Inflation: How Much Did You Spend? Food? Gas/petrol? Diesel?

[Sue (Ayt)]

Filled up today at $3.79 regular.

[Casey Claar]

The price here in SoCal has dropped slightly to +/- $6 a gallon.

[Sue (Ayt)]

Posted by Casey Claar (here)
The price here in SoCal has dropped slightly to +/- $6 a gallon.

Such a difference in price between states, Casey!

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Sue (Ayt) (here)

Posted by Casey Claar (here)
The price here in SoCal has dropped slightly to +/- $6 a gallon.

Such a difference in price between states, Casey!

In total contrast to the US, the prices of both gasoline and diesel are regulated nationwide in Ecuador, with every gas station in the country showing the same price. Moreover, it's announced beforehand that the price is adjusted (up or down!) on the 12th of each month — i.e. no surprise price hikes.

In the last price adjustment on 12 August, gasoline dropped in price by $0.02 to what it is now, $3.24/gallon (similarly for diesel, $3.18). There's speculation that on 12 September the prices may drop by another few cents, though that's NOT confirmed officially yet. (I'm not holding my breath!)

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by Casey Claar (here)
The price here in SoCal has dropped slightly to +/- $6 a gallon.

The price here in North Texas is about $3.68 per gallon.

(We have the same President. We have different Governors. Must be Trump's fault )

[petra]

I normally don't pay full price for cigarettes but I did today. $35 for two packs.. ouch

I'm curious what others are paying for smokes but I feel like not many people share my dirty habit

[shaberon]

Posted by ThePythonicCow (here)

Posted by Casey Claar (here)
The price here in SoCal has dropped slightly to +/- $6 a gallon.

The price here in North Texas is about $3.68 per gallon.

(We have the same President. We have different Governors. Must be Trump's fault )

You have a surrendered independent country.

It has a secession clause unless they took it out, and no state income tax. Therefor, wages are correspondingly lower. In itself, that should not really affect the cost of living, which, ultimately, is the main angst about inflation.

Like here, with mandatory drivers' insurance, this year it went up some 20%, and I have to renew it again and expect it to be more.

Our property tax was hiked 42%, during Covid, and I haven't got an update but, it's certainly gross mismanagement of everything. If someone did that in the old days, we'd hang you at dawn. Now these rate increases are a respectable white collar crime ring.

If you look at whatever may be left of Aramco Jizan, we're missing a few million barrels of oil per day, to which nothing will be said about the Saudis, but, treated as an inconvenience to us, when it affects the figures.

All these production improvements, and we turn it into less value so that everything is an obstacle. It's highly unimpressive.

[jc71]

Here in the South East of England today:

£1.63 per litre for unleaded which is £7.41 per gallon ($10.04 per gallon)
£1.85 per litre for diesel which is £8.55 per gallon ($11.59 per gallon)

That's for the standard "eco" stuff. I always buy the premium which looks even worse but at least is better for my engines:

£1.90 per litre for premium unleaded which is £8.64 per gallon ($11.71 per gallon)
£2.10 per litre for premium diesel which is £9.55 per gallon ($12.94 per gallon)

So anyone complaining about $4 per gallon, think on

JC

[rgray222]

Here is what people in most Western countries pay in taxes each time they fill up at the pump. Governments don't locate, drill, transport, refine or sell oil, yet they take most of the money. Governments certainly should take a fair share but it is absolutely obscene given the amount they take for doing absolutely nothing.

The following list ranks countries by the percentage of the pump price attributed to taxes for petrol, based on recent 2025–2026 data:

Netherlands: 64.5% (Highest in EU; Excise €0.789/L + 21% VAT)
Italy: 62.0% (Excise €0.728/L + 22% VAT)
Finland: 61.5% (Excise €0.672–0.685/L + 26% VAT)
Greece: 60.0% (Excise €0.700–0.713/L + 24% VAT)
Denmark: 59.8% (Excise €0.589–0.717/L + 25% VAT)
France: 59.5% (Excise €0.683–0.691/L + 20% VAT)
Germany: 58.0% (Excise €0.655/L + 19% VAT)
Belgium: 55.0% (Excise €0.600/L + 21% VAT)
Austria: 50.5% (Excise €0.482/L + 20% VAT)
Spain: 49.0% (Excise €0.504–0.520/L + 21% VAT)

UK: 55% (Excise what £0.55- £0.57/L +20% VAT)
Australia: 38%
USA: 12% average per State

In Australia tax works out to roughly 38% of the pump price. For example, at a typical price of ~$1.80/L, that's about $0.69 in tax per litre (~54c excise + ~15c GST).

In the USA, on average, people pay 52 cents per gallon in tax, which comes out to ~13.7¢ per litre.

Here is an overall comparision Europe vs America total tax. The difference is a bit shocking
US: ~11–12% (at current ~$4.50/gal)
EU average: ~52%

[lake]

Posted by petra (here)
I normally don't pay full price for cigarettes but I did today. $35 for two packs.. ouch

I'm curious what others are paying for smokes but I feel like not many people share my dirty habit

Hi petra

I smoke and here in the UK cigarettes are between £14 and £18 per pack of 20, so your 2 packs would have cost (taking an average of £16) $59.78 Canadian dollars!

I have smoked since 12 years old but around the age of 40 I changed to rolling my own (so over 20 years now) and in the UK a pouch of 50 grams tobacco is around £46.35 (Amber Leaf .... my preferred choice) so $86.58 Canadian dollars.

Funny thing is that no one I know buys cigarettes nor tobacco from shops!

You can buy either from so very many "non" shops and the current price of a pack of 20 cigarettes (lets call it 'imported') is around £6 (so $11.20 Canadian) and a 50 gram pouch of tobacco is £20 (Amber Leaf .... $37.36 Canadian)!

I get around 200 roll ups from a 50 gram pouch

Funny think (again) .... All the people who sell the "imported" products are immigrants!

lol

[shaberon]

Posted by petra (here)
I normally don't pay full price for cigarettes but I did today. $35 for two packs.. ouch

I'm curious what others are paying for smokes but I feel like not many people share my dirty habit

This is of course tobacco country where it will just vary by grade $6 - $12.

Supposed to be the backbone of our economy. Once was huge...selling to China and Japan.

The dirty part was the thousands of added ingredients, which, of course, benefitted the fraud called the American Cancer Society, while harming the product and therefor causing repercussions onto those businesses. They more or less committed suicide by homicide.

Seeing as the habit is taken from Native Americans, I wouldn't ridicule it out of hand, and just say that Russian heavy smokers live to 100 without health complications.

Here, it is definitely tinkering with chemistry that led to...I can't say tobacco is going up in jumps and bursts right now...but the entire toll of smoking additives must have been very destructive, and driven up costs in tangential ways. Leave it to a white man to take a perfectly good native product and whack it with Polonium.

The rest of you are better off steering clear of American products. Same principle applies to petroleum.

[shaberon]

Psychological event over a few hours on Wednesday evening.

You'd think these adjustments to gas would be made early, and, I don't recall noticing a variation at night.

Tonight's dime was very obvious. Hit the memorable $3.99 mark.

[JackMcThorn]

I totally quit tobacco 6 months ago. A hard fought battle and my 13th attempt but successful this time. I paid for roll my own approx. $12.oo american per week. Once in a great while I would buy a pack at around $6.oo per 2o.

[bojancan]

Good video by Andrei Jikh....


Sept, 10
Andrei Jikh
3.37M subscribers
Trump’s Tariff War Just Went Nuclear

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=iBxWsP8k9XM

[rgray222]

Posted by bojancan (here)
Good video by Andrei Jikh....


Sept, 10
Andrei Jikh
3.37M subscribers
Trump’s Tariff War Just Went Nuclear

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=iBxWsP8k9XM

It is not as complex as people would have you believe. Foreign countries like Canada are benefiting from the interest payments on money they got from the USA by running a deficit, then lending it back with interest. Of course, the issues are separate but related. In a sense, they are double-dipping. When you think about it is truly isn't much more than a scam.

Democratic and Republican presidents have not really had a handle on the Fed, interest rates, and a few did not even understand the difference between debt and deficit. All I can say is thank God for Trump. You may hate him, but he gets it. The lack of financial understanding by previous presidents is exactly why 4 trillion dollars is simply missing.

[joamarks]

Can someone explain to me how it is possible that, despite the inflation of the last 25 years, the price of gasoline has been affected the least?

It seems to me that, relatively speaking, the price of a liter of gasoline should have at least quadrupled.

I’m glad my car doesn’t run solely on coffee. Back then, a cup of coffee was cheaper than petrol; now, a cup of coffee is two to three times more expensive.

[shaberon]

Posted by joamarks (here)
Can someone explain to me how it is possible that, despite the inflation of the last 25 years, the price of gasoline has been affected the least?

It seems to me that, relatively speaking, the price of a liter of gasoline should have at least quadrupled.

I’m glad my car doesn’t run solely on coffee. Back then, a cup of coffee was cheaper than petrol; now, a cup of coffee is two to three times more expensive.

That reminds me of a girl in the sixth grade who said cars should run on soda.

The teacher quickly explained how the small bottles don't equal gallons, and even then, soda was more expensive.

Most of that stuff is almost entirely markup. It costs about $2 to run a big tower full of coffee, so, by the time you sell the first one, it's paid for, everything is profit. It's hardly regulated; you can charge whatever you want. The point is usually to drive prices as high as possible.

Historically, oil has had a relatively stable value compared to gold, except when...factors aggravate it.

It's more stabilized, without such a free-for-all because the station running the pumps makes about a penny per gallon. It's practically worthless except at high volume that hopefully drives people in for...an unregulated coffee or the like.

Inflation is driven by other factors, primarily the loss of state currency replaced by bank notes issued through Bonds. Recently however, corporate profits have made an unprecedented contribution. They have way too much cash, hence we see feeble outlets like data centers.

In a normal situation, gold and oil should not see spikes and drops, but we no longer allow normality. Scratch out Saudi Arabia, and it's going to rise a little more. Well, we shouldn't have propped up Saudi Arabia; that's not normal.

Gas is relatively easy to make, the more the cheaper, so there isn't much actual reason for it to skyrocket. As usual, the problems are in fair distribution.

[shaberon]

So much for psychological moments.

I thought I saw one of those dizzying figures that would make you remember it forever, and rue the circumstances which brought it about.

Drop that in the obsolete folder.

I turn around yesterday and gas is $4.19.

In generic terms, that's passing the plus 50% mark.

It's so relieving to know someone profits on those trades regardless.

[stephen4]

It’s crazy how much everyday essentials have gone up, especially groceries and electricity.

[Bill Ryan]

To my astonishment, the annual inflation rate in Ecuador (August 2025—August 2026) was reported as 1.12%, the lowest in North or South America and one of the lowest rates in the world.

After some thought, I realized it was probably more or less accurate, as personally I've not noticed ANY price increases in anything at all for a very long time apart from the recent increases in gasoline and diesel.

The gasoline and diesel prices, high for here, have dropped again (slightly!), now at $3.21 and $3.15 respectively. But a very interesting thing happened at the gas station yesterday.

I went to full up my tank, and I was told that the price of high-octane SUPER (which I never use, the usual current price about $5/gallon) had been cut to the same price as the low-octane Regular.

The young woman at the gas station was super-friendly, and explained it all to me in rapid-fire Spanish which I could only follow partially. What I gathered was that supplies of Regular gasoline are very low, so the price of Super has been slashed to meet the shortfall – all subsidized by the government simply to ensure everyone can keep on driving.