• ToxikFetus (unregistered) in reply to Sgt. Preston
    Sgt. Preston:
    ToxikFetus:
    Sgt. Preston:
    [digression]I don't blame the US consumer--a lot of the difference is Canadian retail gasoline taxes--but 'free trade' with the second biggest economy in the world can seriously distort the domestic supply and demand balance and consequently distort prices. [/digression]

    I don't blame the US consumer for Japanese gasoline demand, either (and how long has Canada had a free trade agreement with Japan?).

    Your point eludes me, ToxikFetus. Canada does not have a free trade agreement with Japan and the US is a much larger consumer of Canadian oil than is Japan.

    My point is that under the Canada-US free trade agreement, Canadian oil and gasoline suppliers (and the Canadian government) are forbidden to make any distinction between US consumers and Canadian consumers in price or supply, for any reason, be it economic, strategic, or environmental. Since the US economy is huge in comparison with the Canadian economy (in excess of ten to one), the price that the Canadian consumer pays for Canadian gasoline is overwhelmingly decided by demand from across the border. This is what has many Canadians concerned when when they hear talk of bringing water under the terms of the free trade agreement.

    I was being pedantic. In your original quote, you implied that the U.S. is the second biggest economy, when in fact Japan holds that honor. The U.S. is the world's largest economy.

  • SomeBodyElse (unregistered) in reply to monkey
    monkey:
    In the UK, we're on apprx $7.5 per US Gallon. However, because my small car probably does over double the mileage per unit fuel than the average US car (about 50 to the gallon), the financial cost of travel for me probably isn't that much different.

    It's a pity our US cousins don't have such a good incentive to reduce their fuel usage.

    At the distances you Europeans drive, small, economical cars are fine. However, here in the colonies, we think nothing of commuting 50-100 miles each way to work. I for one don't want to be cooped up in a miniature death trap for 3 hours a day driving to work. I want the big, roomy, American cars, damn it! Of course, if they could give me that and 50 MPG, so much the better.

    And if gas prices got the the level here that they are in europe, with the distance we Yanks have to drive? Probably be a second American Revolution.

  • (cs)

    The store I go to does it in reverse. 2 cents for every litre of gas in discounts at the grocery store. Since my tank is 48 litres and I fill up about once every 1.75 weeks I save about two bucks a month on my groceries. Woo-Hoo!

  • ReiVaX18 (unregistered)

    http://www.fortunecity.es/arcoiris/espartaco/643/imagenes/imagenes/curiosas/carrefour.jpg

  • Sgt. Preston (unregistered) in reply to ToxikFetus
    ToxikFetus:
    Sgt. Preston:
    ToxikFetus:
    Sgt. Preston:
    [digression]I don't blame the US consumer--a lot of the difference is Canadian retail gasoline taxes--but 'free trade' with the second biggest economy in the world can seriously distort the domestic supply and demand balance and consequently distort prices. [/digression]

    I don't blame the US consumer for Japanese gasoline demand, either (and how long has Canada had a free trade agreement with Japan?).

    Your point eludes me, ToxikFetus. Canada does not have a free trade agreement with Japan and the US is a much larger consumer of Canadian oil than is Japan.

    My point is that under the Canada-US free trade agreement, Canadian oil and gasoline suppliers (and the Canadian government) are forbidden to make any distinction between US consumers and Canadian consumers in price or supply, for any reason, be it economic, strategic, or environmental. Since the US economy is huge in comparison with the Canadian economy (in excess of ten to one), the price that the Canadian consumer pays for Canadian gasoline is overwhelmingly decided by demand from across the border. This is what has many Canadians concerned when when they hear talk of bringing water under the terms of the free trade agreement.

    I was being pedantic. In your original quote, you implied that the U.S. is the second biggest economy, when in fact Japan holds that honor. The U.S. is the world's largest economy.

    Sorry I didn't recognize the pedanticism ToxikFetus. I love a good pedanticizing. I will stand corrected, but I believe that, as of some time last year, Japan has the third largest economy in the world, the US has the second, and China has the first, in terms of GDP. Anyone have a reference for this?

  • Sgt. Preston (unregistered) in reply to Sgt. Preston
    Sgt. Preston:
    ToxikFetus:
    I was being pedantic. In your original quote, you implied that the U.S. is the second biggest economy, when in fact Japan holds that honor. The U.S. is the world's largest economy.
    Sorry I didn't recognize the pedanticism ToxikFetus. I love a good pedanticizing. I will stand corrected, but I believe that, as of some time last year, Japan has the third largest economy in the world, the US has the second, and China has the first, in terms of GDP. Anyone have a reference for this?
    Okay, I did some digging and you're quite right, ToxikFetus. The US economy is the largest and Japan's is second (in terms of GDP), unless you count the EU as a whole in which case it's slightly ahead of the US. I shall consider myself properly pedanted.
  • $ (unregistered) in reply to Sgt. Preston
    Sgt. Preston:
    What I found bizarre was that a canning plant in the US, the world's largest wheat exporter, owned by a company based in Canada, the world's second largest wheat exporter, was buying wheat gluten from China, the world's largest wheat importer.

    That would be bizarre if they were buying wheat gluten from China. But they weren't buying wheat gluten, they were buying counterfeits.

  • $ (unregistered) in reply to Sgt. Preston
    Sgt. Preston:
    $:
    What? Alberta has taxes? What are you going to do next, claim Texas has elbartes?

    Meanwhile, how much of that 28% difference is due to the rise of the beaver buck? Let's just push it back to last year's level. Down boy, down.

    The rise in the value of the loonie vis-a-vis the sawbuck should be making gasoline less expensive in Canada and more expensive in the US.
    Eventually. These changes take time. If you don't believe me, consider this: Did your salary drop 28% already?

    What are "elbartes"?
    Has the same relationship to texas as taxes has to alberta, but I accidentally typed an extra s. Anonymized by swapping a's and e's. Both figments of the imagination. No way anyone's going to believe Alberta has taxes.
  • (cs) in reply to Sgt. Preston
    Sgt. Preston:
    Sorry I didn't recognize the pedanticism ToxikFetus. I love a good pedanticizing. I will stand corrected, but I believe that, as of some time last year, Japan has the third largest economy in the world, the US has the second, and China has the first, in terms of GDP. Anyone have a reference for this?
    Accodring to the International Monetary Fund, In 2006 the US GDP was ~13 million. The Chinese GDP was ~2.6 million.

    Source: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2007/01/data/weorept.aspx?sy=2006&ey=2006&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=%2C&br=1&c=512%2C941%2C914%2C446%2C612%2C666%2C614%2C668%2C311%2C672%2C213%2C946%2C911%2C137%2C193%2C962%2C122%2C674%2C912%2C676%2C313%2C548%2C419%2C556%2C513%2C678%2C316%2C181%2C913%2C682%2C124%2C684%2C339%2C273%2C638%2C921%2C514%2C948%2C218%2C686%2C963%2C688%2C616%2C518%2C223%2C728%2C516%2C558%2C918%2C138%2C748%2C196%2C618%2C278%2C522%2C692%2C622%2C694%2C156%2C142%2C624%2C449%2C626%2C564%2C628%2C283%2C228%2C853%2C924%2C288%2C233%2C293%2C632%2C566%2C636%2C964%2C634%2C182%2C238%2C453%2C662%2C968%2C960%2C922%2C423%2C714%2C935%2C862%2C128%2C716%2C611%2C456%2C321%2C722%2C243%2C965%2C248%2C718%2C469%2C724%2C253%2C576%2C642%2C936%2C643%2C961%2C939%2C813%2C644%2C199%2C819%2C184%2C172%2C524%2C132%2C361%2C646%2C362%2C648%2C364%2C915%2C732%2C134%2C366%2C652%2C734%2C174%2C144%2C328%2C146%2C258%2C463%2C656%2C528%2C654%2C923%2C336%2C738%2C263%2C578%2C268%2C537%2C532%2C742%2C944%2C866%2C176%2C369%2C534%2C744%2C536%2C186%2C429%2C925%2C178%2C746%2C436%2C926%2C136%2C466%2C343%2C112%2C158%2C111%2C439%2C298%2C916%2C927%2C664%2C846%2C826%2C299%2C542%2C582%2C443%2C474%2C917%2C754%2C544%2C698&s=NGDPD&grp=0&a=&pr1.x=31&pr1.y=13

  • Ben (unregistered) in reply to snoofle
    snoofle:
    If a gas station is offering a penny off per gallon, it's probably a respectable percentage of their profit.

    In every "x cents per litre" offer I've seen it's the business offering the discount who pays the difference, not the station. It's meant to be like a incentive to bring people into your store, so it would come out of a marketing budget.

  • Paolo G (unregistered) in reply to TimmyT
    TimmyT:
    The Real WTF© is that those crazy Europeans switch commas and periods - 1,000.00 here is 1.000,00 over there. That's just crazy! No wonder I can't understand anything they say over there....

    Yeah, that's right... continental Europe didn't use commas or decimal points at all until the UK and US invented them, and then they took one look at our system and said "Hey, we don't like it. Let's switch them just to confuse them!"

    I would guess that the two systems arose side by side. Continental Europeans no more "switched" the commas and decimal points (not "periods", by the way - those are for writing sentences, not numbers) that everyone else was using, any more than the British and Americans "switched" the other system.

    CAPTCHA: "odio", which means "I hate" in Italian :)

  • (cs)
    jenifer:
    It is good that you got one cent per gallon, at least you have the profit even if it is less. You earned what you had paid for it. An example, if you bought the gallon for $20 and happen to earn a mere sum of two cents or less, it might be worst to start the business on but it is not likely that happens to you.

    Just sharing what's in my mind.

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