paid $2.69......

[serialk11r]

I should go fill my tank up, I saw a 3.49 Chevron. The last time I've seen gas this cheap in Norcal was probably 10 years ago. I'm used to thinking anything under 4 is a good deal.

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by Baltothewolf

What the hell?!?!?! 8$ A gallon??? What is minimum wage over there?

Minimum wage is high over here for US standards, but anything you'd buy is heavily taxed. Fuel is 60% tax. Electricity has 60% tax. VAT is 21% , except for food items: those are 'just' 6%...
but our roads are in good condition, and our bridges, there is hardly any begging on the streets, we do well... kind of.
We've seen fuel prices as high as 10 $ a gallon over the years.

[AlexanderB]

Our minimum wage is $11, only for people of 23 and over. (you get a percentage if you're younger, starting at 30% when 15, up to 85% when you're 22)

Eh, almost, our fuel has about 200% tax (or the pump price is made up of ~66% tax), which seems to reflect the x3 price multiplier on petrol compared to the USA.
VAT is 21% indeed, except for food. (6%)
Electricity also isn't taxed *that* high, we pay a fixed amount for having a connection, and a couple of % tax. It adds up to about $0.25/kwh for the average consumer.

The highest I've seen fuel was over $11/gallon at the highway service station (over $10 at the cheap pump), with no sign the price raising was going to stop, thats when I sold my (30 MPG) GTI to get diesel.

Did I mention we pay a monthly tax, based on vehicle weight? to have an SUV or pickup just sit on the parking lot costs many thousands of dollars a year. About 3x as much if its a diesel, so compact cars are a thing here.
Theres some talk of making this tax system "more fair", I'm pretty sure that means "more expensive". :/

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by AlexanderB

Our minimum wage is $11, only for people of 23 and over. (you get a percentage if you're younger, starting at 30% when 15, up to 85% when you're 22)

Eh, almost, our fuel has about 200% tax (or the pump price is made up of ~66% tax), which seems to reflect the x3 price multiplier on petrol compared to the USA.
VAT is 21% indeed, except for food. (6%)
Electricity also isn't taxed *that* high, we pay a fixed amount for having a connection, and a couple of % tax. It adds up to about $0.25/kwh for the average consumer.

The highest I've seen fuel was over $11/gallon at the highway service station (over $10 at the cheap pump), with no sign the price raising was going to stop, thats when I sold my (30 MPG) GTI to get diesel.

Did I mention we pay a monthly tax, based on vehicle weight? to have an SUV or pickup just sit on the parking lot costs many thousands of dollars a year. About 3x as much if its a diesel, so compact cars are a thing here.
Theres some talk of making this tax system "more fair", I'm pretty sure that means "more expensive". :/

How do you people survive?? I make minimum wage here in Cali where it's 9$ an hour, and I couldn't survive by myself in a single room apartment! I pay 450 a month for rent, 90$ a month for car insurance (Mustang + Insight) and 80$ for my cell phone, then about ~20-40$ on gas depending on how much I drive my Mustang. I am living nice right now, but I know the cheapest place out here in the high desert, which has some of the lowest rent rates in Cali, is around 650$. That's not including food, water, gas, electric etc etc. No idea how some people make it.

[AlexanderB]

Barely. I'm quite convinced the government does it on purpose to keep us under control and dependent on their help.

We have a certain "minimum level of existance", if you make that (or less) money, you get certain tax breaks or some payments towards paying mandatory things.
Because I only work part-time besides my study, I too get some "free" money.
(I don't work at minimum wage anymore though, I make $19 an hour as a network admin, but only a few days a month, because fulltime student. I mostly live off of a college loan.)

Rent: $600 minus $185 government payment.
Waste and water management: $55, of which I have to pay none*.
Health insurance: $185 minus $89 government payment.
college: $211/month. (we pay this ourselves, the government pays the school another $35k or something if you succesfully finish a study succesfully.)
study books: about $100/month, I guess.
Car Tax: $78 (780 kilo diesel econobox)
Car Insurance: $50/month. (slowly went down from about $100/month 4 years ago.)
Fuel: about $150/month.

*as long as I don't have a savings account with enough money to pay the whole$660/year at once, and I don't have a $1k/month taxable income, and not own a car with an estimated value of $3.5k or over, I get a tax break on that one. Apparently I can also only have $300 in cash, but how are they gonna know? (I empty my bank account before the end of the year)

[edit:] also, because of us being a bunch of socialists, if you're unable to find a job, or are physically incapable of work, they'll pay you the $1k a month for minimum existance, but you'll have to jump through a lot of hoops to get it. (To prove that you really can't work or can't find a job.)

If you're fired as a full-time employee, you get something like 80% of your last wage for an x amount of time, dependent on how long you worked at the company. (I think it was a month per worked year, but not sure, never got fired) Oh, and it doesn't count if you leave out of free will.

[Frank Lee]

Oof-Da!

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by AlexanderB

Barely. I'm quite convinced the government does it on purpose to keep us under control and dependent on their help.

We have a certain "minimum level of existance", if you make that (or less) money, you get certain tax breaks or some payments towards paying mandatory things.
Because I only work part-time besides my study, I too get some "free" money.
(I don't work at minimum wage anymore though, I make $19 an hour as a network admin, but only a few days a month, because fulltime student. I mostly live off of a college loan.)

Rent: $600 minus $185 government payment.
Waste and water management: $55, of which I have to pay none*.
Health insurance: $185 minus $89 government payment.
college: $211/month. (we pay this ourselves, the government pays the school another $35k or something if you succesfully finish a study succesfully.)
study books: about $100/month, I guess.
Car Tax: $78 (780 kilo diesel econobox)
Car Insurance: $50/month. (slowly went down from about $100/month 4 years ago.)
Fuel: about $150/month.

*as long as I don't have a savings account with enough money to pay the whole$660/year at once, and I don't have a $1k/month taxable income, and not own a car with an estimated value of $3.5k or over, I get a tax break on that one. Apparently I can also only have $300 in cash, but how are they gonna know? (I empty my bank account before the end of the year)

[edit:] also, because of us being a bunch of socialists, if you're unable to find a job, or are physically incapable of work, they'll pay you the $1k a month for minimum existance, but you'll have to jump through a lot of hoops to get it. (To prove that you really can't work or can't find a job.)

If you're fired as a full-time employee, you get something like 80% of your last wage for an x amount of time, dependent on how long you worked at the company. (I think it was a month per worked year, but not sure, never got fired) Oh, and it doesn't count if you leave out of free will.

The US is the opposite. If your a scumbag or a ****, the government just hands out money. I literally heard 2 ghetto ass black chicks talking in wal-mart about them having more kids for more government assistance. It's absolutely pathetic. They get paid somewhere around 600$ a month for each kid. They literally don't have to prove anything, just apply for food stamps, wic and one other money thing and boom! You got it. Yet when I really, really needed help because I got in a car accident, had no money left and was unable to get to the chiropractor I was told "Sorry, you don't qualify". K.

[AlexanderB]

Thats pretty bad, if you're in an accident here, you finally get some value for your health insurance, and you get paid the minimum income thing untill you're fit to work again.

And yes, theres people who refuse to work, and to get/keep their government pay, they send resumes to jobs they'll never get hired to anyway, or feign a disability. But eh, such is the system. The people who really need it, are very happy it exists.

Yeah, we have child support too, but thats something like $200/month per child. Raising kids (properly) is hugely expensive (both time and money), so I assume most parents do so at a loss, not for profit.
The only leak in this system still waiting to be fixed, is immigrants who claim they have 20 kids in their home country, collect the money, and keep it for themselves. I'm pretty sure those people get caught pretty quickly nowadays.

But this topic was about fuel prices.. which are comparable to yours, before 200% tax, and a vehicle tax. Its both a way to promote being more eco-minded (nobody drives a pickup or an SUV, people drive less and bike more), and funds government expenditure. I just wish they wouldn't spend so much "helping*" poor countries, and a little more helping their own people. But no government party thinks we should lower car taxation or raise student benefits, so I don't know who to vote for.

*funding bad habits like retiring at 55, and 45% of the working population holding a government job, and a country going bankrupt from paying all those pensions and employees with almost nobody working for actual income. We're looking at you, Greece.

[Joggernot]

Just filled the tank with $2.899 gas (87 octane). Lowest its been in a couple years down here.

[Ford Man]

Bought gas here in Russellville, KY yesterday morning for $2.849, cheapest I've seen in this area for years.