Ouch! Gas And Other Inflation Related Pain.

[ProfessorPeart]

As I complained about before, we are paying for the Texas debacle up here in Illinois. Natural gas was ridiculous. My town signs us all up for electricity via a provider other than our electric company. Roughly 2 months in to the last contract the provider canceled the contract because the rate they offered us would have destroyed their bottom line. We currently get everything through the electric company for now.

[El Barto]

And the problem is that there's nothing we can do about it. We're dependent upon electricity and gas for our very survival. It's not like gasoline, where we can drive less, or car pool, or whatever. It's not discretionary where we can choose to go without one night a week. It's not something we can cut back on to any reasonable extent, like groceries. There are solutions, but as is always the case, they really apply only to the people with the money to take advantage of them (solar, new windows, better insulation). I try to keep to a minimum things that really shouldn't be left to the private sector. Police/fire and healthcare are the two main things. I'm starting to think that deregulation of energy was a pretty big blunder, and letting people freeze or broil based on their ability to pay really shouldn't be a thing. And Texas proved quite well that supposed competition in the sector doesn't help us at all, as the providers are all insulated from any losses they might incur. 

[Ben_Jamin]

And the problem is that there's nothing we can do about it. We're dependent upon electricity and gas for our very survival. It's not like gasoline, where we can drive less, or car pool, or whatever. It's not discretionary where we can choose to go without one night a week. It's not something we can cut back on to any reasonable extent, like groceries. There are solutions, but as is always the case, they really apply only to the people with the money to take advantage of them (solar, new windows, better insulation). I try to keep to a minimum things that really shouldn't be left to the private sector. Police/fire and healthcare are the two main things. I'm starting to think that deregulation of energy was a pretty big blunder, and letting people freeze or broil based on their ability to pay really shouldn't be a thing. And Texas proved quite well that supposed competition in the sector doesn't help us at all, as the providers are all insulated from any losses they might incur.

This is the current truth of reality for human survival. It was never like this in the past and humans have never been reliant on these sources for survival before.

What will happen when these resources falter and deplete? One will be that humans will resort to these older solutions of survival. That's human instinct of hunting and gathering, utilizing the surrounding ecosystem of the land to survive. Which is what many, many cultures were already utilizing before colonist intervention.

It's why I myself just sit back and watch it all collapse because I view it all as the consequences of humans relying on these resources and not on these other means for survival. 

[Stadler]

And the problem is that there's nothing we can do about it. We're dependent upon electricity and gas for our very survival. It's not like gasoline, where we can drive less, or car pool, or whatever. It's not discretionary where we can choose to go without one night a week. It's not something we can cut back on to any reasonable extent, like groceries. There are solutions, but as is always the case, they really apply only to the people with the money to take advantage of them (solar, new windows, better insulation). I try to keep to a minimum things that really shouldn't be left to the private sector. Police/fire and healthcare are the two main things. I'm starting to think that deregulation of energy was a pretty big blunder, and letting people freeze or broil based on their ability to pay really shouldn't be a thing. And Texas proved quite well that supposed competition in the sector doesn't help us at all, as the providers are all insulated from any losses they might incur.

This is the current truth of reality for human survival. It was never like this in the past and humans have never been reliant on these sources for survival before.

What will happen when these resources falter and deplete? One will be that humans will resort to these older solutions of survival. That's human instinct of hunting and gathering, utilizing the surrounding ecosystem of the land to survive. Which is what many, many cultures were already utilizing before colonist intervention.

It's why I myself just sit back and watch it all collapse because I view it all as the consequences of humans relying on these resources and not on these other means for survival.

We let that happen, though. We're soft.   The reality is, if power goes out, we CAN survive, but you'd never know it. Where would we find out how much people like us?  Where would we get our validation?  Where would we have our precious opinions affirmed? 

We had power go out up here a couple years ago, and some people were down for up to 10 days.  You'd think the world ended.  Granted, it's also the sudden shock of it happening, so there wasn't time to prepare, but still. 

[Ben_Jamin]

And the problem is that there's nothing we can do about it. We're dependent upon electricity and gas for our very survival. It's not like gasoline, where we can drive less, or car pool, or whatever. It's not discretionary where we can choose to go without one night a week. It's not something we can cut back on to any reasonable extent, like groceries. There are solutions, but as is always the case, they really apply only to the people with the money to take advantage of them (solar, new windows, better insulation). I try to keep to a minimum things that really shouldn't be left to the private sector. Police/fire and healthcare are the two main things. I'm starting to think that deregulation of energy was a pretty big blunder, and letting people freeze or broil based on their ability to pay really shouldn't be a thing. And Texas proved quite well that supposed competition in the sector doesn't help us at all, as the providers are all insulated from any losses they might incur.

This is the current truth of reality for human survival. It was never like this in the past and humans have never been reliant on these sources for survival before.

What will happen when these resources falter and deplete? One will be that humans will resort to these older solutions of survival. That's human instinct of hunting and gathering, utilizing the surrounding ecosystem of the land to survive. Which is what many, many cultures were already utilizing before colonist intervention.

It's why I myself just sit back and watch it all collapse because I view it all as the consequences of humans relying on these resources and not on these other means for survival.

We let that happen, though. We're soft.   The reality is, if power goes out, we CAN survive, but you'd never know it. Where would we find out how much people like us?  Where would we get our validation?  Where would we have our precious opinions affirmed? 

We had power go out up here a couple years ago, and some people were down for up to 10 days.  You'd think the world ended.  Granted, it's also the sudden shock of it happening, so there wasn't time to prepare, but still.

Exactly my point.

Humans have forgotten how to survive off of basic natural instinct. Which is hunting and gathering, and utilizing their surrounding natural ecosystem. Taking care of it so the water won't dry out, be poisoned, or become toxic. Humans used to know which plants were edible and not just considered weeds. Humans used to know to not take too much that the natural wild growth can replenish itself. Humans used to rely on this way of living, but now Humans rely on other means of supplying these things. There's reasons why Native Tribes were living in the places they chose to make their villages at.

So if humans want to rely on these depleting resources. The world will continue to get much worse in terms of "climate change" and it's effects on the ecosystem of the planet. Which effects all the resource humans rely upon.

[ProfessorPeart]

Got another email from the gas company. Increasing to another record high per therm. I was paying around $0.30 a therm in Jan '21. For June of '22 I will be paying $1.24 a therm.

Family complained when I had the heat lower than ever over the winter. If this keeps up, we might be wearing thermal undies and winter coats in the house next winter.

[emtee]

Received a letter from the power company that due to fuel costs and the impact on running their power plants, our bill will be increasing about $65 a month. However the local news did a segment showing people's most recent bills and some of them tripled. Things just keep getting worse.

Also most gas stations here are just shy of the $5 mark so I expect by Friday we'll eclipse that number.

Seriously difficult and challenging times for the average Joe.

[jingle.boy]

The landscaping project we’re doing was quoted at $21/sq ft for the interlock stone back in April. Now, it’s $25. Seeing as how we’re doing about 1500 sq ft, that’s another $6k.

Gas is over $2/L here. Coming close to a 100% increase in less than a year. And summer increases haven’t even started. It now costs $16 just to drive my son to work. (And another $16 to pick him up)

[Stadler]

The landscaping project we’re doing was quoted at $21/sq ft for the interlock stone back in April. Now, it’s $25. Seeing as how we’re doing about 1500 sq ft, that’s another $6k.

Gas is over $2/L here. Coming close to a 100% increase in less than a year. And summer increases haven’t even started. It now costs $16 just to drive my son to work. (And another $16 to pick him up)

Are you buying concrete?  What are you paying for it?

A friend of mine is pouring a patio slab and he's being quoted like $400/yard, which in my experience (which is dated) is absurd.  What should be a $7500/$10k project is like $30k.

[jingle.boy]

The landscaping project we’re doing was quoted at $21/sq ft for the interlock stone back in April. Now, it’s $25. Seeing as how we’re doing about 1500 sq ft, that’s another $6k.

Gas is over $2/L here. Coming close to a 100% increase in less than a year. And summer increases haven’t even started. It now costs $16 just to drive my son to work. (And another $16 to pick him up)

Are you buying concrete?  What are you paying for it?

A friend of mine is pouring a patio slab and he's being quoted like $400/yard, which in my experience (which is dated) is absurd.  What should be a $7500/$10k project is like $30k.

Interlock brick.  These bad boys

[lonestar]

My local station went up to 6.89 this morning. I figure >7 in two weeks, they'll let it hover at 6.99 (not nice) for a while, the break the seal. Once they do that, it'll jack up quickly to 7.50 before August. I think 7.50 will be the peak here... Hopefully.

[King Postwhore]

Got my automatic oil refill this weekend.  The bill for 154 gallons of oil?  $965.00.


Ouch.

[Lethean]

And the problem is that there's nothing we can do about it. We're dependent upon electricity and gas for our very survival. It's not like gasoline, where we can drive less, or car pool, or whatever. It's not discretionary where we can choose to go without one night a week. It's not something we can cut back on to any reasonable extent, like groceries. There are solutions, but as is always the case, they really apply only to the people with the money to take advantage of them (solar, new windows, better insulation). I try to keep to a minimum things that really shouldn't be left to the private sector. Police/fire and healthcare are the two main things. I'm starting to think that deregulation of energy was a pretty big blunder, and letting people freeze or broil based on their ability to pay really shouldn't be a thing. And Texas proved quite well that supposed competition in the sector doesn't help us at all, as the providers are all insulated from any losses they might incur.

This is the current truth of reality for human survival. It was never like this in the past and humans have never been reliant on these sources for survival before.

What will happen when these resources falter and deplete? One will be that humans will resort to these older solutions of survival. That's human instinct of hunting and gathering, utilizing the surrounding ecosystem of the land to survive. Which is what many, many cultures were already utilizing before colonist intervention.

It's why I myself just sit back and watch it all collapse because I view it all as the consequences of humans relying on these resources and not on these other means for survival.

We let that happen, though. We're soft.   The reality is, if power goes out, we CAN survive, but you'd never know it. Where would we find out how much people like us?  Where would we get our validation?  Where would we have our precious opinions affirmed? 

We had power go out up here a couple years ago, and some people were down for up to 10 days.  You'd think the world ended.  Granted, it's also the sudden shock of it happening, so there wasn't time to prepare, but still.

I mean... What about the people who die of heat stroke?  For some reason it came up in a recent conversation that there was some horrible heat wave in Chicago in the 90s where a lot of elderly people died.  That would have been pre "worrying about likes." What about people who have medication that needs to be refrigerated?  What did those people do back in the good old days of no electricity?  Probably a lot more people died of extreme heat or cold and people who would have needed refrigerated medication just died since said medication wasn't available.  Yeah, a lot of people complain about being bored during power outages, but it's certainly not just about that. 

[Stadler]

And the problem is that there's nothing we can do about it. We're dependent upon electricity and gas for our very survival. It's not like gasoline, where we can drive less, or car pool, or whatever. It's not discretionary where we can choose to go without one night a week. It's not something we can cut back on to any reasonable extent, like groceries. There are solutions, but as is always the case, they really apply only to the people with the money to take advantage of them (solar, new windows, better insulation). I try to keep to a minimum things that really shouldn't be left to the private sector. Police/fire and healthcare are the two main things. I'm starting to think that deregulation of energy was a pretty big blunder, and letting people freeze or broil based on their ability to pay really shouldn't be a thing. And Texas proved quite well that supposed competition in the sector doesn't help us at all, as the providers are all insulated from any losses they might incur.

This is the current truth of reality for human survival. It was never like this in the past and humans have never been reliant on these sources for survival before.

What will happen when these resources falter and deplete? One will be that humans will resort to these older solutions of survival. That's human instinct of hunting and gathering, utilizing the surrounding ecosystem of the land to survive. Which is what many, many cultures were already utilizing before colonist intervention.

It's why I myself just sit back and watch it all collapse because I view it all as the consequences of humans relying on these resources and not on these other means for survival.

We let that happen, though. We're soft.   The reality is, if power goes out, we CAN survive, but you'd never know it. Where would we find out how much people like us?  Where would we get our validation?  Where would we have our precious opinions affirmed? 

We had power go out up here a couple years ago, and some people were down for up to 10 days.  You'd think the world ended.  Granted, it's also the sudden shock of it happening, so there wasn't time to prepare, but still.

I mean... What about the people who die of heat stroke?  For some reason it came up in a recent conversation that there was some horrible heat wave in Chicago in the 90s where a lot of elderly people died.  That would have been pre "worrying about likes." What about people who have medication that needs to be refrigerated?  What did those people do back in the good old days of no electricity?  Probably a lot more people died of extreme heat or cold and people who would have needed refrigerated medication just died since said medication wasn't available.  Yeah, a lot of people complain about being bored during power outages, but it's certainly not just about that.

Of course not.  But even the issues you raise, it's as much about being adaptable and agile as it is anything else. 

[Lethean]

And the problem is that there's nothing we can do about it. We're dependent upon electricity and gas for our very survival. It's not like gasoline, where we can drive less, or car pool, or whatever. It's not discretionary where we can choose to go without one night a week. It's not something we can cut back on to any reasonable extent, like groceries. There are solutions, but as is always the case, they really apply only to the people with the money to take advantage of them (solar, new windows, better insulation). I try to keep to a minimum things that really shouldn't be left to the private sector. Police/fire and healthcare are the two main things. I'm starting to think that deregulation of energy was a pretty big blunder, and letting people freeze or broil based on their ability to pay really shouldn't be a thing. And Texas proved quite well that supposed competition in the sector doesn't help us at all, as the providers are all insulated from any losses they might incur.

This is the current truth of reality for human survival. It was never like this in the past and humans have never been reliant on these sources for survival before.

What will happen when these resources falter and deplete? One will be that humans will resort to these older solutions of survival. That's human instinct of hunting and gathering, utilizing the surrounding ecosystem of the land to survive. Which is what many, many cultures were already utilizing before colonist intervention.

It's why I myself just sit back and watch it all collapse because I view it all as the consequences of humans relying on these resources and not on these other means for survival.

We let that happen, though. We're soft.   The reality is, if power goes out, we CAN survive, but you'd never know it. Where would we find out how much people like us?  Where would we get our validation?  Where would we have our precious opinions affirmed? 

We had power go out up here a couple years ago, and some people were down for up to 10 days.  You'd think the world ended.  Granted, it's also the sudden shock of it happening, so there wasn't time to prepare, but still.

I mean... What about the people who die of heat stroke?  For some reason it came up in a recent conversation that there was some horrible heat wave in Chicago in the 90s where a lot of elderly people died.  That would have been pre "worrying about likes." What about people who have medication that needs to be refrigerated?  What did those people do back in the good old days of no electricity?  Probably a lot more people died of extreme heat or cold and people who would have needed refrigerated medication just died since said medication wasn't available.  Yeah, a lot of people complain about being bored during power outages, but it's certainly not just about that.

Of course not.  But even the issues you raise, it's as much about being adaptable and agile as it is anything else.

There's only so much you can do, especially as people get older and less mobile (extreme temps) and there's not much at all you can do if you need refrigeration.  I agree with Barro's original comment that "letting people freeze or broil based on their ability to pay really shouldn't be a thing."

[Stadler]

And the problem is that there's nothing we can do about it. We're dependent upon electricity and gas for our very survival. It's not like gasoline, where we can drive less, or car pool, or whatever. It's not discretionary where we can choose to go without one night a week. It's not something we can cut back on to any reasonable extent, like groceries. There are solutions, but as is always the case, they really apply only to the people with the money to take advantage of them (solar, new windows, better insulation). I try to keep to a minimum things that really shouldn't be left to the private sector. Police/fire and healthcare are the two main things. I'm starting to think that deregulation of energy was a pretty big blunder, and letting people freeze or broil based on their ability to pay really shouldn't be a thing. And Texas proved quite well that supposed competition in the sector doesn't help us at all, as the providers are all insulated from any losses they might incur.

This is the current truth of reality for human survival. It was never like this in the past and humans have never been reliant on these sources for survival before.

What will happen when these resources falter and deplete? One will be that humans will resort to these older solutions of survival. That's human instinct of hunting and gathering, utilizing the surrounding ecosystem of the land to survive. Which is what many, many cultures were already utilizing before colonist intervention.

It's why I myself just sit back and watch it all collapse because I view it all as the consequences of humans relying on these resources and not on these other means for survival.

We let that happen, though. We're soft.   The reality is, if power goes out, we CAN survive, but you'd never know it. Where would we find out how much people like us?  Where would we get our validation?  Where would we have our precious opinions affirmed? 

We had power go out up here a couple years ago, and some people were down for up to 10 days.  You'd think the world ended.  Granted, it's also the sudden shock of it happening, so there wasn't time to prepare, but still.

I mean... What about the people who die of heat stroke?  For some reason it came up in a recent conversation that there was some horrible heat wave in Chicago in the 90s where a lot of elderly people died.  That would have been pre "worrying about likes." What about people who have medication that needs to be refrigerated?  What did those people do back in the good old days of no electricity?  Probably a lot more people died of extreme heat or cold and people who would have needed refrigerated medication just died since said medication wasn't available.  Yeah, a lot of people complain about being bored during power outages, but it's certainly not just about that.

Of course not.  But even the issues you raise, it's as much about being adaptable and agile as it is anything else.

There's only so much you can do, especially as people get older and less mobile (extreme temps) and there's not much at all you can do if you need refrigeration.  I agree with Barro's original comment that "letting people freeze or broil based on their ability to pay really shouldn't be a thing."

And it shouldn't.  I don't disagree with that.

[TAC]

Gassed up today. $71.00

[dparrott]

Gas almost $6.50 here in California.

[cramx3]

Gassed up today. $71.00

$56 for my civic this morning

[El Barto]

Gassed up today. $71.00

$56 for my civic this morning

I cracked $75 the other day. That's for mid-grade, though.

[gmillerdrake]

The trick is to fill up at the half tank point....that way psychologically you're not really spending that much money.

[ReaperKK]

Gassed up today. $71.00

$80 is about what I'm running on my car, it requires premium :/
$56 for my civic this morning

I cracked $75 the other day. That's for mid-grade, though.

[Anguyen92]

The trick is to fill up at the half tank point....that way psychologically you're not really spending that much money.

It still costs me $45+ on unleaded fuel to fill half a tank.  I shudder when the time comes where I decided to let it ride and then eventually fill a full tank of gas.

[jingle.boy]

The trick is to fill up at the half tank point....that way psychologically you're not really spending that much money.

Do you even math?   

[lonestar]

The trick is to fill up at the half tank point....that way psychologically you're not really spending that much money.

I've actually been doing this, filling up at a quarter tank, keeps it under $50.

[jingle.boy]

Both of our vehicles are low on gas, and I'm actually gonna make a trip over the border to fill it up.  Saves me about $25 each vehicle.

[lonestar]

Both of our vehicles are low on gas, and I'm actually gonna make a trip over the border to fill it up.  Saves me about $25 each vehicle.

But Biden make gas expensiver...

[King Postwhore]

Taxes on gas for Chad goes to Healthcare. So there is a tradeoff.

I saw Gas for $4.99.  I was happy to see it at 5 dollars. Lol

[Lonk]

The trick is to fill up at the half tank point....that way psychologically you're not really spending that much money.

Do you even math?   

If you haven't seen this, it should be mildly entertaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuH91bQXDuE&t=1s

[jingle.boy]

The trick is to fill up at the half tank point....that way psychologically you're not really spending that much money.

Do you even math?   

If you haven't seen this, it should be mildly entertaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuH91bQXDuE&t=1s

Was Shaq being dense, or was he trolling Kenny?  Ernie's look at 2:00 was gold.

[Lonk]

I think he was being serious (At least it looks like it), there's another video from a few months ago and they were still having the same conversation 

[hunnus2000]

Shaq has quite the sense of humor and is sharp as a tack. He was trolling. 

[dparrott]

I don't drive much, so I only get as little as I need.  $12-15 a week.

[lonestar]

I don't drive much, so I only get as little as I need.  $12-15 a week.

My commute is 40 miles each way. :'(

[frogprog]

Uggg. $137 to put 3/4 of a tank in my truck yesterday.