You guys should not complain. Here in Brasil we’re paying 24$ a gallon of gas. I drive 40km a day to work, and I’m currently spending the equivalent of a month’s minimum wage in gas.

Many people in the US do not recognize that they have very cheap gas compared to what most of the rest of the world pays.

MtnDon wrote:

Many people in the US do not recognize that they have very cheap gas compared to what most of the rest of the world pays.

I, for one, am very thankful to only be paying around $3 a gallon currently.

Maverick1947 wrote:

You guys should not complain. Here in Brasil we’re paying 24$ a gallon of gas. I drive 40km a day to work, and I’m currently spending the equivalent of a month’s minimum wage in gas.

But you have incredibly hot women so it equals out some.

Maverick1947 wrote:

You guys should not complain. Here in Brasil we’re paying 24$ a gallon of gas. I drive 40km a day to work, and I’m currently spending the equivalent of a month’s minimum wage in gas.

Yes we’ve been running ethanol on our cars since the 80s. Nowadays 99% of new cars are indeed FlexFuel. However we’re not forced to used it. Our ethanol comes from sugar cane, not corn like US’ E85. However it is almost as expensive as gas. At 19$ a gallon, it is not worth it since ethanol is less efficient than gas thus fuel economy is worse when running ethanol. About 20% less MPG.

Muto wrote:

Maverick1947 wrote:

You guys should not complain. Here in Brasil we’re paying 24$ a gallon of gas. I drive 40km a day to work, and I’m currently spending the equivalent of a month’s minimum wage in gas.

But you have incredibly hot women so it equals out some.

Are those $USDollars being quoted or Brazilian Real which I think uses the R$ symbol?

Prices were in R$, at least regarding to this: https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/Brazil/gasoline_prices/

If that site is accurate, it’s around 50% of our price.
It would then be “in-line” with the minimum salary/gas consumption quote also of I’m correct.

CheapThrills wrote:

Prices were in R$, at least regarding to this: https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/Brazil/gasoline_prices/

If that site is accurate…

Depends on the state/neighborhood (where I live is around 6.20BRL/liter, with sketchy gas stations going as low as 5.99BRL), but seems pretty accurate.

That's about the average for gas in California (converted to USD.)

MaverickMCS wrote:

CheapThrills wrote:

Prices were in R$, at least regarding to this: https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/Brazil/gasoline_prices/

If that site is accurate…

Depends on the state/neighborhood (where I live is around 6.20BRL/liter, with sketchy gas stations going as low as 5.99BRL), but seems pretty accurate.

Naturally.

Highest I’ve ever seen a while ago was 8.77$/Gal.

MtnDon wrote:

Are those $USDollars being quoted or Brazilian Real which I think uses the R$ symbol?

If that is correct then you can do the math. To fill up my car, I spend around 400 BRL. I use 3 full tanks of gas a month. That means I spend what someone working minimum wage would earn in a month.

If I was living in the US, earning the same amount of money, but in USD, I would spend, proportionately, a lot less than a whole months minimum wage salary.

Take a car for example. A Corolla costs around 20k in the US. Here in Brazil is 120k. Sure, if you convert is pretty much the same… 6 BRL = 1 USD.
BUT
Just for the sake of easy math, let’s say the minimum wage in the US is 1000 USD/month and in Brazil is 1000 BRL/month.
See where I’m going with this?
It would take 20 months of work in the US to buy a Corolla. Here you would have to work 120 months to buy the exact same car.
So yeah, a gallon of gas costs 24 “monies” to us. The same way that a Corolla is considered a luxury car here. Because it is a 120k$ car here. An iPhone cost 10k$. A macbook air costs 7k$. WELCOME TO BRAZIL MY GOOD FRIENDS

I’m one of those “weird” Americans that gets it. Fuel prices go up to what we call high (about US$5/gal) and people act like I’m stupid because I won’t wait in line for an hour or more to save US$0.13/gal.

My old Honda holds like 15 gal. That’s less than US$2 saved for a whole tank! If I wanted to be bored outta my mind for an hour, I could stay late at work and make more than $2!

I make crap money, by US standards, just 12.50 (+ 1.25 because I ruin my own life to work 12hr nights… It’s a hospital someone has to) But even after taxes that’s like 3gal/hr at the current price here of about US$3/gal! Or, about 5hr/full tank. It’s a non-issue, really.

I spend way more on food, but I’m not about to complain about that either! Farmers are the foundation of society, and they can too often barely make enough to just keep their farms running.

When it comes to the price of things, I only complain about how little my life is apparently worth. NOT what other people’s are. But realistically, I have it pretty darn good.

Inflation happens all over though. Inflation is higher in Brasil than in the US, I believe.

Economics and price comparing can be complicated. Just to stick with gasoline, one of the big differences from one country to another is because of different taxation.

Cost of living comparison pages show the US is more costly than many other countries for a wide variety of items and services. And then there can be some cities or areas where certain things cost much more than another location not all that far away.

We, in the US, still have cheap motor fuel and I sorta laugh when the news media spends time lamenting the price of gasoline at the pump.

Maverick1947 wrote:

MtnDon wrote:

Are those $USDollars being quoted or Brazilian Real which I think uses the R$ symbol?

Nope! You see, when talking about prices in this fashion you cannot convert like that. Yes that price I said is in BRL, however 24 BRL to me is exactly the same as 24 USD to you guys. It represent the same amount. Let’s say the minimum wage income in Brazil is around 1200 BRL. I’m pretty sure is pretty on par with what you guys in the US receive as well am I correct?

If that is correct then you can do the math. To fill up my car, I spend around 400 BRL. I use 3 full tanks of gas a month. That means I spend what someone working minimum wage would earn in a month.

If I was living in the US, earning the same amount of money, but in USD, I would spend, proportionately, a lot less than a whole months minimum wage salary.

Take a car for example. A Corolla costs around 20k in the US. Here in Brazil is 120k. Sure, if you convert is pretty much the same… 6 BRL = 1 USD.
BUT
Just for the sake of easy math, let’s say the minimum wage in the US is 1000 USD/month and in Brazil is 1000 BRL/month.
See where I’m going with this?
It would take 20 months of work in the US to buy a Corolla. Here you would have to work 120 months to buy the exact same car.
So yeah, a gallon of gas costs 24 “monies” to us. The same way that a Corolla is considered a luxury car here. Because it is a 120k$ car here. An iPhone cost 10k$. A macbook air costs 7k$. WELCOME TO BRAZIL MY GOOD FRIENDS

For quick comparisons, check this :

https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/articles/85/

My price ~2.0%, Maverick’s price ~6+%

Good chart!
At least you nor I nor Maverick are in Malawi (115.9%)

The other chart on that page is also interesting… (based on filling a tank and a persons expected monthly income)

“Gasoline consumption as percent of income”

That really was interesting, hard to guess the correct answers….

I remember in 2009 when the US economy took a huge steaming dump and all the folks who were enjoying $2.50 gas driving big pickups and SUVs were panicking and (at least the ones I talked to) spening $160 in gas a week. That’s when Priuses and other hybrids started sprouting up overnight. I felt it too, $3.98 for cheap gas and I averaged 20 mpg.

Gas has gone down some to $3.50 for cheap gas, but still $4 for Shell or Chevron. Not complaining though when some folks across the pond are paying almost twice that much per gallon. The environmentalists don’t seem to be happy raising gas taxes to $0.12 a gallon on top of all the carbon-use and state taxes we pay on the Left coast. It won’t be long until we’re forced into buying electric cars because gas will be $9 a gallon. I’m not opposed to electric cars at all, but now they’re a novelty item until I can find one that will go 450 miles, cost $15,000, and can be refueled in 3 minutes.

Gas in San Francisco, California, has been at or above the $5.00/gal mark for months now. There are a number of reasons for that, not the least the fact that station owners can sell their land for multi-millions of dollars.

We usually go 1 to 2 weeks between fill-ups (depending on if my kids drive my car) so at my age I try not to let gas prices bother me.