AP: Drivers worldwide feel sting of gas prices

[sabra]

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/business/12486272.htm

Drivers worldwide feel sting of gas prices

Associated Press

VIENNA, Austria - While U.S. motorists complain at having to pay $2.60 a gallon, the relentless surge of oil prices is leading to even more colossal gas pains for Europeans who were paying much more than Americans even before crude began climbing.

So far there has been no repeat on the old continent of the tragic death of an Alabama service station owner who was run over last week while trying to stop a driver from speeding off without paying.

....

Germans are tanking up on home-heating fuel. Poles are crossing the border to Ukraine to buy cheaper fuel. And Swedish motorists are flocking to a southwestern town where price wars have made gas about 30 percent cheaper than the national average of $5.66 a gallon.

While that price is enough to leave the average American gasping for air, Swedish gas is still cheap in comparison with the Netherlands. There, a gallon of premium costs $6.56.

....

Still, some Europeans grimace and bear it.

[enid602]

1. $/gallon

Price per gallon is immaterial; what matters is how many gallons one needs to live comfortably. Given smaller cars, greater density, more efficient engines and more developed mass transit, that $6 gallon in Amsterdam might last a lot longer than here in the States. Remember also that of the $6 collected in Holland, a large amount goes to the government, which has been able to provide a very high level of social services without experiencing a deficit. Holland, like most every other nation in Western Europe, has no national debt. Britain does, thanks to their leader's insistence to follow * into war with Iraq.