Snowed in, Vienna looks just like its version in "Amadeus"... <3

[max_und_moritz]

Gallon of gas costs 3.21 $ in the USA (Source: CNN. Worksafe.)

So... what´s their problem, exactly? Because:

1 gallon [US, liquid] = 3.8 liter
3.8 x 1.27 Euro/liter = 4.826 Euro/gallon
4.826 Euro/gallon = 7.04607 USD/gallon here

Comments

[efficace]

hear, hear!

I entirely agree. But if the Americans have to spend more money on fuel, they have less money for other things, their economy doesn't get driven, and of course that will have repercussions for us all at a later stage …

[max_und_moritz]

Mmm, you´re right there... still, the US is importing less and less EU goods already anyway, because of the disadvantageous exchange rate at the moment. I´m not sure how it affects British exports there, since the pound is extremely stable...

[ozfille]

But the Americans are entitled to their cheap fuel don't you know? *g*. It's every US citizen's God-given right to burn more fuel in their SUVs and hummers than any other nationality. The disaster of the current Middle East is a result of the desire to maintain this right of free and easy access to cheap fuel.

Public transport?? No not for them, or well not till they are forced to share space with others and behave in a community-minded manner and gasp maybe they may have to walk to or from the bus stop? *g*

Though Aussies can't speak, they seem to be equally obsessed with their mobile tin boxes and the cost to fuel them.

[rantipole6]

SUV's are disgusting. The commercials on TV always show them racing freely across some unspoiled tundra to appeal to the overfed egos of idiot consumers when the reality is that they'll never race it across pure landscape. They'll spend most of their time fighting for parking spaces in crowded shopping malls.

[ozfille]

Perhaps there ought to be anti-SUV ads, much like anti-smoking ads, listing the consequences

[max_und_moritz]

LOL, you´re right... here, the Ford ads also show breathtaking desert and tundra scenery (and in the middle of the beauty, an ugly VROOOOM! thing), and people here go, "Uh? Why would be need to buy that? There is no desert in Europe and no tundra, is there?" :p

I guess they must be a bit scared of strikes, and a car gives a feeling of independence and getting wherever, whenever (as most people in Austria and Hungary use public transportation, if ever there were a public transport strike the country would more or less come to a standstill!).

[silent_ic_river]

It's not so much the cost, as that a year ago we were shocked to be passing $2/gallon, now here we are seeing $3+/gallon. Most Americans realize we've had our fuel subsidized for ages now and we still aren't paying our fair share. Here's the thing, most Americans live somewhere that getting from home to work cannot be done except by car. Oh, sure, there may be some form of bus service, but it's unreliable, dirty and expensive. I cannot send my children to school via bus, it's just not possible. We don't have any sort of public transportation on our island. You can't get from our island to anywhere, there are no buses, none at all. We've a group of folks who are trying to out law golf carts here on island, and that is so many kinds of stupid, I can't tell you. The public school will not release children in Kindergarten, 1st or 2nd grade to walk home alone, a parent must come collect them. If you want to pick your child up on time you must go into the car pool line and wait, motor running. If you walk your child will be

[max_und_moritz]

I see, thank you so much for explaining! Then it´s like heating gas here, subsidised for decades by the Soviet Union (main gas producer) to all its "satellite" nations (currently, only Belarus, Russian´s bosom-buddy, enjoys such preferential rates, though they also have had to pay more lately).

Oh yes, you do have a problem there if there´s no public transport at all (especially in case of an emergency) - I had no idea you can´t let children go home alone, though I guess safety is the top priority, especially in traffic-heavy areas :/

80 USD a *week* just to drive your children to school? That´s outrageous... :( what about hiring a small old van and a different parent fetches on a fixed day a week all the children living in your neighbourhood, and you share gas and leasing costs among all of you (and save lots of time)...?

[silent_ic_river]

Yes, gas, roads, cars, etc., have all been subsidized for ages now. Perfectly good bus and trolley systems have been taken out of cities to increase car traffic. In huge cities, like San Francisco and New York, you can get around by bus and train just fine, however, most people have to drive to get from their homes to the train stations, the feeder bus service only works during the heaviest commute hours

[max_und_moritz]

Oh dear... it´s amazing how different national perceptions of what´s convenient (or not!) can vary so much! Here public transport (and school buses) are considered extremely safe, and most parents send off their kids to school either with the school bus, or train or else the provincial bus. Maybe it´s because in the (long) winter private cars have no guarantee they´ll arrive in time for school, but school buses are perfectly equipped to deal with snowed roads, black ice, etc., so they arrive in time no matter what

[measi]

I agree that we Americans do complain far too much about gas prices. There's a double-edged sword to it, though, and that's the way our infrastructure is built.

Unless you're in one of the northeastern U.S. cities, there *is* no public transportation. Car shares work only if folks live within a few miles of each other, traveling to a job that's within a few miles of one another, and work a similar schedule to one another- otherwise, it doesn't work.

I mean, look at my husband and me - we work over 20 miles away from each other. He *does* drop me off and pick me up from the train station, and it's still a nightmare because the trains run on time only about 50% of the time.

[max_und_moritz]

Yeah, now I understand where the catch is :/ and I guess distances are far greater over there than here, and public transport here is expensive, but it´s always on time *ruffles hair*

[silent_ic_river]

The distances, US versus much of Europe, aren't even in the same ball park. People in Northern California, in the 'Beltway' of Washington, DC, and in the greater NYC metro, often commute over 50 miles each way (in NorCal commutes of 180 miles round trip aren't that unusual). Why? A three bedroom home in a so-so neighborhood of Berkeley, CA (10 miles from SF, 30-60 minutes commute by train) is $750,000. A 3 bedroom home in Hercules (1.5 hours drive during non-commute hours) goes for about $450,000-500,000. The quality of life between the two places is huge.

[max_und_moritz]

Yes, you´re right; the distances are different, and the cities there are HUGE, while even the capital of a country in Central Europe rarely has more than 2 million inhabitants (and that counts as huge already!).

It´s about the same here for home values, though prices aren´t so horribly high (you can find a 3-bedroom home in a restored Baroque house in the center of Vienna, 10 minutes by tube from the Opera or the cathedral both smack in the heart of the old city, for 200.000 USD; the same about 40 miles east or south is less than half that price). The quality of life is equally high in both places, fortunately, as Vienna ranks among the top three capitals to live in the world; it´s only a matter of preferences (garden or not; culture vulture or nature freak, etc.)

Hey, I commute 62 miles daily each way too, and that´s not unusual here either (but then, as I said, most people have good if expensive trains/buses to get to work/school).

Black Gold

[izmeina]

In Oz, it's somewhere around $1.30 per litre which these days is almost the same as 1.30 in US Dollars (just the excuse Izzie needs to go shopping at Amazon

Re: Black Gold

[max_und_moritz]

---The Iz decided many moons ago that it made more sense to pay extra to live in a location near to everything rather than get something cheaper but have to travel more and to be totally dependent on a car.Excellent foresight; that´s exactly what I´ll do, too, when the time comes to leave the batcave behind :( For now, I use the bike and the train/tram all I can, though with the terrible shortage of ambulance drivers and their cars always breaking down because they´re so old, it´s good that at least a few of the dwellers in remote villages such as ours have a car; even so, it´s been often a close thing driving Gran to hospital in the last few emergencies she´s had (I was serious about a motorbike but you can neither transport Gran, nor a dog, nor ten bags of groceries in one, and in winter it´s downright suicidal