This one is for all the @redstateinsurgents@a.gup.pe

  • @unrelatedkeg
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    92 months ago

    Sorry to hijack your comment, but seeing that “my grandchildren are in my daughters’ ovaries post” right above this one and your comment made me wonder:

    Why is gas so damn cheap in the US while saying “healthcare is expensive” is a giant understatement.

    Compared with Europe, where gas prices are regulated (and gas stations still seem to be doing just fine to the point that new ones keep popping up around where I live at an astounding rate) while it’s the healthcare that is subsidised and made availiable to all.

    How come? Why aren’t gas companies in the US be as greedy as hospitals and pharma there? Why aren’t European gas stations few and far between, continuing to barely hold on, fail and ultimately closeleaving Europe gasless?

    • @Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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      62 months ago

      In the EU, fuel is heavily taxed and most people drive smaller fuel efficient automobiles. The fuel prices in Europe never bothered me, but I start laughing at the Americans who complain about $4.00 a gallon and drive gas guzzlers carrying fucking air.

    • @captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      32 months ago

      As an American: because gas has to compete. You can’t ask to go to the cheap hospital, they don’t even usually tell you the price before administering medicine. So hospitals charge what they’d like and that’s that. Gas prices are highly competitive and we’re one of the world’s primary oil producers and refiners. Additionally the Biden administration has been using our strategic oil reserves to stabilize gas prices.

    • @InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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      22 months ago

      They are greedy, but oil isn’t really found in Europe proper so they have to get it from other countries, which means transport, tariffs, losing money to that country via trade deficit, etc.

    • @Maeve@midwest.social
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      -12 months ago

      They are greedy

      U.S. fossil fuel subsidies stretch across the U.S. tax code, which makes detailing their costs complex. The IMF estimates they stood at $760 billion in 2022, a figure topped only by China.

      However, that quote isn’t entirely fair to China.

      Also it’s Reuters, so kilo of salt.