But really, I'd rather not. There's a nice Fuel and Diesel/Petrol prices Table for European Countries in, um, that hyperlink right there, listing 'em as of March 2004. The Netherlands was at the very top, at 79.9. You can hit the link and see the lowest for yourself; doubt you'd believe me if I told you. 60s and 70s in quite a few countries, then at the bottom of the list, by way of comparison, they quote one from the U.S. From California, which if dim memory serves me a'right, tends to run higher than most places here.
23.9 pence/litre.
Or, less than half what it runs in Po-- the one EU country with the lowest cost.
If I was actually serious about comparing these, I'd look for more recent numbers, and convert into measurements and dollar amounts that people in the US can wrap their heads around.
Of course, I'm not serious, any more than when anyone else calmly mentions that, actually, taxes here are not that high in comparison to the rest of the industrialized world.
There seems to be an aversion to those sorts of comparisons, possibly because we always come out looking bad when it comes to health care, or prison population, or infant mortality, or basic reading skills.
But, y'know, low gas prices. And low taxes. And a fractionally tiny amount spent on foreign aid.
Mind you, if you ask someone who's planning to vote for Bush about this, they'll tell you the exact opposite. And refuse to believe anything else, no matter how many statistics you toss at them.
And that's what makes them Bush voters. Simple faith, and an utter inability to process objective reality.
Even better, since the Republicans have worked long and hard at convincing people that their taxes are too high and we send zillions of dollars overseas in aid, it's impossible to have a rational discussion about either taxes or foreign aid.
Unless, unlike me, you have the patience to bring the person you're having the discussion with to a point where they actually have something intelligent to contribute. I should work on that.
I did that conversion with my ex once while we were travelling in England. He did the math on the displayed prices and said, that's not bad compared to what we pay in the US at all.
Then I explained to him the price was per liter.
Oh. That's different, then.
Toronto (this evening): 74.9 cents per litre. Don't know the exact conversion, and I'm too tired to do it right now.
What I do know is that a year ago this week I paid 1.40 a gallon for gas as compared to 1.89 for at the same station this afternoon.
GasBuddy.com has links to sibling sites all across the continent that tracks the lowest prices in a given area -- here, it's AtlantaGasPrices.com, I sent a link to my dad for GaryGasPrices.com. I'm sure the one for you, Aaron, is ChicagoGasPrices.com.
The heck with the pontificating, just give me a cheap price for a decent gallon of gas.
Ginger, I'm ashamed to admit I did the same (wrong) quick mental calculation first time I went for a drive in Canada. Why are we still using gallons (and inches and pounds) again? Could'a sworn President Carter said we were going to the metric system, like the overwhelming majority of the planet.
Michael, <Obi-Wan Voice>you are paying a cheap price. From a certain point of view.</Obi-Wan Voice>
Indeed. But these are not the droids you are looking for....
Petrol must have been very cheap on Tatooine, if folks can just fly around in their landspeeders shooting womp-rats with their T-16s. Or making little trips out to Toshi Station to "pick up some power converters," if you get my drift.
Ok, now I feel dirty. . .