The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #68183   Message #1145950
Posted By: Rapparee
25-Mar-04 - 12:51 PM
Thread Name: BS: Why is gasoline so expensive?
Subject: RE: BS: Why is gasoline so expensive?
Strick, using the first four items from the website you cited, I ran the figures through the Consumer Price Index calculator here.   The increase in the CPI, assuming that the prices cited in your website were current as of the last time the site was updated (December 26, 2002 when I visited it a few minutes ago), at the end of 2003 (the last year for which inflation figures are available) the items would cost, per gallon:

Coffee: USD 0.72
Unleaded gasoline: USD 1.42
Kool-Aid: USD 1.89
Clorox: USD 2.25

Without running out to my car and checking, I believe was paying USD 1.60 for a gallon of unleaded petrol at the end of December, 2003. (And why would I buy a gallon of Clorox bleach when the house brand would work and about USD 1.00/gallon cheaper?)

This is NOT to say that petrol in the US is not cheaper than anywhere else -- it is. But I don't think that the increase can be attributed solely to the average increase in the CPI, either.