I'm sure you'd likely find the other guy has as many fingers in the pie as
well, so if your feeling a little down on the price of fuel and buy some booze , snacks , and fill up the gas bottle on the way home , oh and decide to drop some coins into the pokies at the liscenced premises your visiting
dont think to hard bout whos the winner in the end .
I just don't get the moaning about fuel prices or the cost of power, for the average household these bills are tiny compared to house prices or renting in large cities. We have far more control over our utility bills then we do many of our other bills. In the end the answer in Australia is easy, move to the bush, dark skies, clean air and cheap housing
I just don't get the moaning about fuel prices or the cost of power, for the average household these bills are tiny compared to house prices or renting in large cities. we have far more control over our utility bills then we do many of our other bills.
Pretty easy to understand the moaning from where I sit. Like you I live outside major city and pay through the nose for products which all have to be freighted into town. You may even be better off than me being in at least a significant sized centre.
Australia overall is paying far more for power and fuel than almost any other weatern civilized country. From memory Germany and Norway beat us on both counts but then again they also have a higher income.
The cost to produce electricity is almost the same as it was 10 years ago and the wholesale price of electricity is also stil quite similar to that of 10 years back but the retail cost has almost tripled.
Fair grounds to moan in mybook.
Try running a car and paying for heating and cooling with electricity where I live on a pension. Plenty of the oldies here do but believe me most struggle.
Between Government and Big companies the only people doing it easy are the executives who live off the pain of the ordinary working person.
Keep moaning folks.Maybe one day someone will listen.
It's good to have a moan and a whine every now and then sure but it's important to never lose sight of reality.
Regardless of some concern over fuel prices, living in Australia puts us in the official 2nd best country on the planet (tiny fraction behind the No1) and that's no trivial reality folks.
Things are not that bad at all, no matter how hard anyone bellows and rants to the contrary..... and regardless of the price, at least you have the fuel anytime and anywhere you want
Time to smell the whole bed of roses instead of just complaining about the odd weed .
So i asssume you are trying to say that because Australia is affluent we should pay much more than a less affluent nation even though the profit goes to big international companies and in a lot of cases off shore.
I don';t know about you but my employer won't pay my salary into the same or similar offshore accounts.
Why should oil taken from the ground in Australia be sold to us based on a price set by greedy companies in Singapore with the bulk of the profit going to Government as usual.
We see the likes of Jerry Harvey complaining about people purchasing goods from OS at reduced prices and complaining that we should all buy Australian only o find his stores are full of imported goods. The hipocracy in his complaining is that he is only interested in his bottom line and the income in his pocket. Why then is it OK for the likes of Harvey Norman to moan and groan and then set up an offshore company and it to be just the people having a winge again. Reality is the daily reduction in our pockets contents. A hanky to mop up the tears might be handy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
It's good to have a moan and a whine every now and then sure but it's important to never lose sight of reality.
Regardless of some concern over fuel prices, living in Australia puts us in the official 2nd best country on the planet (tiny fraction behind the No1) and that's no trivial reality folks.
Things are not that bad at all, no matter how hard anyone bellows and rants to the contrary..... and regardless of the price, at least you have the fuel anytime and anywhere you want
Time to smell the whole bed of roses instead of just complaining about the odd weed .
So i asssume you are trying to say that because Australia is affluent we should pay much more than a less affluent nation
<snip>
A hanky to mop up the tears might be handy.
It's easy to let yourself be bitter when you have nothing to compare your standard of life to...or perhaps forget to.
I don't like the dollars rotating on the pump, or anywhere else, any more than the next person and role my eyes at the Clive Palmers and Jerry Harveys but fair suck, I look at the view from my window over Newcastle... and then in my beer fridge I look at my son undertaking pilot training or my wife making a good spaghetti and meatballs (yum) then while I am sitting at my laptop in front of my beautiful telescope under a clear moonless sky I remember I am alive and just how good I have it regardless.
Life is too short to forget the really important things .
Now the oil companies make good money, but it isn't the petrol station retailer that sees much of it.
Shell is closing Clyde refinery this year, Mobil has closed Port Stanvac and Altona is running at half capacity, Caltex are reviewing the future of Kurnell and Lytton. If there was so much money in the oil business why wouldn't all these companies be expanding production?
I hear what you are saying Mike and agree that it is easy to loose sight of what is good around us.
We are of course both at slightly different places in our lives. I have put 2 kids through 4 years each of university in Melbourne and Wagga Wagga, worked long hours for years, finally move into a senior position at work which I had hoped would set me up for retirement. I now look at everything escalating in price far faster than my wage is growing, see governments taxing us to death, Health insurance increases, petrol increases, electricity increases, Queensland flood taxes and just about every other billincreasing by significantly more than my salary.
I do get somewhat dishaertened and after working for 41 years full time, now wonder if my dreams can be fullfilled before some other greedy ******* empties my pockets fully.
Termites might beat all of them yet. Seems they are still eating my house.
Because they can do it cheaper in India and China. Why are our banks doing the same with their staff. All the call centers around Aus are now off shore. The list goes on and we just let it happen.
If oil processing is done off shore we have less control on price than we do now even though price controlis moderatedby a toothless tiger already.
Quote:
Originally Posted by peter_4059
Shell is closing Clyde refinery this year, Mobil has closed Port Stanvac and Altona is running at half capacity, Caltex are reviewing the future of Kurnell and Lytton. If there was so much money in the oil business why wouldn't all these companies be expanding production?
I hear what you are saying Mike and agree that it is easy to loose sight of what is good around us.
We are of course both at slightly different places in our lives. I have put 2 kids through 4 years each of university in Melbourne and Wagga Wagga, worked long hours for years, finally move into a senior position at work which I had hoped would set me up for retirement. I now look at everything escalating in price far faster than my wage is growing, see governments taxing us to death, Health insurance increases, petrol increases, electricity increases, Queensland flood taxes and just about every other billincreasing by significantly more than my salary.
I do get somewhat dishaertened and after working for 41 years full time, now wonder if my dreams can be fullfilled before some other greedy ******* empties my pockets fully.
Termites might beat all of them yet. Seems they are still eating my house.
Doug - there is no "control" on price. The wholesale fuel price in Australia is import parity price - ie if it is cheaper to import than to make it in Australia it will be imported. This means the consumer gets it at the lowest market price. The price is set by supply and demand in the region (ie south east Asia). The only "local" factors are the excise, GST and whatever margin the retailer can make. As Poita points out the retail margin is very small.
Here's a couple of articles that might be of interest if you believe the big oil companies are making a lot of money:
I just don't get the moaning about fuel prices or the cost of power, for the average household these bills are tiny compared to house prices or renting in large cities. We have far more control over our utility bills then we do many of our other bills. In the end the answer in Australia is easy, move to the bush, dark skies, clean air and cheap housing
It's the criminal increases in the cost of these basic utilities that people are moaning about... and the fact that a lot of it is the result of avoidable government incompetence. People are going bankrupt because of pathetic waste and mismanagement on this dog's breakfast federal government's behalf.
Hagar has hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, though, none of the fat cats in parliament will listen to the average suffering family or pensioner. They are too busy plowing through their traditional sunday roast of $100 bills. Our present federal govt being a classic example...
And Strongmanmike... I recently went to Hungary... and well, to say the least, it is a deplorable state of affairs there.... but here, this country is quickly heading that way. Job losses, exponential increases to cost of living everywhere you look, criminalising the most effective cash cow-the motorist, making doing less than walking pace over the speed limit an "offence" worth a fine inexcess of $150; endless new taxes imposed on us as the "solution" to everything; no money for infrastructure due to endless waste ; "sin taxes" to try and control people's behaviour; the endless bubble wrapping of society... being masqueraded as crap such as "stopping global warming" blah blah blah to hide the disasters of this government's inept policies.... this country is going down the S-bend faster than you can say where the bloody hell has my former quality of life got too?
Last edited by pgc hunter; 22-03-2012 at 12:21 AM.
Sorry but the comparative global reality simply doesn't agree with you, in fact our standing has only improved
...Oh well, you keep on seeing the glass half empty and I'll just keep smelling the roses
All good
yah whatever. clearly you dont drive or have to support a family in a home with a mortgage on a crappy wage which requires electricity and water in order to provide a basic quality of life.
But on the other hand, you can afford a a refractor more expensive than most people's cars, so I guess that the average battler is not in your league. Keep sniffing those roses mate, the rest of us week-to -week workers and pensioners will continue to stay in touch with reality.
Unfortunately it is something we will need to get used to in the coming decade as oil supplies start to run low. It is believed that we are already at or have past peak oil. That is why we need to move to other fuels for our transportation needs.
Sorry Warren, but that is not correct.
In Alberta Canada alone they have more oil in just one Oil Sand well than most of the oil countries in the all of the Middle East.
The Oil from this single Oil Sand well can supply Oil for the next 150 years.
Quote:
. . . "enough to produce 3 million barrels per day for over 150 years"
And that may increase when they learn how to extract it even better!
And they already have discovered 3 of these Sand Oil deposits. The above quote is the stats from just one.
So the world isn't about to run out of oil any time soon
yah whatever. clearly you dont drive or have to support a family in a home with a mortgage on a crappy wage which requires electricity and water in order to provide a basic quality of life.
But on the other hand, you can afford a a refractor more expensive than most people's cars, so I guess that the average battler is not in your league. Keep sniffing those roses mate, the rest of us week-to -week workers and pensioners will continue to stay in touch with reality.
The stupid thing is, if more governments worldwide put some serious effort into renewable energy and electric cars, petrol usage would drop and perversely the price would come down. As my old ma used to say, you can't have your penny AND your bun.
I drive 500+ kms a week for work, and the mantra here is: Make Someone Else Pay For It.
While I hate having to pay higher and higher prices for petrol the current price is still relatively less than it was when I first started driving 60 years ago. A gallon of petrol in 1953 was 3/10. Average wage was about 9 pounds about 2.1% of the weekly wage
Current price of 672 c pergallon is only 1.4% of the average wage at $500 per week.
In addition to this cars do closer to 30 MPG now compared to 16 MPG in 1953 for an equivalent size of car.
Pardon me for using imperial measures. Do your own conversions if necessary. Get used to it! It will go a lot higher yet.
.
I look at my son undertaking pilot training or my wife making a good spaghetti and meatballs (yum) then while I am sitting at my laptop in front of my beautiful telescope under a clear moonless sky I remember I am alive and just how good I have it regardless.
.
...Oh well, you keep on seeing the glass half empty and I'll just keep smelling the roses 
