Protests in Europe to high fuel prices

[ankit]

Do you think Americans will protest like this? If so, how much longer until it happens? Also, I don't really see how protesting in this manner could help the situation any. Protesting by biking, walking, carpooling to work for "x" amount of time would be a better protest.

Fuel protests triggered by rising oil prices have spread to more countries across Europe, with thousands of fishermen on strike.

UK and Dutch lorry drivers held similar protests earlier this week.

The strike reflects anger at the rising cost of fuel, with oil prices above $130 (83.40 euros; £65.80) a barrel.

Trade unions say the cost of diesel has become prohibitively high, after rising 300% over the past five years.

Wholesale fish prices, meanwhile, have been static for 20 years.

The unions also say they could blockade ports, a day after French police forcibly removed fishermen blocking oil depots.

"We must mobilise like the French and if we have to block ports, we'll block them," Xavier Aboy, a union leader in Galicia, told AFP.

Side note, they spelled mobilize wrong, unless that is the British way to spell it. :-P

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7426971.stm

[cfg83]

ankit -

I heard on the radio today that the "breaking point" in LA for a lot of people would be $4.50 per gallon. At that point they said they would switch to public transpo. Without actual knowledge, I am guessing the question was framed as "at what price per gallon would you switch to public transportation?".

We seem to put up with a lot of punishment in the USA, so it's hard to say when we'd break. I keep thinking that it will have to start with the Truckers because they are obviously feeling the worst of it. It's good to see Barcelona/Catalonia/Basque/Galicia putting up a fight.

Mobilise is indeed the UK way to spell it. Weeeezz like our Zzzzzs in the UZA, .

CarloSW2

[Katana]

That is how we spell it in British English where the word ends in ize. The American English dialect has a few other grammar differences as from British English, mostly pointless in my opinion since it doesn't affect the pronunciation, such as armor/armour rumor/rumour, center/centre liter/litre etc.

As for the protests, they won't achieve much, if they reduce tax on petrol they'll just shove it on something else like income tax or road tax. Gordon brown will probably just freeze tax to shut people up for a while, he's becoming a very unpopular PM and the labour party got a good kicking in recent local elections. Petrol at £1.16 a litre ($10 a us gallon), diesel at £1.30 a litre ($11-12 a us gallon) is making him a very, very unpopular figure quickly, and food prices going up and a unsure housing market caused by the sub-prime fiasco, the fuel thing is becoming the last straw for people in england.
I'll end that rant there before i go off on a tangent.

I don't think people would mind as much if there was a viable alternative to petrol/diesel cars, people need to get to work and move around, the buses are expensive, dirty and full of yobs/drunks if you ride at night (been mugged on one myself), trains are slow/delayed, crowded and in need of major infrastructure overhaul.

Hybrid cars are a stop gap till hydro fuel cell is viable, EV's aren't really good without quick charging, or unless you can park somewhere with a power outlet to charge from, which is hard if you like a block of flats or a tower block with a crappy car park or even no car parking, which is common in england, even if you own a house parking can still be a pain.

[JohnnyGrey]

The Euros always say that we Americans are a whiney bunch for complaining about our $4 fuel when they pay twice that. Now I see they're starting to whine too. Based purely on price, they have reason to, however they have more alternatives.

Emissions standards are more relaxed there, cars can legally run in lean burn mode, they have plenty of diesel cars (and diesel is cheaper than gasoline there), as well as an LPG infrastructure.

They have all the cars that people wouldn't dream of bringing into the American market because they might take longer than 8 seconds to hit 60mph. Where did the BMW 318 go? BMW wouldn't want to ruin their status symbol image by bringing something efficient to the states, same with Benz. A family car with leather seats and a 1.8L engine? Good luck finding them in the States, they're everywhere in Europe and Japan. Only here do we associate good fuel economy with cheap plastic interiors and no options. Why should the size of the engine dictate what my seats can be made of?

[vtec-e]

Originally Posted by JohnnyGrey

(and diesel is cheaper than gasoline there)

Hi johnnyGrey, this might give you a laugh:
http://www.pumps.ie/
Man we are getting it in the neck here.
Diesel used to be cheaper but somebody bullied us into buying more diesel cars than ever before, then raised the price of diesel! My civic does 4.2L/100k on gas, my diesel kia does an average of 5L/100k. I did manage one day to spectacularly blow that out of the water with a 40k run at an average of 2.4L/100k, but it was hard work and i was nearly late for work too!

ollie

[JohnnyGrey]

Hmm... OK so much for cheaper diesel.

[ankit]

Diesel KIA never heard of that. Also, it would be so much easier if everyone had their location on their information. Even if it was only the country because it takes a while to figure out where "here" is.

What makes the prices so different on different continents? Is it that there is a ton of taxation on the European fuels?

[AndrewJ]

It's really quite sad/amusing to see the way things are going here in the states.

I seem to recall a national poll last summer
"at what gasoline price would you make major changes to your driving?"
The average of all the answers: $3.66

Now the new poll puts it almost a dollar higher.

Ever hear the one about a frog in boiling water?

[Arminius]

Post of the Day

Originally Posted by AndrewJ

It's really quite sad/amusing to see the way things are going here in the states.

I seem to recall a national poll last summer
"at what gasoline price would you make major changes to your driving?"
The average of all the answers: $3.66

Now the new poll puts it almost a dollar higher.

Ever hear the one about a frog in boiling water?

[ankit]

Originally Posted by AndrewJ

Ever hear the one about a frog in boiling water?

The first time I heard of it was in Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." Hmmm, they are both linked to global warming, hmmm. People should really look into this.