Seriously? Is gas really $3.25 in Springfield? What on earth is going on? I hate to sound like an old man, but I remember a time when gas was 71 cents a gallon. And this was a time when I was driving and buying gas. It wasn't back when I was a toddler or anything.
I have to blame it on the President of the United States. When George W. Bush took office gas was $1.46 a gallon on average in the U.S. On average! That means it was more like $1.29 here in the lovely low-price region of Springfield, Missouri. And, if you'll remember, we were all hoping that it would go back down at that point. The reason I blame it on the President is for several known facts. They are: gas prices have gone up 252% since Bush has been President, general inflation is not even close to that number, Bush has ties to oil companies, the oil companies have reported huge record profits in the last few years, and we all know that the President has a lot of power to do something about this economical crisis and yet nothing happens. They had the oil executives in government court to explain why they have made so much money and yet they refuse to lower gas prices. But, still nothing is done about it. Could it be that the President is secretly (or maybe not-so-secretly) making money from his ties to the oil companies? I could definitely see the lack of motivation to lower gas prices if he's one of the many getting rich off them being so high.
We the people of the Unites States have been given all types of excuses as to why the prices have gone up. They ranged everywhere from Hurricane Katrina, to the war in Iraq, to heavy rains near the refineries in Texas. Heavy rains? As if they've never seen a lot of rain before. And yet they justified a 40% hike in gas prices to such a "disaster". But, somehow they still pulled off huge record profits during this period of "disastrous proportions". I don't recall anywhere in American history that gas jumped up that high, that quick for rain or any other disaster for that matter. And, why didn't the prices go back down after the water dried up? Last I checked, Texas was still a pretty hot and dry part of the country.
For whatever the true reasons are for the gas prices to be soaring to all-time highs, this guy is seriously considering riding my bike to work again. I did it for a while back in the day when I lived eleven miles from work. Surely, I have no excuse to be driving now that I live only 3.7 miles from work. Of course, it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so maybe I'll start next week. Always an excuse, right?
What about you? Is there anything that you'll do different now that the cost of gas represents a larger percentage of your paycheck?
Ouch!
2 comments:
Seriously, you blame President Bush for the rising gas costs? What power does he have constitutionally to change the price of any commodity? Remember, it is Congress that passes any law before it reaches the President's desk for signature into law.
Of course, our inflationary monetary policy has much to do with rising gas costs, because the dollar is worth relatively less compared to the oil. Remember, that the reported inflation numbers do not include food or energy, despite that no one lives for long without both.
Also, it stands to reason that the oil cartels will charge as much money as the market will bear, without driving down demand enough to cut into profits. Keep in mind that these companies have legal obligations to their shareholders to make profits.
Finally, there is some evidence that makes plausible the notion that we may now be beyond the tipping point in the oil industry. It is a fact that we are running out of this non-renewable natural resource. How many barrels are left? Probably no one knows. But we are using it up, and eventually it will be gone.
Of course, when you have an essentially dictatorial administration directly benefiting from Big Oil and the military industrial complex, what did you expect? Reasonable gas prices and peace? Please.
We're cutting out food.
Post a Comment