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GASOLINE PRICES

    From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

          DAY  USA  WORLD    Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82
July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572
Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130
Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82
Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85
Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118
Dec    30       3880    14748       1224       299      465
Jan     14        4142    15512         1151        189       712
Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398
Mar     2        1989     9490        1726       110      194
April   6         906     11787         4211       631       37
May    4         853    13667        3025      3786      59 
June   1         287    10637         2346      3205      95
 July   7          251      8440        1595         817     411
Aug    4          656    10120        1118         532     423 
Sept  22       2228      9326          839        279     124
Oct    6         2102      8255          543        315       59
Nov   3         1436      7830         186         458       23
Dec    1        1633      8475          266        477       28
Jan    7         2025      6729         148        285      140
       28          2732   10,516         779        862      133
Feb  2           2990   12,012         946        991      175
      24           1823     9,809        996        304       40
Mar     2        1778     7,756         335        173        28
         11        1022      6002         465           88       28
         16         982      5579         354           59       40
         17         931       6160         484         150       62
         18         721       5214         380           69       39

Summary:  this is reassuring about how our pandemic is faring.

Something extraordinary is happening in South Korea.  They set a record number of new cases two days ago with 621,328, but the people, plus government, almost couldn't care less.  Rather than lock down, people continue to go out.  A good part of this is because these days only few are dying.  Older people are more vulnerable, but 90% of them have been boosted, and only in rare circumstances do deaths occur.  

Mortality rate:

  • South Korea  0.136%
  • World  1.3%
  • USA  1.2%
  • Germany  0.7%
  • Vietnam  0.6%
  • Japan 0.45%
  • Australia 0.15%
  • Hong Kong 0.5%
  • Singapore 0.12%
What has happened is that those countries which were early on infected by this COVID-19 virus tended to die at much higher rates.  Conversely those nations only recently affected by the Omicron variant, like South Korea, Australia and Singapore, are showing fatality rates one tenth that of countries like the USA.  Why?
  • The Omicron variant is not as lethal.
  • Hospitals have learned how to take care of patients and several remedies are now available.
  • By now most populations have been vaccinated, and it is clear that those who are boosted will either avoid any symptoms or only get cold-like problems.  Not even as bad as the seasonal flu.

Thus, South Korean people are just shrugging off this latest wave because few people are actually dying these days.  Plus, that 600,000+ new cases number of two days ago dropped to 407,017 yesterday.

In short, there is a pent-up sense of wanting to get back to normal.  Europe remains in the throes of yet another wave, a combination of two Omicron subvariants, but fewer are dying, so they too are rapidly eliminating mandates even if new cases/day remain high.  The U.S. could yet get another mild wave because of the Omicron Stealth Subvariant, but the mortality rate will continue to drop, so life will likely continue to return to a new normal.  The only group of concern is the unvaccinated elderly, although any unvaccinated person is still taking a chance of being a long hauler or worse.

Historically, California and Hawaii always have the highest gasoline rates in the country.  That map is from 2019, but the relative prices among states haven't much changed.

  • #2  Hawaii
    • Thursday, a record high $5.122/gallon.
    • Friday, $5.118/gallon.
  • #1  California
    • Friday, $5.80/gallon
  • National average = $4.274.
  • Emissions and environmental regulations.
  • Higher gas taxes.  Adds $0.75/gallon.
  • A mysterious 2015 surcharge ($4 billion/year) that has not been revoked.  Amounts to $0.10 to $0.30 per gallon, depending type of gas.
  • Has added global warming cap-and-trade program, in addition to a low carbon fuel standard, and this environmental adjustment adds up to $0.17/gallon.
  • Amazingly enough, California is a "fuel island," meaning that it does not receive fuel through an interstate pipeline (like Hawaii).  They do, however, produce 30% of state needs.
  • An attempt was made in the California Assembly to suspend some of these taxes, but the measure failed.
Here is a historical graph of U.S. gasoline prices:


In 2005, gasoline was around $2.30/gallon in the U.S.  Other countries (per gallon)?

Netherlands  $6.48
Norway  $6.27
UK  $5.79
Japan  $4.74
Russia  $2.10
Saudi Arabia  $0.91
Nigeria  $0.38
Venezuela  $0.12

Care to speculate on the price of gasoline on 9March2022 in Venezuela?  $0.11/gallon.  Iran = $0.19/gallon.

World price of gasoline in dollars/gallon:

  • Venezuela  $0.11
  • Iran  $0.19
  • Kuwait  $1.32
  • Russia  $1.40
  • Nigeria  $1.51
  • Saudi Arabia  $2.35
  • UAE  $3.22
  • Indonesia  $3.40
  • Mexico  $4.08
  • USA  $4.46
  • Brazil  $4.88
  • Australia  $5.11
  • China  $5.19
  • Thailand  $5.45
  • Japan  $5.60
  • Canada  $5.60
  • South Korea  $5.60
  • Spain  $7.19
  • France  $7.95
  • New Zealand  $8.02
  • Singapore  $8.29
  • Netherlands  $8.67
  • Norway  $10.18
  • Hong Kong  $10.71

Forbes showed the following map indicating gasoline prices on 7March2022:

Heck, here are relative prices of electricity in $/kilowatt-hour...but for December 2020:

  • Germany  $0.37
  • Japan  $0.26
  • UK  $0.26
  • Australia  $0.23
  • Singapore  $0.17
  • USA  $0.15 (Hawaii is historical around $0.30 or higher)
  • China  $0.09
  • Mexico  $0.08
  • India  $0.08
  • Saudi Arabia  $0.05
  • Iran  $0.01

It can be higher, for 2018:

  • Solomon Islands  $0.99
  • U.S. Virgin Islands  $51.9
  • Jamaica  $0.45
  • Germany  $0.35
Want more on electricity?  Not sure of when.
  • Solomon Islands is at $0.69/kWh.
  • USA ranks #82 in the world at $0.11/kWh.
  • Russia ranks #22 at $0.05/kWh.
  • China ranks #56 at $0.084/kWh.
  • Australia ranks #143 at $0.17/kWh.
  • Germany ranks #211 at $0.32/kWh

Countries With Most Expensive Electricity Prices

RankingCountryAvg Electric Price (in U.S. cents per kWh)
1Germany39
2Bermuda37
3Denmark34
4Portugal32
5Belgium32
6Cayman Islands31
7Bahamas31
8Cape Verde30
9Ireland29
10Japan29
11Cyprus28
12Barbados28
13United Kingdom27
14Italy27
15Liechtenstein27
16Australia26
17Luxemburg26
18Rwanda26
19Austria25
20Jamaica25

Countries With the Least Expensive Electricity Prices

RankingCountryAvg Electric Price (in U.S. cents per kWh)
1Sudan0
2Venezuela0
3Iran0
4Ethiopia1
5Kyrgyzstan1
6Cuba1
7Libya1
8Zimbabwe1
9Bhutan2
10Angola2
11Suriname2
12Uzbekistan3
13Zambia3
14Iraq3
15Kuwait3
16Qatar3
17Oman3
18Algeria4
19Egypt4
20Kazakhstan4

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