someone else do it.

What I do is buy gas from an outlet which gives me a money back coupon for purchases in their stupid store and I use that coupon to buy creamo! Coffee is one of my only vices and they'll have to pry that cup out of my cold dead hands. I only drink my own, made from organic hand ground beans and do not use a machine. I do not support Starbucks or the like since the 90's. I saw small coffee business owners driven out of business by Starbucks in my old inner city neighborhood and vowed never to set foot in one. I have only been inside once. To use their phone-book because the phone booth I was using didn't have one. I don't have a cell phone either.

I go to the auction and buy my cars.

No, I don't think that is the root question at all, and that is one of the things I am trying to point out. The real question is what kind of cars do they allow us to have? It is very much modeled after the American presidential campaign, where the question is what kind of choice will they allow us to have? The answer, of course, is none.


That's another piece of brainwashing. The market doesn't determine squat. Instead, they determine the direction of the market. That's what advertising is for. In fact, that's what our entire economic system is for. There are powerful control mechanisms in place that allow the money men to steer the system anywhere they want.

We are being played in so many ways, all while being falsely convinced that we are in the driver's seat.