L.A. Land photo of the day: $4.59 and rising

The back story on this one is that I drive by this gas station in Santa Monica a couple of times a week, and when I drove past on April 25, and regular was $4.09, I thought that was so high that I took a picture and posted it.

Then last week, on May 30, I drove by and it was $4.39, and I thought, wow, that's a quick pop, so I posted that.

You can see what it is this morning: $4.59.

Relatedly: A great site for monitoring L.A. gas prices is, you guessed it, losangelesgasprices.com, which reports today that regular gas ranges from $4.08 to $4.72 per gallon in L.A., with an average price of $4.36.

Your thoughts? Comments? Post your photos of expensive gas, or cheap gas, on the Pain at the Pump album on Your Scene at latimes.com.

Photo: L.A. Land

Comments

[JML]

Interesting...the Mobil near my house also jumped 20 cents over the last week.

[buz]

These gas prices are not a reflection of supply and demand or impending "peak oil" availability. Paulson and Bernake have chosen to save the Wall Street big shots who have taken it in the shorts on their ridiculous housing/mortgage scheme. The inflation, devalued dollar and oil price spike is a direct result. And the commodity trader snakes, no doubt using "fed funds" provided by Bernake, have used their hedge/leverage abilities to carve out a pound of flesh by driving up the oil market. Kind of like rescuing a crook who thanks you by stealing your wallet.

[desmo]

Post your photos of expensive gas, or cheap gas, on the Pain at the Pump album on Your Scene at LATimes.com.?

Why bother, tommorows cheap gas picture will be todays expensive price picture.

[mbob]

Nowhere expensive enough. Every night now that I'm on a new show that runs on 18 hour days I almost get run off the road. This am's episode at 2:45 am was a semi driver who thought my 55 mph in the far right lane was unacceptable. They turned off their lights and got right on my rear bumper. Then laid on the horn. Yeah, you bet I moved into the center lane. Then they swerved a little toward me just to let me know how easy it would be to kill me. OK, I'm scared now.

Let diesel go to ten bux and beyond.

Oh, and let's get some enforcement on meth use by long haulers. Why no random testing? They're at the helm of rolling bombs.

[yours truly, Johnny Dollar]

Wednesday: $4.83 point 9 at the Union 76 station
at Pico and Barrington; Friday: I'll go through that
intersection at 0930 and see what price is posted
for this week-end's Sunday drivers.
And "mbob," their diesel posted price Wednesday:
$5.59 point 9; that may take some of negative
18-wheeler experience away from you.
Saving my quarters to keep the tires on my
bicycle inflatted...or is it flated?

[Laker]

April 25, $4.09,
May 30, $4.39,
June 6,: $4.59.

Peter based on the theory of shockg, we have reached bottom..i mean top...
1st week it was up by 30 cents, the next week up by 20 cents...we are stabilizing....
Guys need to understand that gas prices lag oil prices by a month or so. So we are just seeing the side effects of oil going up to $135. Now oil is about $122 so, there should be some "relief" soon. We are going to get cheap gas soon - something in the range of $3.99-4.09
yeah!

[A Scanner Darkly]

Let gas get so expensive that the communists will have to make it free. This will effectively eliminate the current chokehold they have on the economy. If the socialists were in power gas would be $2 a gallon.

[Last Laugh]

I used to live on Pico and 4th and that Exxon was the cheapest in that area (3 years ago). Is that Exxon actually more expensive than the Chevron across the street?

[Last Laugh]

Oops haha. Ignore my post. I just realized thats the Mobil on Lincoln. Yeah...that station always had outrageous prices.

[anonymous]

Can someone please explain what this has to do with LA Land?

[yours truly, Johnny Dollar]

anonymous, please refer to WSJ page D2 06-04-08.
'nuf said.

[dontmatta]

We borrow millions per day to fund the war.
This causes the dollar to shrink in value.
Now it takes more dollars to buy a barrel of gas.

[richard venti]

i'm no economist or anything, but if gas prices stayed this high, wouldn't it drive up the cost of housing in L.A., as people will want to live close to town and avoid long commutes ?

It will be interesting to watch the Inland Empire collapse into one giant ghost town ghetto...oh wait, it already is. Nevermind.

[Michael Snyder]

A Scanner Darkly
Dude, get your nose out of the can. It's clear the fumes are rotting your brain. Anybody who thinks higher fuel prices are a solution to anything other than GWB's retirement fund are patently clueless. By the time the bozos driving the boat figure out we're in a recession they will have speculated us right into a depression. You & mbob clearly think goods arrive at your local store by some conveyance who's cost has nothing to do with fuel. The fertilizer used to grow your food comes from oil as does the diesel in the tractor. So when diesel is at $10 a gallon mbob can feel secure on the freeway at night while he's going for that $8 loaf of bread.
anonymous,
That you would even post such a question at this juncture is amazing. Once again as Ann says, do the math. Now, what did the 17% or so increase in the cost of food & fuel over the last year do to the average person's ability to qualify for a loan? What about the comps on property in the Inland Empire? Have you checked the rates on credit card defaults lately? Bet you can find plenty of parking at the mall too. I trace all of that, including the bursting of the subprime bubble straight back to the cost of fuel.

[George]

Michael

Maybe bread shouldn't cost $2/loaf. Maybe we are reaching the point where disposable income won't be biggest percentage of our paychecks. And don't say that SUV payments, gasoline, cable, and restaurants aren't disposable income expenditures. Look at the rest of the world. How many people per capita (global) have cars? McMansions? Plasma TV's? We can afford all of these because the basic survival expenses are dirt cheap. Especially food. We have taken that for granted for a LONG time. Maybe it's time that we can't afford the ski vacation because bread costs us closer to what the rest of the world pays for it, related to daily work.

We are SPOILED. $8/loaf of bread is still very very cheap comparatively.

[Concerned]

Wake me up, I think I'm having a nightmare and gas is over $4 a gallon! Oh, wait, I'm not asleep. Gas is over $4 a gallon and I'm driving an old monster 8-cyclinder sedan! Well, let's look on the bright side....I heard that in the UK they pay somewhere between $9-$12 a gallon (converting pounds to dollars). Now that's a nightmare too!

[MG]

I drive interstate - NM, TX, AZ, CA every 5 weeks - principally the 10 freeway.

I sincerely doubt mbob's recital. Truckers always, and I mean *always* simply change lanes when they see a slow driver in the far right lane. Heck, *everybody* drives around slow drivers. They have a timetable for deliveries and just do not have the time to teach anyone a lesson, much less slow down and (come on!) "get right on my bumper." I doubt that they have a fine measure of control over their vehicles to perform such a feat without causing an accident.

[yours truly, Johnny Dollar]

Intel from behind enemy lines....
Dateline: Union 76 station at Barrington and Pico
Headline: "Prices holding steady"
Copy: For a third straight day,
87 octane posted $4.83 point 9;
and for "mbob" out there somewhere:
diesel remains $5.59 point 9.
from "the spy who going back out into the cold"

[Michael Snyder]

George,
It's nice to see you're still living in Utopia. As the costs of everyday living increase, you may take a self righteous delight in the perceived pain of all of those SUV driving flippers now upside down. In the process you're ignoring a basic fact: Those on the margins are effected first and they tend to suffer the most. That means for every SUV forced off the road by the increased costs of food and fuel there is a proportionate number of lower income families going hungry or being forced onto the streets . For every home in foreclosure there's a family who's lives are going to be effected. Finances are but a slice of the home ownership pie and many will tell you they made the leap for things like a better school district and a yard for their children.
As consumers are squeezed by the costs of food & fuel employers cut almost 50,000 jobs last month increasing the downward spiral. Some tend to ignore these statistics as somehow being beneath them, but it is only a matter of time before economic tide reaches their door(s) as well.
Money in the tank is money not spent in restaurants, malls or even on dental care. There is a little known publication penned by Fredric Bastiat titled, "That Which is Seen and That Which is Unseen" I'd recommend to anyone who thinks increasing the price of anything to manipulate market behaviors is a good idea.

[the problemwithcaring]

We are SPOILED.

Posted by: George

I have to agree with other posters, George and say - Speak for your rich and entitled self. Many and most of my family and friends live well within their means, pay their taxes and tithes, donate to charities and volunteer in the schools, hospitals and churches in the communities they live.

Is it too much to ask for fiscal responsibility from their governments, so that promises made can be promised kept?

[George]

Michael -

The Utopia I am looking for does not support people with average salaries having Ford F-350's raised with polished rims because gas is $1.50/gallon. What it does include is living more modestly: look at Europe. Their gas is triple the price of ours. There have been no mass famines because of it. Instead, there are less 2500 sq ft homes and zero of the raised F-350 trucks we see out here. So... I'm not in any utopia yet, but smaller cars, people living more modestly, and tighter communities is one I am hoping for in the future.... (I say tighter communities because we will actually walk around to the local store to buy things because a drive to Costco costs too much.)

problemwithcaring- I am neither rich nor entitled, but thanks for just deciding that for yourself. I am confused as to what you think the government promised you? Cheap gas? Bush is an oil-man. All of his buddies are making more money than any corporation has ever made in history. The best way to avert that is avoid buying it. Walk to the store. Ride a bike. Take the metro. Let them price theirselves out of business. By the way that our infrastructure is set up, the oil companies have us by the balls. If we want to break that, we have to make our own rules and get ourselves off oil.

What I said above is that we as a country have A LOT. I have friends in Europe who consider my modest apt. living in Burbank to be extravegent. They don't have a car. Average flat is 800 sq. ft. One is a successful architect with that living set-up. The ones that do have cars have tiny cars. But they mostly walk places.

Point being, all the charity work and wanting a yard and perceived modest living doesn't change the fact that we have had the cheapest gas anywhere in the world for ages. It is evening out right now. Get used to it.

[Michael Snyder]

George,
So; you'll be moving to Europe when?? If you think everybody who drives a pickup truck is using it for a ?? substitute, you clearly think yours is the only lifestyle people lead. I couldn't operate my business or care for my livestock without a truck, but you'd have me trying to move a ton of tools & equipment to a job site via the Metro. Living in cramped quarters has been proven as causal in a variety of social ills but you still think we should pack in more people per sq. ft.
You need to pick up the publication I referred to in my previous post and read it because trust me, when it's too expensive to drive to Costco, mom & pop won't be able to stock that neighborhood market because they won't be able to afford the freight.
Expensive energy will not lead to a green Utopia, but it will lead to starvation, homelessness and civil unrest. Mark my words, it is always those on the margins who suffer the most in an economic downturn. There is a huge population in this area that already feel disenfranchised. Even now your Utopian dream of a green planet brought on by economic pressure is being felt at the dinner table in many households. Ethanol is directly linked to food riots in Egypt, and the Far East. Won't it be wonderful when $6 gas causes a further economic downturn and completely crashes the economy. Just think, as employers continue to cut back those on minimum wage will be on unemployment & welfare, the service sector will continue to contract and the day to day cost of living will continue to rise exponentially. By summer's end it'll take a heatwave and a traffic stop gone wrong for this town to come unglued. By then ranch land in Montana is going to look pretty good; even to a city slicker like you.

[yours truly, Johnny Dollar]

Much reference is made here to the people who have
F-350s and SUVs.
Much reference is made here to the people who just
want to feed their families....of 5 kids (or more) with
the tax-payers' money.
Be responsible; if you have 5 (or more) kids, you get
yourself out of your own previous irresponsibilities.
Dont't look at me to bail you out.

[yours truly, Johnny Dollar]

The struggling "single parents;" you "single parents"
drag that so-called dead beat spouse into court.
You were able to him/her at least once for every child
you have; you just find him one more time.