Right, Americans are much more dependent on the automobile and will suffer more when oil becomes scarce, it seems unlikely gas will get cheaper in the future as the number of autos in the world increase in China and India. There are members of SLAS that can't afford a car let alone the gas.
I will avoid unneeded trips, its the miles not the gas, gas is a minor expense in automobile use. I choose to use my money on more useful things like upgrading plumbing fixtures lately. The prices in Europe are from extremely high taxes, not higher cost for
oil or refining. If you've ever been to Europe things are also very close, France is just a few hours from Central Germany for example and a LONG road trip in Europe is just a couple of hours. I've been on the famous German Autobahns, if you can get up to high speed and there are not any of the numerous accidents bringing traffic to a standstill, which happens a lot, you don't go very long before you have to get off, things are close. That is not the reality in much of the U.S., certainly not for us here in Utah, which is why we have traditionally taxed fuel much more moderately then Europeans have.
I expect we will see some change in behavior from club members and visitors if gas continues to climb as projected, but not a dramatic change. After all how many of us buy all kind of telescope stuff without too much agonizing. Most of us will just absorb the cost. We didn't get in this hobby because had an aversion to spending money.
Bob
-----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Wiggins Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2011 12:03 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Will the cost of gas change your dark site visits or your attendance at outreach events?
Hi list,
After this thread wound down I joined a similar thread on one of the international pro-am astronomy lists I'm on.
As I suspected the folks overseas (France $8, Italy $9) don't have a lot of sympathy for our "high" prices here in the US (though I found it refreshing that they put their feelings very diplomatically <g>).
One aspect I had not considered was the lower wages in many of those countries compounding the effects of their truly high fuel prices. I thought that was expressed well in this I received yesterday that may help some of us feel better (and maybe a bit guilty) about our lot.
+++++ I remember that numerous conversations with my friends about gas prices often ended with "Oh those Americans" :)
But let's just stay on the statistical side. I live where a gallon of petrol costs about $7.24 per gallon. In 2005 a gallon was about $4 and that price was constant from late 90's until 2006, when it started to rise (peaked in 2008). But you must look at this in a different light. Average monthly salary is about $1000. Now compare that to the average salary in the US.
So if you want go get from place where I live to seaside (which has became quite popular in the last years) by highway and back (including all tolls), that will set you back about 1/3 of your monthly salary. If you ask me, that's a lot for a 800km trip. +++++
Suddenly the cost of my trip from Stansbury to Wheeler this evening didn't seem so bad.
patrick
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