Are you looking for a car? If yes, are you looking for one that gets good gas mileage and is also cheap to maintain? If you answered yes again, then perhaps you’re looking for a gas sipper rather than a hybrid and a foreign car rather than an American made one.

I know all the time I’m bragging about the quality of foreign cars versus domestic ones, but so is everyone else. In an article from MSNBC, you can find the best cars for under $15,000 which are cheap to maintain and they get great gas mileage so you won’t be blowing your gas budget when you fill up.

At the top of the list was the Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, and Scion xD (I love that the name of that looks like a really happy emoticon). The cars all cost around $15,000 and because they are small and inexpensive, they are fairly cheap to insure as well as maintain. Oh, by the way, they also get at least 30 mpg in combined fuel efficiency. These cars will obviously use less gas and you won’t have to be putting in the expensive grades either. These cars call for regular 87 unleaded.

If you’re really looking for a domestic car, then look no further than the Chevrolet Cobalt or the Pontiac G3. They are basically the same car and only cost around $16,000 and get a combined 31 mpg.

Right now they aren’t selling as well as they were a year ago, but you also have to remember that gas prices are far cheaper right now than a year ago too. People will go back to buying these cars once gas starts creeping up again.

The cars on the MSNBC list are all gas powered vehicles. There were no hybrids on the list due to the fact that they are more expensive to maintain, insure, and they actually cost more too.

From the article:

“The best way to a cheap ride? Choose something small, light, and more often than not foreign.”

Source

Today when I wrote this, the article Five Signs that Green is the Next Bubble to Burst had been Dugg about 150 times. It is the top business story right now.

So what are the signs that Green is the next Bubble to Burst? Here are the reasons as written by Tom Johansmeyer for BloggingStocks.com

1. Boom born in bust
Most economic booms find their roots in recessions. Innovators and entrepreneurs take advantage of lost jobs, severance packages and lower prices to get new ventures off the ground.

2. There’s no shortage of cash
Investors sunk $1.59 billion into clean technology venture capital in the third quarter of this year, continuing what’s been a solid pace in 2009. The folks with the money see the potential, and they’re committing. Since 2006, the VC community has put $8.7 billion into clean tech companies.

3. Innovation is flowing, not slowing
Solar cells, improved batteries and appliances are in development right now, along with electric cars. Infrastructure is also seeing some movement and will provide the underlying support necessary.

4. Washington is willing
The Obama administration has said it will invest $150 billion in clean tech over the next 10 years. This is forecast to create 5 million jobs — a great start to replacing the 7.2 million that have been lost to the current recession.

5. Society is on board
A combination of momentum for the sector, evolving thinking on climate change, and memories of last year’s gas prices have made more people open to the notion of green technology. And, the fact that these companies are attracting investment and grant dollars demonstrates an upside that transcends politics or science – most people care about financial upside first.

Green could be the next bubble to burst because of all of these reasons. However, I would personally like to see the whole environmentally conscious way of life continue. Even if, in the future, money gets tight for funding and the bubble does burst, hopefully we can all live a bit cleaner. Maybe our cars won’t run on fossil fuels anymore or our electricity will come from completely renewable sources.

A disruption in the refinery of crude oil into gasoline due to a fire in a Los Angeles area refinery couldn’t even raise the price of oil and gasoline. For the first time in two months the price of a gallon of gas has fallen below $2.50 on average. Where I live, I just paid $2.38 for a gallon of regular 87 octane.

The fire at the Tesoro refinery in LA will probably effect the price of gas in California, but not too much anywhere else. The refinery processed around 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day and produced gasoline, jet fuel, and other products.

Demand for gasoline is so low that according to analyst and trader Stephen Schork, “a material disruption to supply to one of the largest markets in the world barely registered with speculators on the NYMEX.”

Wholesale gasoline for October actually increased 1.2 cents to $1.6323 per gallon today while benchmark crude for November delivery increased nearly 50 cents to $66.51 per barrel, this is after increasing 13 cents on Friday.

Prices have actually been increasing ever since Iran announced that it had a secret nuclear program at the G20 summit last week. This is due to the fact that 20 percent of the crude oil in the world is trafficked through the Straits of Hormuz which is on the southern coast of Iran. If something were to actually happen between the United States (or any country) and Iran, that route would be compromised  and oil would likely spike.

Of course, oil is one of the indicators of the economy. There are so many indicators and this is definitely one of them. After all, it’s oil that took a dive when people started realizing how bad the economy was last year. Oil also has started creeping back up and analysts are saying that other things are creeping up as well; such as the sale of homes and autos.

While it would be a good thing to not have to see oil reach the outrageous prices it hit last summer, I really want the economy to start picking up soon. Perhaps when it comes time for Chris and I to leave our college town, I’ll be able to land a real marketing job somewhere.

Source

No related posts.