Remember when the common knowledge was that war was good for the economy?
War is only good if it doesn't destroy many of your investments. When oil goes up in price, or you start losing factories war is bad.
Diesel prices in U.S. top $6 a gallon for first time
131–140 of 194 posts
Re: Diesel prices in U.S. top $6 a gallon for first time
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that is a contributor, but the root cause of the Iran war was Netanyahu goading a simple person into it. The US military and intelligence community knew the risk of this, told everyone not to do it, and they did it anyway. (if one is some combination of unsophisticated, irrational, and vain, and in a position of power, they will eventually be exploited by someone more rational and sophisticated, imho)
I don't even really understand Israel's game plan here. Iran took a lot of damage but now they control the strait, they have a lot of leverage. Hard to know how it's going to shake out, but how is Israel better off now?
They’ve massively expanded into Lebanon and Gaza, settlements are continuing to grow at an alarming pace, the Saudis have little choice but to get massively more involved in fighting Iran and their proxies, A less feckless US campaign could have eliminated or greatly weakened Iran’s nuclear program, Bibi’s mostly consolidated all power in Israel… it hasn’t worked out that poorly for Israel.
Re: Diesel prices in U.S. top $6 a gallon for first time
#133If oil starts ruining the financial picture on top of just the...global welfare of every living human picture, then maybe, just maybe people will actually give up their addiction.
Unfortunately it's not as black and white as that. The alternatives here in the UK are limited. It's basically ICE or electric. We have a staggering number of people that live in apartments so charging is out of the question except at public charging points and the cheapest I've seen is £0.40/kWh. Most of the fast chargers are £0.92/kWh. When I get my home charger fitted I'll be paying 6.9p/kWh between midnight and 6…
Individuals can do some things but not everything. I live in a place without reasonable public transportation but I've replaced 90% or more of my car trips with cycling, including for large grocery runs. I'll acknowledge not everyone is as fit as I am or as willing to put up with bad weather (I ride in snow for months out of the year).
Pivoting agriculture from feed grains supporting the livestock industry to crops that humans directly consume would also improve the fuel consumption picture, but people are reluctant to reduce or eliminate meats from their diets.
Re: Diesel prices in U.S. top $6 a gallon for first time
#134Remember, the grandiose leader said the Iran special military operation will be over after the midterm elections. Unfortunately he meant the 2034 midterms.
Initially he said it would be over after four to five weeks. Back in March. He also said he "will end the endless wars" and stressed there were "no new wars" under his first presidency in the 2024 campaing. And on election night he said "I'm not going to start a war. I'm going to stop wars." A lying politician is nothing new but he's doing it more bigly than most.
> A lying politician is nothing new
I think saying he's lying is too generous. It implies intent. I think he's just not capable of separating truth from fiction anymore.
Re: Diesel prices in U.S. top $6 a gallon for first time
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've just bought my first electric car. It's a 3 year old Skoda Enyaq Sportline Plus. It's lost 60% of its value, has only done 57k miles and has a battery state of health of 97.4%. I paid £22k. I still maintain that new cars, especially new electric cars, are not worth the money but secondhand ones are a bargain now... relatively speaking.
If one cannot afford a new EV, they should buy used. If one would like a new EV and can afford one, they should do so. EVs will not maintain their value because of the rate of technology innovation and deployment rates. The value is in TCO savings from using electricity for fuel over fossil fuels. If one can make due with an ebike instead of an EV, certainly, that is of course an option that should be considered. The…
Problem with buying used is EVs you are limited to what is for sale now. Search EV market share by year in your favorite search engine, then do your own analysis: if you are buying a used car more than 90% of your options are not EV (even if we include PHEV)
If you drive a car then EVs should be your first choice, and they should be worth a premium over other types. However in the end used car buyers are limited to what is for sale now.
Re: Diesel prices in U.S. top $6 a gallon for first time
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
No if you actually do the math it’s not worth it.
In what way is it not worth it? I'm genuinely curious. I used to be dead-set-against electric cars but I just bought one and am loving it. The maths is staggering. It's secondhand though as I don't believe new ones are worth it.
You can't find an equivalent for the same price. OP has an 11 year old car that apparently works fine. To get a EV means he needs to spend thousands (or settle for one that is a lot cheaper for a reason) more. We don't know how much OP drives, but in generally I'd expect several years before the savings from the EV are more than the upfront costs.
Now if OP's car is worn out and needs replacing anyway the economics are different.
Re: Diesel prices in U.S. top $6 a gallon for first time
#137Cheap!! USD6/gallon is about GBP1.17/litre, but actual price in UK is GBP1.97/litre
Cheap! GBP 1.97/liter is NOK 24.76/liter, while actual price in Norway is NOK 26.98/liter on average today (USD 10.98/gallon).
Re: Diesel prices in U.S. top $6 a gallon for first time
#138It seems one way Iran fights the US asymmetrically is by harming the Federal financial picture with endlessly higher rates + borrowing costs. If this keeps happening month-after-month, year-after-year, we're really going to feel the squeeze. Treasury has already tried to reassure markets and failed Add to this other trade war nonsense...
Iran said publicly that driving up costs in the USA to effect the coming elections is their strategy.
Even if they don't say that, it is the obvious thing to do. Elections are coming up in a few months. Already because of midterm elections the democrats were expected to gain seats (this is something you could predict the day after the 2024 elections before Trump took office again). The democrats are not so stupid as to not yell about gasoline prices in their advertisements - this is a big deal to a lot of people. Iran has a lot of power to affect gas prices (something they have long known) and so their best chance to harm Trump is to ensure the democrats win as many seats as possible.
The real question is what happens after the elections. There is a lot happening in Iran and nobody can figure out which factions really are gaining power (we know who is the public voice of power, but not if they have real power)
Re: Diesel prices in U.S. top $6 a gallon for first time
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can't trade in for a used EV that likely wouldn't cost you anything and would save you money?
I just checked 2015 diesel vehicles on my local craigslist (I refuse to use facebook, though I know that is where most cars are these days). A bunch of trucks for $15k-30k, and a few VWs for $15k. So then I search for electric cars from $10k-$15k and found nothing at all! YMMV in your local areas, but you will likely find the same: in the price range of a 11 year old diesel you will find nothing: EVs were still rare…
I did find a few eGolfs and leafs for $5k-8k, but in my experience if a car is that cheap there is a reason for that
The reason is: no one wants them. Three years ago we sold an OG Leaf my spouse’s coworker for $3500. Battery was about 80%, but otherwise the car was flawless. All the buyer needed was an around-town car, and the old Leaf fit the bill. Leafs didn’t go very far on a charge, ergo they won’t have a whole lot of miles in them, and they were otherwise reliable. If it’s all you need, I’d recommend one for cheap.
Re: Diesel prices in U.S. top $6 a gallon for first time
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately it's not as black and white as that. The alternatives here in the UK are limited. It's basically ICE or electric. We have a staggering number of people that live in apartments so charging is out of the question except at public charging points and the cheapest I've seen is £0.40/kWh. Most of the fast chargers are £0.92/kWh. When I get my home charger fitted I'll be paying 6.9p/kWh between midnight and 6…
Individuals can do some things but not everything. I live in a place without reasonable public transportation but I've replaced 90% or more of my car trips with cycling, including for large grocery runs. I'll acknowledge not everyone is as fit as I am or as willing to put up with bad weather (I ride in snow for months out of the year). Pivoting agriculture from feed grains supporting the livestock industry to crops t…
> Pivoting agriculture from feed grains supporting the livestock industry to crops that humans directly consume would also improve the fuel consumption picture, but people are reluctant to reduce or eliminate meats from their diets.
Cattle herds are at 75-90 year lows, and roughly half of US beef consumption is driven by 12% of folks. They'll be fine with alternate protein sources. US cattle trajectories are locked in due to climate change induced supply cost inflation, meat packing consolidation, and cattle ranchers aging out (there are more farmers over 75 than under 35, average age of a cattle rancher is 58).
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/29/nx-s1-5719511/beef-cattle-her...
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/21/nx-s1-5719815/how-rising-beef...
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/20/beef-usd...