"The next time you pull into the station for a fill-up, keep this in mind before you curse the prices: people elsewhere have it a lot worse than WE do in America"

Can I paraphrase this:

"The next time you post on Gadling can you keep this in mind that not everyone who reads it is American."

None of the Ws in WWW stands for "We" and if it did - that We wouldn't be American.

Can you remember that you are writing not just for Americans?

Sorry, it's my biggest grouch of internet pages originating in America - you forget that people from different countries read it too.

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I'm from Australia and the petrol price listed above for Sydney is about $2.50 more than what we actually pay. I have never, ever seen petrol that dear in Australia.

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I have a comment about the criticism: while the audience might not be all American, the author is. And if the author is writing from his/her perspective, then that has to be taken into account.

Personally, I care more about the graphic than nitpicking on one word that's debatable and off topic to the issue. I agree that Americans complain about gas prices far too much, but they don't see graphics like this often (enough).

Who created this image? And has it been published in the mainstream press anywhere on the planet?

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About 1.33 EUR per litre here in Finland which translates to something like $6.8 per gallon.

And don't get me started on car prices.. A very basic Toyota Corolla with 1.6 litre engine is about 25000 EUR, or $33500. I don't think they even sell Corollas with 1.6 litre engine in the US.

Average salary is about $3400 a month, of which a roughly 1/3 is taken away in taxes (taxation is progressive). However, everything you buy carries VAT (mostly 22%) so the effective tax rate is close to 50% for most people.

I really do think that when it comes to cost of owning a car Americans have *nothing* to complain about.

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I really think these diagrams should be shown to more and more people. Americans need to realize that we do have some of the cheapest gas prices in the world. We are very lucky, perhaps spoiled. As gas prices in the states go up, perhaps we will grow to be more like the rest of the world and drive more fuel efficient cars.

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Exactly where in NY is gas $2.76 a gallon? Please tell me, because it's $3.19 around here - and I'm not even in the city. We haven't seen $2.76 since last year sometime, although I appreciate that someone is letting us all know how good we have it, price wise compared to the rest of the world. I just wish it was more accurate.

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These are interesting stats, but the problem with all such stories about gas prices is how they don't take into account other cost-of-living factors that offset the price, so to reach the conclusion "we've got it better than most other countries" is a crock. What's needed is more context.

For instance, average salaries in many of those countries are higher. Most also have far better public transportation than we do, making driving more of an option. In addition, most of those countries are smaller, so trips don't use as much gas.

Here, among other expense influences, our spread-out suburbia demands we drive since mass transit is inadequate. And we drive bigger gas-eaters. The Smart car is only debuting here now; five years ago I saw them all over Paris. Among non-transportation influences, our health care system is far more expensive than almost anywhere else.

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I agree with Richard Kimble, this is seriously taken out of context....Americans' gas is cheaper but we often have to drive much further & there is little or very poor public transport.

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Awww poor Americans have to drive Hummers and their public transport stinks so they really must have cheap petrol as it's not their fault.

Try not voting for a numbskull with such close links to the oil industry next time. Hmm who was he up against the first time he was elected?

Some dude called Gore, wasn't it? Something tells me he might have spent more time trying to safeguard the environment.

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What everyone seems to forget is that those countries that are paying more are NOT oil producing as we are, and that is why they pay the prices they do. Since we ARE an oil producing country, we SHOULD be lower, but we aren't. That simply means that our government and the oil companies are, as usual, ripping us off.

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OK, Paris and London are paying much more in gas than we are. However, the need for a car in either of those cities (in Europe in general) is practically nonexistent. I spent a year living in France and never once wished I had a car. Most people in those cities do not own cars, and those who do still take public transport, it's faster, cheaper, and easier (not to mention better for the environment). Also, due to inflation and the declining American dollar (I am assuming the prices listed are in American dollars), one (1) English Pound is the equivalent of two (2) American Dollars ($6.50 USD=$3.25 GBP). Assuming that on average European salaries are higher than American salaries (especially for lower income jobs like teaching) and they do not have to worry about paying for things like healthcare; I figure they are much better off. I now live in Central Florida. I have to take three highways and commute for 45 minutes to work every day in a town where public transport is virtually nonexistent. On top of that my employer no longer carries health insurance, so I am currently uninsured. I would much rather pay for $6.50 a gallon for gas and have a stellar public transport system and universal health care.

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Hey Ourman, not everyone drives hummers & SUVs. Our public transport doesn't "stink" it is practically non existent in many suburban areas. I would have no way to travel 30 miles to my job if I had no car.
The majority of people DID NOT vote for Bush. Bush did not win the popular vote.
Try not making comments on something you obviously don't know much about.

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I would like to know the amount of tax people in each country are paying per gallon.

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DId anyone stop to think that their gallon is bigger than ours and that their cars get better gas mileaage and that we do drive further than they do. Some of those countries you could drive across in a day. Plus, their taxes are in their gas. Ours come out of our paychecks. I think if you took a real good look at this you would find out that it probably pretty much equals itself out. A lot of these Europeans come over here and talk about how cheap everything is and they own homes over here. We Americans are lucky if we own even one home. So tell me who is it that has the more money, and, I get about as tired of them talking about how expensive everything is for them in Europe when they should be us with the rate of exchange. I still say 50,000 pounds in Europe goes just as far for them as $50,00 for us in the United States, so, everybody shut up!

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Dear Pam:

A gallon is a gallon. Yes, normally they purchase by the litre, but I'm going to assume that these prices reflect an equal amount between the different countries.

And clearly you've never been to Europe. Your buck goes a lot farther in the United States than a euro does in Europe. And this is coming from someone who lives in the United States. So maybe YOU should just shut up.

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