$12 Gas and Rationing? Possible, Says Expert

[rebeccajo 14]

No need to ration if you make gas expensive enough.

No kidding.

If it gets that high, most people won't be able to afford any.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

ummm Oil is a finite resource. do the math.

[jundp 191]

Walk.

Ride a bike.

Drive a hybrid.

Take the bus or light rail.....

Too far to walk, too far and dangerous to bike, can't afford a hybrid, no bus or rail... Can't afford to move, I'm screwed

True. I can say this because I live in Seattle with excellent public transportation and I'm less than 2 miles from my job/the kids schools. So I should probably shut my smug mouth

[Niels Bohr 72]

You could move to where the tech jobs are and there's public transportation.

And what about the house that I wouldn't be able to (either way) sell?

Besides, I'd rather castrate myself with a rusty spoon than live in a city. No f##king way. Living in a city is no way for a human to live.

All the better. I do wish gas prices would go up even higher. I did move from my residence to take a better job at another city. It turns out that my pay more than outweigh the sacrifices I made. Who cares if everything is paid off. If I can do it, you can too.

[Dr. Obvious 49]

Walk.

Ride a bike.

Drive a hybrid.

Take the bus or light rail.....

Too far to walk, too far and dangerous to bike, can't afford a hybrid, no bus or rail... Can't afford to move, I'm screwed

True. I can say this because I live in Seattle with excellent public transportation and I'm less than 2 miles from my job/the kids schools. So I should probably shut my smug mouth

My situation is about the same as msu17`s. I live in Indianapolis, which is large enough and flat enough to really support good public transport projects. However, the government here is more worried about winning Super Bowl bids and generating $7 an hour concession jobs than caring about how its population is going to get to work. The mindset of the population here is also backwardly conservative for a city so large.

Anyway, my job is in a pretty nice office park that is in the middle of a poverty stricken, crime filled area. Go figure. A few weeks police were going through the buildings, including ours, to look for a pair of armed robbers they thought may have run in through open receiving doors. A few months before I got there, apparently they were looking for a murderer. So, you can see, this is not really a place I want to ride a bike through. It is 5 miles from where I live, so I don´t think walking would be reasonable even if it were safe. It took me a year to find this job, so it isn´t as easy as snapping my fingers to find one across the street from where I live.

I`d like to move to Seattle. I like it and my husband seems to understand it as a place he would probably like for the weather, if nothing else. But it is also not a cheap place to live. Moving is a bit difficult anyway. No one is going to relocate either my husband or I for the kind of jobs we work, partly because they are jobs you can get anywhere. One of us would have to go out there first for a few months to find work. We don´t really know anyone out there, which also makes it a little harder. Moving isn´t the simplest thing in the world. It would be something to consider once our lease is up here and both my husband and I would have put in a year at our current jobs. Right now, having two cars is killing us financially, even with no car payment and paid liability. It would probably be in our best interest to move where we wouldn´t need two, but one. Still, will be a pain to carry out a moving plan when the time comes. I still got around 7-8 months to think about it.

/ramble

Edited May 21, 2008 by Wacken

[caybee 21]

Most of us will do what we have to do. We may say we're stuck, and we may feel that way, but as much disparity of income as there is among VJers, we're still a group that manages to pull enough funds together to get through immigration, so we'll come up with something somehow. But there are millions of Americans for whom "just move" is truly not an option. Not everyone can pull up roots and move to a city where there is decent public transportation. If they could, how could the cities tolerate that kind of population explosion? And aside from that, these kinds of gas prices will cause a huge increase in the cost of very basic necessities, bread, milk, veggies, etc. We can buy from local farmers, difficult to do in the cities, or move to the cities and deal with the cost of transporting the necessities, plus the cost of living... I'm all for personal responsibility, but if we don't do more to get some alternatives going soon, hunger and homelessness are going to mushroom in this country, and I'm just not willing to lay the blame for that squarely on the shoulders of those who end up in that kind of poverty. How I'm gonna get to work is going to be the very least of our problems.

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

So what are my "Easy" options again?

you could always borrow my ex-wife's broom.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I imagine you'll get a bit of gas russling going on if it gets that expensive.

[PlatyPius 5]

I imagine you'll get a bit of gas russling going on if it gets that expensive.

already getting, not will get.....

[Dr. Obvious 49]

Not everyone can pull up roots and move to a city where there is decent public transportation.

I think I am in the thin minority. I doubt many people would would find a city's public transportation the selling factor. I don't totally in my case, but it does sweeten the deal so to say. There were some cities I intitally discounted as too expensive. Now with my cars eating up a significant portion of my income, I am slowly starting to wonder whether or not it is worth it to stay in this particular city, which I know will fight to the bitter end against change. Unlike other people, I have little family here, I don't like it, and don't have any really pressing reason to stay. I was looking to get out of here before I even left Germany. Never missed this city for a second in three years gone. So, I would not advocate moving for everyone, it was just something that I was rambing about at 5:30am. Even in my situation, the wisdom of moving is questionable, but then again, so is staying here long term.

To think about it, I don't have a car payment. Both of my cars are paid for. However, they are older. My Volvo just needed a new alternator, battery, and ignition wire ($250). It took about two weeks to get that problem completely fixed and it sat out in the rain for awhile. While it was sitting there, the brake pads rusted with the rotor and when I went to move it 11 days later, it bent the whole rotor to go in reverse. There is another $300 for brakes because it turns out all of my rotors are worn anyway and need to be replaced. It also needs an oil change. It is spoiled, so has synth. That is about $30 for a change. Oh and summer tires ($350). But that is just maintenance stuff, you know? Stuff that will have to be done no matter if it is 2 years old or 12. Rotors and tires wear out, oil has to be changed. It is just part of car ownership. On the Subaru side, it needs new front axles ($150), battery ($50), shifter bushings (???), and transmission mounts (???). Then I may get to drive them for a few months where it costs me nothing but gas and insurance, like I did all winter. Still, cars are really expensive things. Either I bend over and take it for a car payment and full coverage and still have to do maintenence or I buy an older car in decent shape, pay liability, and still have to deal with the possibility of very expensive repairs and maintenance. Most car maker's money comes from selling parts, not from selling cars. I haven't even gotten to gas yet. Cars suck. Am I really free when I am giving out such ridiculous amounts of money for the privliage to drive? Is it really worth it? Dunno. That is basically why the next move has to be to a city that is not so utterly dependant on the car as this one.

Of course, that is just me and my situation.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

The experts don't seem to agree what is coming next. But perhaps we can all see the value in a new international symbol for gasoline.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I imagine you'll get a bit of gas russling going on if it gets that expensive.

already getting, not will get.....

Or people shot for the gas in their cars...

I was going to bring in Mad Max - but obviously that's a little OTT. The whole premise behind that was civilization collapsing as a result of oil running out - and wars resulting from world governments fighting over the remaining reserves.

[mawilson 2,133]

So what are my "Easy" options again?

Run your own business from home?

[SMOKE 1,426]

The experts don't seem to agree what is coming next. But perhaps we can all see the value in a new international symbol for gasoline.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

My car allowance I get from my company is based on present oil prices