[Ornamiviant]

Voting in Iraq going great & now this.. Bush is getting his act together & the country is coming along right behind him.. Starting to look very good for the Repo's in 06..

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer
50 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A record plunge in the cost of gasoline pushed consumer prices down by the largest amount in 56 years in November while industrial production posted a solid gain.

The new government reports Thursday provided further evidence that the economy is shaking off the blows delivered by a string of devastating hurricanes.

The Labor Department reported that its closely watched Consumer Price Index dropped by 0.6 percent last month, the biggest decline since a 0.9 percent fall in July 1949. It reflected a record fall in gasoline prices, which have been retreating since they surged to above $3 per gallon right after Katrina hit.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve said output at the nation's factories, mines and utilities rose a solid 0.7 percent last month following a 1.3 percent rise in October. Industrial output had plunged by 1.6 percent in September, reflecting widespread shutdowns of oil refineries, chemical plants and other factories along the Gulf Coast.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051215/...xBHNlYwN0bQ---

[Czrzftmz]

I guess the sky is not falling after all...

[huylibizonoff]

Didn't the record fall in gas prices come shortly after a record rise?

[Czrzftmz]

Quote:

[ZonaPutaX]

yeah but bill o said we were gonna have a recession.. so guess he lied.. dangit.. i was so lookin forward to all the liberals and dems moaning their fate..

[Ornamiviant]

Dip are the gas prices coming down in Brit land?

[Czrzftmz]

Quote:

[huylibizonoff]

Wunch: No.

DB: We have the finest hot air in the world, and it certainly isn't cheap. We have Blair hot air, Cameron hot air, and even Kennedy hot air - take your pick, it has different flavours but the same high price.

[Ornamiviant]

Quote Dip.. Wunch: No.
>>>>>>>
I wonder why? Could it be that your gas prices didn't go up as much as ours did? I know we had the big blows that effected ours some what but I thought a lot of it had to do with world demand for oil..

[huylibizonoff]

Gas costs far more in the UK than in the US (and just about anywhere else). This is more due to the absurd level of taxation in the UK than fluctuations in price or global demand.

[Ornamiviant]

Yeah I know about the taxes on gas Dip but they have nothing to do with the actual price of gas you pay at the pump unless the taxes change. Our taxes on gas didn't go up but the price we paid per gal sure did. I guess your's pretty well stayed the same..

[huylibizonoff]

Ours went up with the last budget. The level of taxation is so high that the original price has got lost somewhere. We now buy fuel by the litre - if we started thinking in gallons then we'd never fill up.

[Czrzftmz]

Quote:

[HootSnori]

Let me demonstrate both my ignorance and laziness--

How much oil is produced in the North Sea and any other places around Brit-land? Do you have any substiantial refining capacity? I'd think that the over-water tanker "pipeline" from the Middle East is substiantially shorter to YOU than it is to the US, and the economies of shorter transport should mean that getting a barrel of crude to your refineries would be cheaper than to ours.

Do you have a break-down of the taxes on your motor fuel [national/territorial/municipal]? On what is that money spent? Or does it simply go in to a General Fund?

Is heating oil also highly taxed?

Farm equipment fuel?

Other petroleum products?

I've always wondered about the high cost of your gasoline... and why/how it got that way.

Americans think a 200-year-old building is positively ancient... Brits think a 500-mile trip is a long way!

[huylibizonoff]

Heh heh - my parents' house is almost 200 years old, and it was built by President Woodrow Wilson's grandfather. A quality building, still very solid.

Yes, we have substantial refining plants.

I *think* the tax revenue just goes to a general fund, not to anything specific.

The high taxation got that way because of a tax escalator system that they forgot to turn off, as a result of green policies. It was put in place by the old Conservative gov't and continued by the Labour gov't.

Farm eqpt fuel is taxed much lower, hence the dye added to it - you don't want to be caught with that in your tank if you drive a diesel car.

I'm not sure about heating oil, and you're just as capable as me of finding out! Most domestic heating is gas-fired.

I don't know about other Brits, but I think a 500-mile trip is boring! I've done enough travel around Europe not to be too phased by long trips.