[geeks] Mr Bill?

[Sheldon T. Hall]

wa2egp at att.net said ...
> -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: "Sheldon T. Hall" <shel at artell.net>
> >
> >  Quoth wa2egp at att.net ...
> > 
> > >(How many people today remember gas at < $.30/gal?)
> > 
> > In the USA?  Everyone over 60, at the very least, in most 
> of the country.
> > Maybe 55.  In other words, lots of folks.
> 
> More like late fifties if they had good memories from childhood.

If you consider "teenage" to be "childhood."  Gasoline was usually in the
US$0.19 to $0.25 range when I started driving, in 1963.  My first car, and
Austin-Healey Sprite, had an 8.7 US gallon (7.2 Imp) gas tank.  Normally, a
fill-up was less than $2.00.

> > In other parts of the world, the number will vary widely, 
> > since gasoline's
> > price at the pump is more a function of political factors 
> > than economic ones.
> > 
> > Here in France, for example, gasoline currently runs about 
> > US$8.00 per US
> > gallon.  I expect, but do not really know, that it has 
> > always been about
> > twice the price here as in the USA, primarily as a result of taxes.
> 
> I always wondered about that.  I alway thought it was unfair 
> too since I forgot about the tax angle which probably boosted 
> the price.  Wonder what the pretax price is.

Gasoline is just about the ultimate commodity, the same everywhere.  I would
expect the pre-tax price varies only slightly, worldwide, depending mainly
on transportation.  Everything on top of that is taxes, local
transportation, and competitive price reaction to local markets.  There's a
huge futures market for the stuff.

-Shel