The media drives me batty... Look here: The Kerry campaign contended in a statement that Bush “stubbornly refuses to offer help” even as higher gasoline prices, which have risen to more than $2 per gallon, will cost the average Oregon family an extra $1,006 a year and squeeze family budgets already hurt by a weak job market and higher costs for college. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5004685/ Now, taken literally, this assertion would make Kerry appear to be an idiot. Unless the "average" Oregon family is using nearly 5 gallons of gas a day, every day, it would be pretty hard to see how this figure could be reach. (I based this figure on a 65 cent rise in gas prices from December 03.) I mean, this suggests thatthe average person was using 35 gallons of gas a week every week for an entire year if you assume a 65 cent price hike. But the article is misleading. Clearly, Kerry was also intending to include the costs of increase medical coverage along with gas prices. Now, I don't support Kerry. But I hate the fact that the media does this crap all the time with both Bush and Kerry. They never report the entire story...they only report part of the picture, which allows others to be mislead. Am I being too anal about this, or do others see the same stuff?
I'm sure the Kerry camp is being pretty loose with what consistutes an average family, but if we're talking about a four-person family in which every family member drives (to work, to school, to the store, etc.), the the numbers add up. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that such a family uses that much gas. That would be roughly a gallon a day, per person. $0.65/gallon X 4 people = $2.60 x 365 days = $949 My issue would be the assumption that the average family includes four active drivers.
When gasoline prices go up and stay up, the cost of almost everything else goes up as well. Transportation costs for food and manufactured goods get passed on to the consumer. So maybe those costs are included in the figures that Kerry used. What the article doesn't say is that maybe if Oregon didn't have that stupid law against self-service pumps maybe gas wouldn't cost so damn much. (or maybe it does - I didn't read the whole thing.)
No, it suggest that the average family uses 35 gallons of gas a week. Which is about what my family uses.
Maybe not. Self sevice gas is illegal in NJ and gas prices are usually about $0.15 per gallon less than in New York State
Yeah, that surprised me a bit. I remember driving up I-5 from San Francisco to Portland - I pulled up to a gas station on the Oregon side of the state border and was about to complain about the self-service ban, until I saw that the prices were significantly cheaper than California gas stations.
If the trend I've seen in California holds true in other states, gas prices tend to be lower in suburban areas and smaller cities than in highly urbanized areas or rural areas.
Actually, even if you compare the gas stations in Jersey City at the entrance to the Holland Tunnel to stations in the middle of Long Island, NJ still comes away over 10¢/gal cheaper.
I'm not surprised by the number, but it does show the incredible waste in this country. Hasn't anyone heard of a bus or a train? Seriously though, our public transport sucks in many mid-sized cities, and urban sprawl has people driving 30-40 miles to get to work (in big mutha SUVs). I am sure that if you look at our usage compared to other wealthy nations, we are probably way, way above everyone else. As usual, Kerry -- like all politicians -- focus on "why it costs too much" instead of the real problem/question "why do we use so much?" Particularly with our problems in the middle east, you would think weening ourselves off of gas would be a higher priority for both political and economic reasons.
I'm just curious. If the media reported what Kerry said (which I assume they did because they put it in quotes), then how exactly did they twist his words?
USA thinks the $1,006 Kerry is talking about combined gas and medical coverage expenses and that the media was making it seem as if the $1,006 is only for gas.
I'm not sure how he came to that conclusion. They seemed like two separate points in the article to me.
In his 3rd paragraph of his first post. USAsoccer: But the article is misleading. Clearly, Kerry was also intending to include the costs of increase medical coverage along with gas prices. Same here.
Bush really did fudge with the definition of average a year or so ago, claiming the average family would save a grand because of his tax giveaway to Halliburton. Figures that Kerry's now being attacked for using the definition correctly.
The 35gallon/week could easily be realistic, some states typically have longer commutes than others, I have a LONG commute for around where I live, all of 32 miles 1 way. Between work and "other" typical driving to get kids where they need to be etc. I run over a tank of gas a week, that comes to probably 20-25 gallons a week for my car. My wife drives all of 3 miles to work, so her gas use is much lower. If she had a 15 mile commute she would easily take up the rest of our families 35 gallons. Some states in the mid-west, I believe, have longer average commutes. I can't stand Kerry, or the spin the media puts on things more often than not (depending on the paper actually), but 35 gallons * $0.65 * 52 = $1128.40