Back while I was in America, and any time I happen to catch an American news broadcast or any late night TV hack (cough cough Leno cough) on AFN I am hit with news stories / jokes with taglines / punchlines like “pain at the pump” / taking it in the ass at the gas station.
Well now that I’ve lived overseas for some time I going to say to America, “Welcome to the rest of the world.” Every joker interviewed on every “outrageous” gas price story comes off as a pompous ass, “Over $2 for a gallon of gas?! That’s outrageous!”
To those people I say, don’t bother living in any other country. I took this picture this afternoon at the gas station near my house. The prices here actually seem a little bit lower than other gas stations I’ve seen here in Korea, but it gives you an idea of what’s going on.
The price of gas at the gas station near my house. The 1499 gas is “volatile oil” the 1210 gas is “light oil.” I don’t know what the difference is between the two since I don’t own a car here. I’m going to assume that it’s like premium and regular back in the USA.
For the sake of simplicity, we’re going to say that 1,000 won is equal to $1US. Prices look pretty good don’t they? Oh wait, you’re probably forgetting that America is the only country that actually uses gallons. This is the price per liter. For the uninitiated, 1 gallon is approximately 3.79 liters (way to make me do math people…god I hate you so much).
Say what?! That means that gas would be around $4 a gallon, and like I said, these prices are pretty low compared to other places I’ve seen, so America quit yer bitchin’! And if the price of gas is such a problem, trade in your tank of a SUV vehicle for a bike or a bus pass.
