To be completely fair to the americans complaining about fuel prices though. European prices are by design. Prices increasef in the 70’s during the oil crisis, and afterwards we kept them high through taxation. We did that to give a larger incentive to oil reducing behavior like buying a car that drives longer per liter, or insulating your house better. This was to reduce our dependance in oil so another crisis wouldn’t hit as hard.
USA didn’t do that, because USA has/had plenty oil to support itself, and those regulations would mean less oil sales and thus less money for the giant oil companies. Wouldn’t wanna take money out of the wallets of the poor rich cunts right?
So in short, Europe voted for less oil dependance because we don’t produce a lot of it, USA voted for more, because their rich cunts have always controlled the government.
Yeah and it sounds like in some parts of europe the gas tax is a percentage of the cost. In the US its a flat fee per gallon (idk anything else with that tax structure). This means that gas taxes rarely increase. They were supposed to pay for roads, but it’s been decades since they did that because raising gas prices intentionally, especially as a tax, is just going to give your opponents attack ads. A lot of our municipalities are running out of money paying for roads these days.
USA didn’t do that, because USA has/had plenty oil to support itself
Only 60% of the oil produced in the US is used by the refineries in the US. But even if it were 100%, oil is still globally traded and thus the price is tied to global availability.
When I talk to MAGA types who say we should only be using our own oil, they don’t realize they are endorsing an anti-capitalistic solution to gas prices. They resist this knowledge when I point it out to them.
To be completely fair to the americans complaining about fuel prices though. European prices are by design. Prices increasef in the 70’s during the oil crisis, and afterwards we kept them high through taxation. We did that to give a larger incentive to oil reducing behavior like buying a car that drives longer per liter, or insulating your house better. This was to reduce our dependance in oil so another crisis wouldn’t hit as hard.
USA didn’t do that, because USA has/had plenty oil to support itself, and those regulations would mean less oil sales and thus less money for the giant oil companies. Wouldn’t wanna take money out of the wallets of the poor rich cunts right?
So in short, Europe voted for less oil dependance because we don’t produce a lot of it, USA voted for more, because their rich cunts have always controlled the government.
The taxes thing is important thing to realize, in the US it’s like maybe 20cents a gallon and in parts of Europe it’s 7 dollars a gallon.
Yeah and it sounds like in some parts of europe the gas tax is a percentage of the cost. In the US its a flat fee per gallon (idk anything else with that tax structure). This means that gas taxes rarely increase. They were supposed to pay for roads, but it’s been decades since they did that because raising gas prices intentionally, especially as a tax, is just going to give your opponents attack ads. A lot of our municipalities are running out of money paying for roads these days.
Only 60% of the oil produced in the US is used by the refineries in the US. But even if it were 100%, oil is still globally traded and thus the price is tied to global availability.
When I talk to MAGA types who say we should only be using our own oil, they don’t realize they are endorsing an anti-capitalistic solution to gas prices. They resist this knowledge when I point it out to them.
Gas price high: use our own oil!
Gas price low: drain everyone else’s first!
and they are desperate to control it even more due to iran war, causing strain on supply.