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$5 per gallon so far (img-comment-fun.9cache.com)

submitted 1 day ago by pelespirit@sh.itjust.works to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.ca

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[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'm not being shitty, but a real question. Do you have your own oil wells? We not only have our own oil, but we frack the shit out of our earth.

[–] Tiresia@slrpnk.net 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Germany doesn't have its own oil wells, that's one of the reasons it invaded the USSR in WW2: to get to the oil wells in Chechnya.

But the real reason is economic redistribution. Germany has a 19% value added tax and a €0.65/L excise tax, without which that €1.90/L gasoline comes out to €1.05 per litre - cheaper than in West Virginia.

All those taxes are invested by the government into other stuff, much of which makes life cheaper for Germans. People don't pay out their asses for the German healthcare system because they already paid when buying gasoline. And the same goes for public transit and urban infrastructure and everything else.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 hours ago

Some states have those taxes too. Not every state is evil about healthcare, but most are.

[–] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Doesn’t matter if you supply your own oil, it’s traded on world markets that determines the price.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 0 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I don't know about where you're sourcing your info, and I don't know enough about it to check this source, lol.

Regardless, they seem confident?:

By contrast, the United States is supposedly relatively well-off since we are largely self-sufficient and in fact a net exporter of natural gas.

While the point about the US having large oil and gas production is important, it distorts the impact in important ways. The simplest way to think about the surge in oil and natural gas prices is as a big tax on consumers of these products.

When people pay $3.50 at the pumps, instead of the $2.80 we paid a month ago, this would be the same thing to consumers as if the government imposed a 70 cent a gallon gas tax. There would be a similar story with higher prices for home heating oil or natural gas. From the standpoint of consumers, the price increases are the same as if they just got hit with a big tax increase.

The difference is that instead of the money going to the government, as it would with a tax, it’s going to the oil and gas industry, Donald Trump’s campaign contributors. In principle, for a country like the United States, which is largely self-sufficient in oil and gas, if we could just rebate the money people paid in higher prices back to consumers, all would be fine.

https://cepr.net/publications/the-winning-and-losing-countries-from-high-oil-prices/

[–] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 0 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

“Because American refineries require specific crude blends (and to maximize global market efficiency), the U.S. exports a significant amount of its crude and refined products, while concurrently importing crude oil.”

The US exports a majority of its oil as they don’t have the refining capacity for the type of oil (light sweet crude) it produces. They import heavy crude (mainly from Canada) that they use for domestic use as refineries are designed to refine heavy crude, and US heavy crude production has nearly run dry, mainly from California.

[–] ninja@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The gas pricing map of the United States would contradict that.

[–] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 1 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Tell me you don’t understand oil markets without saying it.