What's with prices all of a sudden?

[CHIFF FIPPLE]

At the time of writing, the average price of a gallon of petrol in England is £3.96 - 68% of which is tax.This translates as $7.10 US.
This may explain why,over here,most people believe that the Invasion of Iraq was not about Terrorism but about grabbing control of the Oil supply to keep petrol prices so low in the U.S.A.

Slan,
D.

Is that a US gallon or an imperial Gallon???

Its the high price o petrol that only allows me to drive ta ma work three day a week.
Although its rightenough that I do work from home
Ifin yer have a burner yer owe it to yer self ta use it

[Darwin]

Funny you should mention it, Redwolf. Just this morning I was charged $1.93 for a x-large black coffee at Starbucks. It had been $1.82 like forever.

My granddaughter says that this is due to an increase in the price of milk.

You should complain that your black coffee doesn't contain any milk, so you shouldn't have to pay for it.

[anniemcu]

Has anyone noticed a very sudden, sharp increase in the price of various things within the past couple of weeks? In the past seven days, the price of a gallon of regular gasoline has risen by 30 cents here in the greater Santa Cruz area. Other things have risen more steeply, however...the cost of a meal at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants has nearly doubled in the two weeks since we last ate there, as has the average cost of a meal at a couple of other restaurants (ones we've always patronized because they were fairly reasonable). I was picking up a few groceries today and noticed that I was paying nearly a dollar more for some frozen items I keep on hand than I paid when I bought groceries two weeks ago. I kind of expect a gradual rise in prices, but this all seems to have come down within the past couple of weeks. Is this only happening in Santa Cruz, or have others here noticed it too?

Redwolf

My family has noticed that about three weeks before any large three day holiday here, the prices for anything that is particularly likely to be purchased more during the holiday travel, gas, junk food, and the like, go up markedly...

[Jack]

A week before Halloween, toilet paper, shaving cream, and eggs go on sale.

[sbruyette]

I really don't understand about the the cost of fuel. I have read where the majority of the oil we use here in the U. S. comes from Mexico and Canada. So why do the problems in Iraq have anything to do with the cost of fuel here?

[vomitbunny]

Well, Shell and Exon seem to be making record profits year after year....each year better than the last........

[izzarina]

A week before Halloween, toilet paper, shaving cream, and eggs go on sale.

You're kidding! I never noticed that. So I should get all of mine well before Halloween, huh?

[DCrom]

I really don't understand about the the cost of fuel. I have read where the majority of the oil we use here in the U. S. comes from Mexico and Canada. So why do the problems in Iraq have anything to do with the cost of fuel here?

Oil is fungible.

That is, oil is oil, and where it comes from has little influence on the price - it's a world market. If we won't pay world prices for their oil, they'll sell it elsewhere. Conversely, if they try to charge more than we can get it from elsewhere, we won't buy from them.

Some states (like California) have pretty well guaranteed they'll pay more by mandating special formulas (and gas stations in California can only buy California-formula gas), but crude oil gets sold to the highest bidder.

I don't like paying more for gas at all, but most folks in the US don't realize how lucky we are - most places I've travelled they're paying over twice as much as we are, even now.

[andrew]

Perhaps the increase in the price of groceries in the US is your government's substitute for healthcare, seeing as most of the population tends to be ( grossly ) overweight.

The origin of oil has quite an influence on the price. Saudi and Russian oil (which might have held the price down if the production were increased ) are both high in sulphur. Sweet oil costs about $ 7 a barrel more than these.
One reason for your government's impatience with Iraq was the intention to sell oil in euros, rather than dollars. That made it important to get Hussein out before the change was made.

[DCrom]

Perhaps the increase in the price of groceries in the US is your government's substitute for healthcare, seeing as most of the population itends to be ( grossly ) overweight.

Ayup, you may be right, Andrew.

I'm sure that unhealthy food and high prices are not a problem where you live.

[andrew]

These things are all relative, DCrom.
I eat once a day, or I might become as fat as the average American.
Inhabitants of the UK are tending to overeat.Small town shops are much cheaper than the supermarkets for wholesome food, I find.
Before the problem can be dealt with it is necessary to identify the cause.
I believe it is because two generations of children have grown up watching an overweight population around them eating nonstop. They have grown up thinking that such eating and the fat people they see around them as a consequence are normal.
They just join in naturally, and you can see the result.

[Father Emmet]

One reason for your government's impatience with Iraq was the intention to sell oil in euros, rather than dollars. That made it important to get Hussein out before the change was made.

And before the WMD inspector's report was released.

[Redwolf]

Here's another example for you. I shop for groceries fortnightly, and have for years. I buy pretty much the same things every two weeks. I'm mostly a whole-foods cook, so very little of what I buy is packaged. My usual grocery bill for a two-week period is right around $100. Sometimes it might be as high as $110 (if I have to buy a lot of cleaning products, say), and sometimes it's as low as $90, but $100 is the average. For the past month, however, my grocery bill has been around $160. I haven't bought anything different, but my grocery bill is suddenly half again as high...that's a pretty sharp rise in a pretty short period.

Redwolf