Stuff They Don't Want You To Know CLASSIC: The True Cost of Gasoline
Dec 18, 2025
Delve into the intricacies of gasoline pricing, exploring how factors like taxes, market demand, and geopolitical influences shape costs at the pump. Discover the environmental toll of gasoline, with emissions estimates that provide startling insights into its true cost. The hosts illuminate the hidden profits from in-store sales at gas stations and the impact of military logistical expenses on taxpayers. Finally, they discuss the challenges facing electric vehicle adoption and how financial motivations drive shifts in energy practices.
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Listener Challenge Sets Episode Focus
- Caller Mike from Vancouver challenges the hosts to calculate the full true cost of gasoline, claiming it could be around $45 per gallon.
- His background in energy efficiency frames the episode's central question about hidden costs.
Pump Price Hides Complex Drivers
- Gas prices vary widely due to supply, refinery capacity, taxes, seasonal changes, and global unrest.
- Local affordability depends on wages, so pump price alone misleads about true burden.
Affordability Beats Absolute Price
- Affordability comparisons must relate pump prices to local incomes; Venezuela once had the world's cheapest gas relative to wages.
- Nominal cheapness can mask broader economic dysfunction and changing conditions.