What is Digg?119 Comments
- bumcheekcity, on 06/10/2008, -11/+45Dear My Bike, the Train, and the Bus
I love you. I especially love the fact that I work ten minutes cycle ride from where I live, meaning that the increase in gas price from 80p to £1.25 in the UK has been amusing rather than life-threatening. I especially love the way that people say that the trains and buses are more expensive than having a car, when they completely ignore the depreciation of the car, cost of insurance and wear and tear on the cars expense, like specifically my neighbours, who just bought a £15,000 Ford Mondeo which will be worth £8,000 in three years time, and they're only going to London and back five times a week.
Anyway, just thought I'd let you know my feelings.
Yours,
bumcheekcity
P.S. Dear America, Buy smaller cars. Dont give me that look, I've been to LA, and I know full well that your definition of "small" is my definition of "quite large". An SUV is not small just because your neighbour owns a bigger one. A Ford Fiesta is small, a little Mazda city car is small, and at 60mpg, very economical.
P.P.S. Dear Digg, it is not necessary to make a penis joke because of the use of the words "small" and "large" in the above paragraph. - magicjohnson, on 06/09/2008, -3/+34This is quite cool. Its amazing that some people are spending 16% of their income just on gas. Also interesting that Missouri has the cheapest gas in the nation.
- Ramble, on 06/10/2008, -1/+27No they don't. They pay less, but they pay a higher percentage of their income for gas.
How does it feel to have the same intelligence as the rednecks you mock? - briguymaine, on 06/10/2008, -1/+27he said penis.
- n3demonic, on 06/10/2008, -1/+14Dear Cwazidorse and jzuska,
All it takes is to say penis and you'll get dugg up.
Penis - StingingNettle, on 06/10/2008, -6/+17I don't care for the NY times all that much (not since they helped get us into this lovely war), but I'll admit they make a damn good graph.
- freshyill, on 06/10/2008, -1/+9Here's something fun:
Jersey has a stupid law where you're not allowed to pump your own gas. Watch somebody who has lived in Jersey their whole life fumble as they try to remember how to pump gas when they're in another state.
I always assumed that it was because people from Jersey can't be trusted to pump their own gas without getting into a Zoolander-style gasoline fight. - Lasereth, on 06/10/2008, -2/+10Here's what bothers me about gas prices: if half the people that I work with and know would stop eating out every single day at lunch, they could completely negate the gas price increase AND lose weight. I eat a Michelina's frozen lunch everyday, have lost 70 pounds doing it and save a tremendous amount of money over my coworkers. My lunch costs $0.88. Yes, eighty-eight cents. Their lunch costs $10, and they come back feeling bloated and fat. 5 days a week they eat out for lunch which is $50 a week. I save $45 a week over them which is the entire difference in gas prices from 2000 to now.
Gas prices only affect you if you're not willing to give up a small thing (like your precious cheeseburger everyday) to make up for it.
On a different note: anyone else notice this graph's inconsistency? Ohh look, California and NY and other urban areas spend less of their income on gas. THAT'S BECAUSE THEY MAKE MORE BECAUSE THE COST OF LIVING IS MORE. Sure their gas prices are $.30 higher than the rest of the country but the average person also makes thousands more their to accomodate for the increased cost of living. A friend of mine made $80k in Washington DC but lived the same lifestyle as me because his COL was so high. Gas prices remain about the same yet they get paid way more, hence the percentage of income spent on gas goes DOWN. This is BS. - XHashmeerX, on 06/10/2008, -0/+7I'd like to see some data of how exactly gas is driving up the cost of EVERYTHING else.
- inactive, on 06/10/2008, -0/+6well of course the lower income people are paying a higher percentage of their income in gas, what the graph doesnt show is maybe I am paying 15% of my income in gas, but I'm only paying about 20% of my income to housing, I'd like to see what percentage the California's and such are paying for housing, its all about the same no matter how you look at it.
- alpinecow, on 06/10/2008, -0/+5I'd bet that the areas with the best public transportation also have, on average, the highest incomes (i.e. northeast and west coast cities). If incomes are higher, then a lesser % of those incomes are spent on gas...
- o0joshua0o, on 06/10/2008, -0/+5I'm driving to Missouri for my next fill-up.
- inactive, on 06/10/2008, -3/+8Actually those "rednecks" you are referring to have black necks. Wilcox county, AL is 71% black. The reason that they spend so much as a percent of income, is because a majority have no means of income besides welfare. Maybe we need to give them a raise?
And Holmes county Mississippi is 78% black. "rednecks"? - freshyill, on 06/10/2008, -0/+5I think it's finally reached the point where the Prius makes sense *if you drive enough*. I did the math a few years ago when gas was around $2/gal. and it wasn't even close.
If you commute by car every day, it might finally make personal economic sense. Keep in mind that not everybody who has bought one bought it just to save money on gas. Some people buy them to decrease their environmental impact or to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
At any rate, I'm looking at buying a car next year, and the Civic is at the top of my list. I'm already pretty sure the Civic hybrid isn't worth it *for me* because I wouldn't drive on a daily basis. Most of my driving would be longer trips, and I think the hybrid would save me like $32 on the round trip from N.C. to D.C. that I would drive a lot. Not really worth the extra $150 or whatever it would cost me per month to get the hybrid. - freshyill, on 06/10/2008, -1/+6Check out "What's the matter with Kansas." It's about how people vote for Republicans, against their own economic interests.
- UNCCEJ1010, on 06/10/2008, -0/+5Well, considering that Americans tend to pay less for gasoline than most of the rest of the developed world, you fail again.
- freshyill, on 06/10/2008, -0/+5Being a retard is fun!
- Temo1, on 06/10/2008, -0/+4It takes me 1.5 hours to drive to NYC. It takes 45 minutes by bus. Get your politicians to make public transportation only lanes on the highways... it makes a HUGE difference.
- david76, on 06/10/2008, -0/+4I find it curious the states to where it is most difficult to deliver oil have some of the lowest prices, and regions which have the capacity to pay more are charged more.
- Bmarofsky, on 06/10/2008, -2/+6Could this have anything to do with the availability of mass transit?
- DillonHinson, on 06/10/2008, -1/+5That's not amazing.....that's depressing. They shouldn't be spending that much (percentage-wise) on gas. Ridiculous.
- gerrylazlo, on 06/10/2008, -0/+4I agree with you first point, but I don't understand your second point. The graph is not inconsistent. You said it yourself that the percentage is lower because the average income is higher. Looking at all the graphs together (since they are grouped), that is obvious. I don't see any misdirection here.
- Sogui, on 06/10/2008, -1/+5My county is the only one in Texas that's dark purple... hmm
- BohicaTwentyTwo, on 06/10/2008, -0/+3Brown bagging lunch FTW.
- Dudew1000, on 06/10/2008, -0/+3high gas prices can be good they will force car companies to create much more fuel efficent cars cheaper. Also the more the gas prices go up the more we will be forced to move away from oil to alternative fuels which in the short run will be painful and expensive. While in the long run we are doing a lot more good for everything on the planet.
- freshyill, on 06/10/2008, -0/+3As luck would have it, I'm going to Tennessee this week, and prices look pretty good there. I may save an entire dollar on a fill-up!
- Xproject01, on 06/10/2008, -0/+3dugg for zoolander reference
- ZephyrNinety, on 06/10/2008, -1/+4In New Jersey, they spend all that extra money they save on gas to buy their orange paint
- freshyill, on 06/10/2008, -0/+3Note that the percent of income spent on gas is lower around many major metro areas, and even some smaller ones. People don't have to drive as far to work, and they often car pool and take public transportation.
The price of gas is well over $4/gal. in Washington, D.C., but it doesn't affect me and most people I know because I only know a few people here who have cars.
I kind of hope gas prices stay where they are because it might create a new push for better public transportation in under served areas. If gas gets cheap again, I doubt that would happen. - RizzoFrank, on 06/10/2008, -0/+3So you live in America then. We all have the same problems.
- specialbuddy1, on 06/10/2008, -1/+4Wyoming doesn't surprise me at all. Almost every vehicle in the state is a lifted truck with huge tires.
- inactive, on 06/10/2008, -0/+3What, stating facts makes me a racist? Statistics my friend. It's all fact. How can you dispute that? An you think that calling someone a "redneck " is not derogatory? You have a pea brain. Sorry.
- rocktopotomus, on 06/10/2008, -1/+4dear lord I wish i lived in a city and country that was bike friendly and had adequate and efficient train travel.
as it is America's passenger train infrastructure is like a retarded fish that just crawled out of water and is hoping to grow lungs before it expires. Train travel in many cases is MORE expensive than air travel. WTF!?!
My city has a metro system. it was built in 1983, and has ONE line that goes from downtown strait to one single suburb. wtfomgbbq
p.s. i do own a small car
p.p.s. i won't take the city bus to work because of recent violence.
p.p.p.s sometimes America makes me sad. - Magnolit, on 06/10/2008, -2/+4Public transportation.
- tim620, on 06/10/2008, -0/+2Not everybody living in those areas voted for Bush. In fact in some of these poor counties a majority of the people vote Democrat.
- magawake, on 06/10/2008, -6/+8The states paying the most for gasoline are the states that voted for Bush too...Coincidence?
- itsthemechanic, on 06/10/2008, -0/+2So get up earlier.
- craigm01, on 06/10/2008, -3/+5Good, let's call it a stupidity tax.
In fact, maybe gas prices could be raised more in the bible belt, and lowered elsewhere. - eggsovereasy, on 06/10/2008, -0/+2They are probably very much near the bottom of that 16k - 30k range in the income map.
- akula89, on 06/10/2008, -0/+2all the misery their complacency helped cause in amazing technicolor graphs! thanks ny times!
- breckinshire, on 06/10/2008, -0/+2Don't raise the roof too much or you'll break a nail.
- hiltinuts2, on 06/10/2008, -1/+3You've been to L.A.? What finer city to gauge your opinion of the U.S. than L.A.
balls. - DemonWasp, on 06/11/2008, -0/+2Drive to Venezuala: $0.12 per litre for gasoline.
- Temo1, on 06/10/2008, -0/+2Very much so.
- Temo1, on 06/10/2008, -0/+1Actually gas prices are middling in NY and lower than average in NJ/Penn/Virginia. Mostly because of the public transportation available here.
- Temo1, on 06/10/2008, -0/+1Actually, NJ/Virginia area has one of the highest incomes per capita in the country but also low gas prices. There's more at work than just income.
- zmigliozzi, on 06/10/2008, -2/+3So what this graph is saying that everyone in the nyc area makes too much money? Or is this to let oil companies know they really aren't impacting the average household enough so gas needs to be higher?
- metalhead3767, on 06/14/2008, -0/+1I don't think its a scam. I actually want to try it.
- tim620, on 06/10/2008, -0/+1Great generalization. Not everybody in the "red states" are idiots who voted for Bush (or others). Some also choose a lower income on purpose, because they would rather have a quieter life than someone living in the bustle of NYC, et. al. I would much rather be a "blue person" in a "red state", with a lower income, than having to deal with idiots in larger communities in "blue states".
- kd1s, on 06/10/2008, -0/+1A few interesting points. The areas that spend the least percent of income are in all the developed areas, e.g. cities.
Middle America pays less for gas but drives much more. I noticed this when I was in North Carolina back in December. Everything is 30 to 60 miles away. Here in RI everything is < 20 miles away.
The median income graph is interesting too Most wealth is concentrated in the northeast and the areas around Los Angeles. I find that very amazing. But then if you ever looked at NASA's sky survey of the globe at night, the northeast and LA areas just show as massive glowing blobs. -
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