[redmenace]

Originally posted by Kosh
They are using it as an excuse to ignore the real reason for the price increases, the SUV's. It is just scapegoating. Has anyone in Washington done any SUV bashing lately? No.

Umm I, and every one else outthere don't need a politician to tell us this. We already know that, China energy requirements is a rather new issue and concern.

[Corsair]

I just got back home from LA where the cheapest gas I saw was at $2.80 for regular and $2.99 for super. The more usual price I saw was $2.99 for regular and $3.25 for super.

[Kosh]

Originally posted by redmenace
Umm I, and every one else outthere don't need a politician to tell us this. We already know that, China energy requirements is a rather new issue and concern.

But they need politicians to actually show some leadership. Instead they give us nothing at best.


The point is that the core issue and concern, the monstrous SUV's, is being totally ignored by most people.

[aldo_14]

What are the emission regulations for cars in the US?  I remember reading the catalytic convertor was relatively new to the US - is that true?

[EtherShock]

I believe it was introduced in the 70's, so it's been around quite some time.

[Thorn]

It was up to 120.9 per liter in Halifax last Thursday.

[Kazan]

$120.9 or $1.209

[FireCrack]

up to CAD$1.20 a litre here.

[Mongoose]

It's up to almost $2.70 here in southeast Pennsylvania, which is absolutely ridiculous.  There was a span of a month or two a few years ago when prices temporarily fell to under $1.  Even last year, we were well under $2.  I don't care what's done, but something has to, and fast.  This keeps up, and we can kiss economic recovery bye-bye.

The only consolation is that my *****in' '97 Ford Escort gets almost 30 mpg in suburban driving.

[redmenace]

Umm I wouldn't exactly call the economic situation a recovery. It is honestly more like a boom, to the disdain of democrats. That said, I honestly don't think this will hamper the economy that much. Especially considering gas is such a small part of of the economy. The only people that will be impacted are lower income individuals that get by pay check by pay check.

[aldo_14]

Strange, most of the business news I hear is about US economic trouble, not boom or recovery.  Mostly around the weak dollar and rising unemployment, IIRC.

[Roanoke]

Originally posted by aldo_14
What are the emission regulations for cars in the US?  I remember reading the catalytic convertor was relatively new to the US - is that true?

They first appeared in the late sixties/early seventies with the introduction of tough emission laws IIRC. They pretty much killed off the big muscle cars as the manufacturers strapped on "smog gear" to existing engines, rather than create new designs. of the imported cars, such as a lot of the British Leyland imports (MGBs, Triunphs etc) also went thtough a similar transition.

[redmenace]

Originally posted by aldo_14
Strange, most of the business news I hear is about US economic trouble, not boom or recovery.  Mostly around the weak dollar and rising unemployment, IIRC.

It depends on what indicators you are looking at. A look at Corporate reciepts show rising profits etc. and more revenue. The only real drag on the economy is congress and its desire to spend spend spend. ****ing congress, ****ing entitlement programs, ****ing pork barrel legislation, ****ing bush,

[Sigma957]

Well petrol here is fairly dear I think at $1.16 a litre for reg unleaded, lucky my car runs on gas and only cost me $22 instead of $80.

[mikhael]

Originally posted by redmenace
It depends on what indicators you are looking at. A look at Corporate reciepts show rising profits etc. and more revenue.

Oh absolutely, there's a good figure to look at, since it completely ignores the state of the country in favor of the state of corporate profits. How exactly are those corporations nailing down those wide (and widening) profit margins? But consolidating, laying off huge numbers of workers, switching to ever cheaper labor (at the cost of quality) and, of course, offshoring the jobs to countries where they can get away with paying people US$.03/hr for a job that would require at least US$5.25/hr in the US. Did I forget the offshoring of corporate headquarters so that the vast majority of those profits go untaxed, thus widening the profit margin even more, to the detriment of everyone else?

Yeah, its a boom, as in BOOMTOWN: a corporation sucks down the cash, and their investors flourish, but no one else can or does.

[Kosh]

The only thing thats booming (and oddly enough the only thing that is holding the US economy up) is the Real Estate sector.

The US economy isn't nearly as good as you say it is, and it will most likely get worse. The US Dollar has a perfect storm brewing on the horizon, and that is likely to hurt the US a lot.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally posted by Kosh
The only thing thats booming (and oddly enough the only thing that is holding the US economy up) is the Real Estate sector.

Which is funny because no one can afford houses anymore.

[Kosh]

They can only if they go even deeper into debt then they already are.

[NGTM-1R]

It's funny. My parent's house cost them about $300,000 when they got it. When I was a graduated from high school, the price of houses on that street was pushing $950,000. It's probably still going up.

It sucked, though, because I was the only middle-class kid of my age group in the neighborhood.

[redmenace]

Originally posted by Kosh
The US economy isn't nearly as good as you say it is, and it will most likely get worse. The US Dollar has a perfect storm brewing on the horizon, and that is likely to hurt the US a lot.

Yes I know, that is why I said congress is the only thing hurting the economy. Unfortunatly, the battle lines are set and most in congress don't want to have their individual pet projects threatened. I cannot stand it anymore. Personally, this is the legacy of the 14 Admendment and the New Deal and over two centurys of strengthening the Federal Gov't.