Gas Prices – Twin Cities!

Filled up the truck yesterday afternoon for $1.59 a gallon thinking, WOW THAT’S CHEAP!!! About an hour later, I see it for $1.52.

-J.

Take it while you can, OPEC is cutting production again because they aren’t making enough money

Chris

I filled up in Prescot yesterday…don’t recall the price…but on the pump there was a sticker that said

Included in the price you are paying upto .49xx cents in state and federal taxes.

Since MN has all these other goofy laws, you would thing that a tax disclosure law on gas would be a no-brainer…

If I recall correctly, I would have been paying about $1.20 without the tax.

Now I know this money is going for roads…but it would be nice to see a breakdown of where each penny is going…one step further would be to see who voted for/against it…

Too much information?

Might be nice… then again, all of the “tax” money gotta come from somewhere, whether is sales tax, income tax, property tax, gas tax, etc… just a matter of where the money comes from.

All you guys should be somewhat happy with what you are paying. I am paying 1.98 a gal. And when you have a full size truck and put alot of miles on it all adds up fast.

Walleye Fool

Big E, you are correct…it’s really just what pocket it comes out of…it’s the same pair of pants…your’s and mine…

Knowing where it’s going and that .50 cent for every gallon is going somewhere other than the gas companies..is my point.

just be happy that minnesotas state tax is less than wisconsin’s, in nelson it is 1.95 and if you go across the river it is usually 15 cents cheaper in minnesota

I actually am for increased taxes. I hate running a defecit and believe that it hurts our country terribly to sell our debt to other countries. (the gov’t just needs to use increased taxes to pay off debt instead of using it for other unnecessary programs) If we buy our own debt, fine (sorta), lets keep the money in our economy, but we sell too much debt to others. Do you like seeing your taxes going to people in other countries in the form of interest payments? I don’t! I just don’t like seeing OPEC having virtually unobstructed governence over our oil (gas) prices through production capacities. In addition, the U.S. has immense amounts of oil in the ground that we barely nurse from. I’m sure this is because of a political agenda. The U.S. gov’t has the capability to communicate lower prices to its’ constituents by opening their oil wells but I’m affraid they just want to be the last ones with the resource. Can you imagine what gas prices will be then???
Chris

I would love to see the breakdown BrianK…I think that would be nice
Chris

Briank, I certainly understand — no problem with knowing where our money is going to.

CatchnRelease. Higher taxes??????????? How about less spending!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do agree on the oil deal. If we are the last ones with it, boy, won’t we have something then. Trouble is all other countries probably have alternatives already in place for when that happens. Then we will really get charged out the A$$ for gas, and it will be from our own reserves!

Wow! Higher taxes! Tax and spend, tax and spend; there are better ways to keep expenses down. Do you understand how much money is wasted by government spending on pork barrel projects and other waste? Both parties do it and this republican controlled congress is no better than the previous democratic controlled congresses!

I think I’m going to stay out of this thread…but…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Austerity in big-ticket government programs hasn’t dulled lawmakers’ appetite for special interest spending items that curry favor back home.

The spending plan awaiting President Bush’s signature is packed with them, doling out $4 million for an Alabama fertilizer development center, $1 million each for a Norwegian American Foundation in Seattle and a “Wild American Shrimp Initiative,” and more — much more.

Despite soaring deficits, lawmakers who approved the $388 billion package last weekend set plenty of money aside for home-district projects like these, knowing they sow goodwill among special interests and voters.

They also raised the ire of Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, a pork-barrel critic who took to the Senate floor to ask whether shrimp are so unruly and lacking initiative that the government must spend $1 million on them.

“Why does the U.S. taxpayer need to fund this ‘no shrimp left behind’ act?” he asked.

Among items in the package: $335,000 to protect North Dakota’s sunflowers from blackbirds, $2.3 million for an animal waste management research lab in Bowling Green, Kentucky, $50,000 to control wild hogs in Missouri, and $443,000 to develop salmon-fortified baby food.

Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, won dozens of special items for his state — enough to fill 20 press releases.

In one aimed at northern Alabama, Shelby took credit for the $4 million budgeted for the International Fertilizer Development Center.

“In addition to the important research conducted at this facility, the facility employs numerous Muscle Shoals-area residents,” he noted.

Government watchdog Frank Clemente contends such special spending — often based more on a lawmaker’s clout on appropriations committees than on objective factors such as a state’s population — winds up costing even those who win a new road, park or research project.

“I think that’s the biggest unfortunate thing about these special earmarks — they eat up billions of dollars,” said Clemente, spokesman for Public Citizen. “Meanwhile they’re cutting billions of dollars for environmental programs, or education programs or cops on the beat or what have you. That’s kind of the unintended effect or the secret effect of these programs.”

The time-honored practice flourished despite the ballooning national debt, less money for federal programs and rising concern about how government will finance the futures of Medicare and Social Security.

When Bush first took office, he vowed to cut pet projects from the federal budget, but the president has yet to veto a single spending bill. He is expected to sign the new plan as well.

Within hours of the spending bill’s passage, lawmakers were touting the projects they brought home to constituents — a reminder that in federal budgets what is derided as pork-barrel spending by one constituency can be embraced by another as local assistance.

Missouri Republican Sens. Kit Bond and Jim Talent and Republican Rep. Jo Ann Emerson on Monday announced federal money for three-dozen projects in southern Missouri, including $50,000 for wild-hog control.

Ohio Reps. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Democrat, and Steven LaTourette, a Republican, boasted about $350,000 for music education programs at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Nicole Williams, a spokeswoman for Tubbs Jones, said another lawmaker requested the money but Tubbs Jones supported it. With a deficit in Cleveland’s public school system and music education among the programs getting cut, the museum aid could benefit the city as a whole, Williams said.

Alaska Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens claimed credit for channeling federal money to the state’s salmon industry, including money to research use of salmon as a base for baby food.

“The goal is to increase the market for salmon by encouraging the production of more ‘value-added’ salmon products,” Murkowski’s office said.

Michigan’s two Democratic senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, let it be known they had won $4 million for an environmentally friendly public transportation system in Traverse City.

Many of the special items that made the cut were promoted by lobbyists hired by interest groups, companies or communities to convince lawmakers money was needed for their projects.

“No, a bike trail in X, Y, Z part of the country doesn’t benefit the country as a whole, but the people in that district or community [also] put their money into the pot,” said Jim Albertine, a lobbyist who successfully pressed for research and development money for the superconductor industry.

The targeted spending was so prolific that McCain had no problem filling a half-hour speech with examples. The shrimp program really stuck in his craw.

“I am hoping that the appropriators could explain to me why we need $1 million for this — are American shrimp unruly and lacking initiative?” he asked.

McCain’s query went unanswered, in part because spending documents don’t identify who proposed each item or why. The link…and… the story…

BrianK, GREAT proof of how we (our elected officials) waste money in this country! Unfortunately I am still for higher taxes despite the holes in our politicians pockets. The only reason is that if we redirect these (and other needless) project funds we will still not have enough to combat the enormous debt More proof that our gov’t cannot manage money well is social security. I’m a young person and I don’t think I will see very much of my social security contributions. As for you old farts (just kidding of course, this terminology seems to be ok to use in this community??) here you will probably see a bit more than some of us. The gov’t seems to think that they can spend it and replenish it easily but it is OUR safety-net, not theirs. Higher taxes doesn’t mean huge contributions by each person. I agree spending needs to be curbed and/or redirected.
Chris

We do really agree in princaple. I mean it is ok to use old farts here…

It reminds me of a boss I had at one time…his words were “you can’t work all day and then party all night. Something always suffers and generally it’s the work”.

True “cutting” of tax money that is already alocated to be spent (not we want to spend 10 mil, but we are cutting back to 5 mil) and raising of the taxes will help the country. After all, we couldn’t cut enough to balance the budget.
One thing I might point out though…When I was 18, it was all over the news..SS was going bankrupt. To me, it seems like an excuse to rise taxes…(although I do know the faults of the SS system.)

But back to the origianal topic… (I guess) I shouldn’t complain…As of January ’04 MN ranks
28th at 40.4 cents
WI
5th at 49. cents per gallon

They may fish with three lines…but they pay for it driving to the lake!

I just filled up tonight. It was $1.89 here. It has been going down pretty steady here. I hear what you are saying. I’m buying a truck tomorrow. I should have bought a GEO or something….I will assume prices will sky rocket with word of OPEC limiting production.

The gas prices in MN may catch up to WI. I just heard MN is concidering another 10 cent a gallon tax.

Our whole governing system needs an overhaul…..

3rd party spending. Until that gets properly understood and the ownership to it adopted, higher taxes will only result in more disappointing allocations. We’re already working (into) 7 months a year for the government and living off of the other 5 we earn. No wonder we all need so much credit! And it’s snowballing so less spending and lower taxes are truthfully needed for the health of the nation.

As for the deficit….. there is also much to attribute to the nations upon nations that haven’t ponied up with what they owe us. We are absorbing bad debt and falling victim to the same behavior because of it. Our pockets are often empty!

And things are going to get worse no matter who’s in office. The SS problem is nearing the age of retiring the baby boomers that dominate our population. They will begin receiving funds rather than contributing funds……. and there’s not enough of anything to absorb it’s effects. We’re going to experience some hard years between 2016 and 2034. Once the boomers start retiring in 2010, the surmountable capacity will peak in 2016, and the return of this capacity is not expected to come until 2028 to 2030, then there’s the recovery period. This projection is based on the average life span being around 72 or 75, yet the medical industry predicts by then that the average lifespan will be brushing 80 years old. If this is true, it will lengthen the depression.

The anwers to this bad news aren’t in the hands of our governing officials and should therefore NOT be left in their hands. We need to have the ability to store up and care for ourselves. Without lowering the overall tax burden, this won’t happen. And yes, this will be the straw that breaks the American middle class. We will become a 2 class society of being either poor, or very rich. Very little ground will exist inbetween.

All economies cycle and even the safety nets of Wall Street won’t be able to absorb this coming circumstance. Preparation on our own part is the best thing we can do. As for the government………. the people need to start calling for an overhaul. There’s a better way, not far removed from what’s already in place, without becoming a socialist society.

Freedom is what made this nation great and if we increase government responsibility and duty, we diminish the very resource most responible for all of our “good ol’ days”……… freedom.

The greater the government, the lesser the freedom. Look at any nation, government, empire, kingdom…….. every last one of them defines history with the exact same trend. The bigger the government, the “smaller” the nation.

A lot of us are facing great sacrifice in getting this nation back to what it is/was supposed to be, but I don’t see a society that caters to sacrifice. It’s a consumerism and we all want the good stuff! “Cuz we deserve it!” Every road has an end and too many things have been passed off to be handled by the next generation of peoples. We need a change and it’s not Republican or Democrat……… it’s in the people.

$1.52………..I could get used to that. $1.89 and dropping hopefully for this cat.

For those prices I would fill up and then squirt some on the ground cause it is so cheap.

yeah, i put 400 miles on the ol truck this weekend and had to fill up 2 times. it is still good to come home on monday and still see it down that low. i fugured that the $1.50 range was gone for good.

shane

$1.84 at a gas station in EauClaire today. I spose its just a little Christmas present from OPEC?

Don’t go enjoying it, cause you know darn well when x-mas weekend comes they will jack it right back up.