As American drivers come to grips with $4.00-a-gallon gasoline and presidential hopeful John McCain suggests a temporary “tax holiday,” it’s worth noting that in some places, it’s been a long time since gas was so cheap as that. The photo you see here shows fuel prices at my neighborhood gas station in The Hague, The Netherlands on Saturday, 10 May 2008. Prices are in euros per liter. Converted to dollars per gallon at prevailing exchange rates, the prices are:
- $9.14 for regular unleaded
- $9.81 for premium
- $7.96 for diesel
My last trip to the gas station (in a Chrysler Voyager) cost about $150. The U.S. can (and inevitably will have to) adjust to higher fuel prices, just as Europe has long since done.
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Hi, I’m an American in Germany and I am all too familiar with the gas prices in the European Union! I actually had to sell my SUV this year and go for a more affordable model for the family. Every time I call my family in the U.S. and have to hear how expensive gas has gotten, I have to remind them that the prices here are a lot higher than what they have to pay. It pretty much shocks them to know that we are paying almost the same amount for only a liter of gas that they pay for a gallon. I also agree that those living in the U.S. will have to adjust to the higher prices and expect them to increase in the future. It’s not pleasant, but it’s definitely inevitable.
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[...] enough that Republican presidential candidate John McCain has suggested a gas tax holiday — they’d be considered a king-sized bargain in the Netherlands. He took this photo of the price sign at his neighbourhood gas station in The Hague on Saturday, [...]