We're paying $2.05 a gallon, the Iraqis are paying only .05!
 

Iraqis Paying 5 Cents a Gallon for Gas

By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - While Americans are shelling out record prices for fuel, Iraqis pay only about 5 cents a gallon for gasoline ? a benefit of hundreds of millions of dollars subsidies bankrolled by American taxpayers.

Before the war, forecasters predicted that by invading Iraq and ousting Saddam Hussein, America would benefit from increased exports of oil from Iraq, which has the world's second largest petroleum reserves.

That would mean cheap gas for American motorists and a boost for the oil-dependent American economy.

More than a year after the invasion, that logic has been flipped on its head. Now the average price for gasoline in the United States is running $2.05 a gallon ? 50 cents more than the pre-invasion price.

Instead, the only people getting cheap gas as a result of the invasion are the Iraqis.

Filling a 22-gallon tank in Baghdad with low-grade fuel costs just $1.10, plus a 50-cent tip for the attendant. A tankful of high-test costs $2.75.

In Britain, by contrast, gasoline prices hit $5.79 per gallon last week ? $127 for a tankful.

Although Iraq is a major petroleum producer, the country has little capacity to refine its own gasoline. So the U.S. government pays about $1.50 a gallon to buy fuel in neighboring countries and deliver it to Iraqi stations. A three-month supply costs American taxpayers more than $500 million, not including the cost of military escorts to fend off attacks by Iraqi insurgents.

The arrangement keeps a fleet of 4,200 tank trucks constantly on the move, ferrying fuel to Iraq.

Iraq's fuel subsidies, which are intended to mollify drivers used to low-priced fuel under Saddam, have coupled with the opening of the borders to create an anarchic car culture in Baghdad.

Iraq has no sales tax, no registration, no license plates and no auto insurance. Some would argue there are no rules of the road. Cars barrel the wrong way on the highway. They swoop into surprise U-turns. They ignore traffic signals.

Analysts say the U.S. gas subsidies can't last forever ? and Iraqis may be in for an unpleasant shock when they end. In the meantime, however, the American taxpayer continues to foot a huge bill.

"The U.S. taxpayer has a right to be indignant, and Iraqis have to be warned about the long-run damages of this," said Anthony Cordesman, an Iraq analyst with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The minute the aid goes out, the party is over. And there's going to be a hell of a hangover."

[...]

I wish I was paying $2.05

I saw that a few days ago. pretty fuckd up htat we're paying directly for the gas they pay 5 cents for

Im stuck with $2.30 and up for a gallon of gas...

I remember back in the day when gas was $1.09

wasn't even too long ago

They don't have any roads, cars, or cities to drive them to, so it all works out in the end.

they take a shower in gas :1orglaugh

Don't you think that it would cost more to drink a budweiser across the world than it would cost to buy it from a grocery store here in america? if they produce it there, then it's cheaper there. ..

Plus they don't just pump the oil out of the ground and put it in your car to make gasoline. They have to REFINE that shit and since America doesn't have enough of it's own refineries, we gotta pay somebody to do that shit also..

There's a whole lot involved in gas prices besides the cost of a barrel of crude oil.

I moved to Orlando in 1998. I was getting gas at the Racetrack on Vineland near Universal Studios for .69

This was only 6 years ago.

I pay much less than $ 2.05

erehwon:

With fuel at 5 cents and all that stuff above - Iraq is sounding appealing! :winkwink:

On rules of the road - yea, there is not a lot of arguement on that! Even police roads blocks ya just ignore if you can't be bothered stopping. It's only US forces that have a problem with that - kinda what you are used to :-)

I'd think the US will see gas over the next 10 years at lot higher prices than it is today. Gas is still cheap in the US in comparison with all other "western countries", but that is not sustainable.

it will all run out one day.. then back to the horse and buggy where it all began ;)

I feel you on that one! This is friggin crazy!

The thing that really ticks me off, I was for the war if it meant that, yes, we could have gas under a dollar with all the taxes, and that we'd be able to get our asses out of Saudi Arabia, and get on UBL's good side, and what did it all get us?

Gas is at all time highs, militias are still killing off U.S. servicemembers, and private contractors, and Al Qaeda is talking about an offensive for the summer.

That's bullshit, George Bush is thanking his lucky stars that he's got a week of Reagan funeral coverage to deflect any bad news that happens with the G-8 summit and Iraq, because no one will care what happens until they plant the old fart Reagan in his library.

Boohoo, that's so horrible I can't breathe.
I pay roughly ?4.5 per gallon... so fuck you.

man we should invade them for that

Stop fuckin whinging. Do you want to go live in Iraq?

So the US is NOT stealing Iraqi oil?

move if you can't afford the price?

Old.. someone posted this a week ago.

Stop whining already!