Petrol price up to a new high ($2.16)

[NinjaNanna]

diesel $1.57 /L today in Auckland

[Dave Lobster]

And I wonder how many of those cars and Suburban Utility Vehicles are heading down the motorway with only the driver on board???

Fucking all of them. It's the kiwi way.

[mashman]

Question: What would happen to NZ if say, oil was two hundy plus a barrel, and petrol was $3.50/l, for 4 months? 6 months? What would you do in response?

hopefully not what a senior economist at the worldwide bank HSBC has warned...

[jafar]

hopefully not what a senior economist at the worldwide bank HSBC has warned...

A definate possibility, wages are low & debts are high. The average person is finding it harder & harder to make ends meet & reaction to this situation may spill over into riots.More likely it will be an increase in petty theft & burglary than actual riots.

[rainman]

hopefully not what a senior economist at the worldwide bank HSBC has warned...

"Even in the developed world I think we have very, very low wage growth, so people aren't getting more in their pay packet to compensate them for food and energy, and I think we could see social unrest certainly in parts of the developed world and the UK as well."

She's spot on about the wage problem - despite having had generally good growth for the last few decades real wages nett of debt and inflation have been static or falling in many of the developed nations. All the wealth has concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. But I don't see us rioting about food, or anything else, tbh. Too weak, too comfortable..

[mashman]

A definate possibility, wages are low & debts are high. The average person is finding it harder & harder to make ends meet & reaction to this situation may spill over into riots.More likely it will be an increase in petty theft & burglary than actual riots.

true... I hope it stays as petty crime , it'll be interesting considering the UK are looking to shed 10's of thousands of Police over ther next few years

[mashman]

"Even in the developed world I think we have very, very low wage growth, so people aren't getting more in their pay packet to compensate them for food and energy, and I think we could see social unrest certainly in parts of the developed world and the UK as well."

She's spot on about the wage problem - despite having had generally good growth for the last few decades real wages nett of debt and inflation have been static or falling in many of the developed nations. All the wealth has concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. But I don't see us rioting about food, or anything else, tbh. Too weak, too comfortable..

Any of us could have told her that 10 or 20 years ago . I hope you're right about the rioting... but as i said above, TPTB in the UK are looking to shed Police numbers... not exactly discouraging.

[jafar]

true... I hope it stays as petty crime , it'll be interesting considering the UK are looking to shed 10's of thousands of Police over ther next few years

There is a policy thats doomed to failure, they will be wanting more cops not less.

[mashman]

There is a policy thats doomed to failure, they will be wanting more cops not less.

, perhaps crime rates have dropped recently

[mattian]

For how long can you store petrol before it goes off? I dont know alot about the subject but, maybe you could buy up a truck-load of fuel, when the price is low of course and store it. just a thought (probably a daft one)

[NinjaNanna]

can anybody say KB co-op

[SPman]

Catching the train for me (after driving to the station) works out to be a very similar cost than driving, and adds an extra hours travel time to my day.

With us, for a 100km each way commute, the train is about the same cost as the car (Getz 1.6) for 1 person and takes about the same time. For MsT, the train is much cheaper (she gets free train travel). The bike costs more , but, is quicker and more fun. Plus for the train - no traffic hassles, read lots of books, play lots of computer games or can zzzz, in/out.

More likely it will be an increase in petty theft & burglary than actual riots.

It usually does....

[Drunken Monkey]

For how long can you store petrol before it goes off? I dont know alot about the subject but, maybe you could buy up a truck-load of fuel, when the price is low of course and store it. just a thought (probably a daft one)

It varies depending on the environment and storage method, but you can start to measure some deterioration after 3 months. Depending on what's using it, it may make no difference (I've run old mowers on 12+ month old petrol no worries).

There are fuel stabilizers around, you can check the survivalist forums for more info. They push the usability out to about 2 years. However, check the cost, IIRC the stuff isn't cheap at all, unless there's a massive change in fuel price and you've bought a stink load of it, you're still worse off. It's more for storing fuel in a 'need to have' situation.

[AllanB]

I celebrated today by smoking up the rear end of the XR6 in a very well executed broadie.

My policy regarding fuel now is:

If they are charging me that much for it I am bloody well going to enjoy burning it.

[Splineman]

Big bike 6L/100km, Little bike 3L/100km, switch big to little same k's and same cost.
Of course have to learn to enjoy squeezing it's little neck.

Price of fuel is only going 1 way in the medium term. We either pay or we don't...our free choice really.

AA's opinion: learn to do without:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/transport/...ectid=10710594



Of course, some of us smartarses have been saying for some time that this is going to happen. Last time the oil price rushed up the economy was booming. This time, not so much. Might hurt a bit more. Perhaps we will listen then, but maybe not.



And, yes, kinda. Actually, I ride motorcycle or drive insanely small car, don't care directly. But it's the second-order effects that will do us: fuel price increase=food price increase, for the most visible.

Question: What would happen to NZ if say, oil was two hundy plus a barrel, and petrol was $3.50/l, for 4 months? 6 months? What would you do in response?