The High Cost of Getting There
Like most Americans who drive a car, I cringe every time I fill up the gas tank. But I know that I'm luckier than a lot of people out there. The extra money bites, but I'm not having to choose between getting myself to work and making sure that kids have lunch money for the week. For some that horrible decision is a fact of life. What is driving the cost of gas so high? Here are my ruminations:
1) The oil companies. They are quick to point out, while they're laughing all the way to the bank that they are not responsible for setting the gas prices. But let's face it, they would be throwing around their considerable weight if prices were down and their profits were in the tank. They could use that influence to help drive prices down, shave a couple billion off their profits and still be able to laugh on the way to the bank.
2) George W Bush. He managed to parlay the tragic events of 9/11 into an excuse to finish his daddy's unfinished business, but can't parlay the overthrow of a ruthless dictator into an oil deal. And his notion of a $100 rebate? Madness? Stupidity? Maybe a little bit of both. Put this up there with his $300 extra refund. Everyone likes to bash the democrats (I am a registered Independent) about their overly liberal spending, but the last Democrat left office and a huge surplas behind. A surplas that Dubba has turned into a record deficiet. Oh, and his cozy ties to the oil industry...surely that doesn't have anything to do with it?
3) Our addiction to fossil fuel...especially foreign fossil fuel. Sure building good trade relationships with other countries is important, but that doesn't mean we have to get caught with our pants down should the political winds change. (Egged on by idiots like Pat Robertson calling for the assasination of Venezuela's President.) And with countries like China growing in their deman for fuels, it isn't like these countries are having any trouble getting rid of their product.
4) Public Transportation. Or rather a lack of it in many areas. Where I live public transportation is a joke. I'd have to drive several miles to a place where I could get a ride on the bus and then what do I do with my car? I could drive into downtown, rent a monthly parking space, wait for the bus (we don't exactly have an expanded schedule), take the bus as far as I could and then hitch the rest of the way.
5) Americans. Yep--you and me. Let's face it, as a country we are spoiled. And we have an endless, passionate love affair with our vehicles. We love convenience. We love driving. We love road trips, going places, seeing people and places. We are a nation of consumers. We don't think much about jumping in the car and hitting the local drive in for some dinner or picking up the phone and having something delivered. I've tried to make the changes that I can, but since we're pretty much homebodies there isn't a lot of fat in the gas diet to cut out. I'm trying to do errands on the way home to avoid the extra trip on the weekends. And if I can't do that, I try to make sure that I plan properly to avoid extra miles back tracking. There isn't anyone that I can carpool with to work and David & me work different hours so that option is out as well. But if we can all do a little bit, maybe we can make a big difference.
Like most things of this level and complexity, there doesn't seem to be a quick and painless solution. And yes, we Americans tend to like the quick fix, but we may have to accept that the solution won't be quick and it won't be painles.
1) The oil companies. They are quick to point out, while they're laughing all the way to the bank that they are not responsible for setting the gas prices. But let's face it, they would be throwing around their considerable weight if prices were down and their profits were in the tank. They could use that influence to help drive prices down, shave a couple billion off their profits and still be able to laugh on the way to the bank.
2) George W Bush. He managed to parlay the tragic events of 9/11 into an excuse to finish his daddy's unfinished business, but can't parlay the overthrow of a ruthless dictator into an oil deal. And his notion of a $100 rebate? Madness? Stupidity? Maybe a little bit of both. Put this up there with his $300 extra refund. Everyone likes to bash the democrats (I am a registered Independent) about their overly liberal spending, but the last Democrat left office and a huge surplas behind. A surplas that Dubba has turned into a record deficiet. Oh, and his cozy ties to the oil industry...surely that doesn't have anything to do with it?
3) Our addiction to fossil fuel...especially foreign fossil fuel. Sure building good trade relationships with other countries is important, but that doesn't mean we have to get caught with our pants down should the political winds change. (Egged on by idiots like Pat Robertson calling for the assasination of Venezuela's President.) And with countries like China growing in their deman for fuels, it isn't like these countries are having any trouble getting rid of their product.
4) Public Transportation. Or rather a lack of it in many areas. Where I live public transportation is a joke. I'd have to drive several miles to a place where I could get a ride on the bus and then what do I do with my car? I could drive into downtown, rent a monthly parking space, wait for the bus (we don't exactly have an expanded schedule), take the bus as far as I could and then hitch the rest of the way.
5) Americans. Yep--you and me. Let's face it, as a country we are spoiled. And we have an endless, passionate love affair with our vehicles. We love convenience. We love driving. We love road trips, going places, seeing people and places. We are a nation of consumers. We don't think much about jumping in the car and hitting the local drive in for some dinner or picking up the phone and having something delivered. I've tried to make the changes that I can, but since we're pretty much homebodies there isn't a lot of fat in the gas diet to cut out. I'm trying to do errands on the way home to avoid the extra trip on the weekends. And if I can't do that, I try to make sure that I plan properly to avoid extra miles back tracking. There isn't anyone that I can carpool with to work and David & me work different hours so that option is out as well. But if we can all do a little bit, maybe we can make a big difference.
Like most things of this level and complexity, there doesn't seem to be a quick and painless solution. And yes, we Americans tend to like the quick fix, but we may have to accept that the solution won't be quick and it won't be painles.
posted by Hope at 9:16 PM
2 Comments:
Right on the money with this one.
signed~spoiled American
Hi Hope
Ok, so I work for a company that supplies equipment to the petroleum Industry (Hey! stop throwing shit at me!)
No. 3 was exactly correct, the exploding growth in China (and India) have increased demand significantly.
But Hurricane Katrina also did a lot of damage where most of the U.S. oil refineries are...
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