gas
When are americans going to wise up and stick together on this fuel issue and gather together our strength against this government? everyone is saying how wrong it is for the fuel prices to just keep going up but what are we doing about it?
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I hate to disagree, but it is NOT government's fault that the price of gas is going up. As much as I don't like the price either, it's called the free enterprise system. Nobody is forcing you to buy gas. I don't see that SUV's are declining, nor do I see any rush to the dealers to dump 'em for economy cars, either. And I don't see them 4-to-a-seat on the commute to work. MILLIONS of cars, gas-guzzling pickup trucks and SUV's hit the road everyday with ONE person in them. Wanna see fuel prices drop? Simple. STOP! THINK! COMBINE! Think: do I HAVE to run out to idly shop today? Can this trip WAIT until tomorrow? If I DO have to drive today, what OTHER errands can I do while I am passing the same place I will pass tomorrow on another errand? Right, COMBINE trips so that we don't habitually, and idly, pop into the car on every whim. No one can convince me that Americans aren't the most wasteful people in the world when it comes to self-indulgence and the senseless pilfering away fuel on whims. If we have jobs, most of us drive ONE car to work simply because we have become used to the freedom. Everybody else is driving to work, too!
Carpool to work with 2-3 people so that you only have to drive every 2nd or 3rd week. It saves TONS of fuel---and money. I know: I used to do it back the 70's and 80's after the fuel "shortages". It works. But we have forgotten the lessons of that situation and gone back into the habits we had before 1974. Before then we had HUGE cars that got 12-16 mpg. Detroit got busy and produced more fuel-efficient cars and smaller cars. But, no, we didn't want that when gas dropped back down to 89.9. We had to have those HUGE pickups and Expeditions to enjoy those prices with. Now we are right back in the same shape as before; IOW, we exchanged monster Cadillac sedans and Ford Galaxies for gas-sucking SUV's and expect the price of fuel to be .50!
Folks, as much as I don't like it either, it's called supply and demand. If you haven't noticed, the USA isn't the economic powerhouse it used to be where all good things gravitate to Kansas. Other nations' industrial might is beginning to wake up and the D E M A N D for oil has increased tenfold. Again, it is our OWN fault. NO sir, we had to buy clothes from China instead of the US factory, shoes from Malaysia, and cars from Korea instead of here at home. We send our dollars overseas for goods and our workers home without jobs. We send our jobs overseas and cut our grass with Mexican-made lawn mowers and yell CONSPIRACY!!!!!!! when our OWN job is cut.
We LOVE our Lexus'es and Hondas and scorn the reliable old Chevy or Ford we used to drive. We demand to be paid $35 an hour plus benefits and go on strike because the job we squeezed dry is being done for a buck a day in China. And, of course, we gotta have somebody to blame, so it's the President or the government because WE can't be held responsible for our own actions. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SIR!
It's a "conspiracy" because we sheeple cannot think for ourselves how to impact economics, nor do we understand the mechanics of capitalism that allow the market to "set" prices at a reasonable level. A "reasonable" price is one that the market will bear, folks. And so long as "WE" DEMAND the commodity, the price will gravitate to a point the market will support! When the demand drops; that is, WE stop driving so much, making unnecessary trips, commuting to work ALONE, demanding a "vacation" as a "right", stop driving Ford Exploders and Surburbans, the price of fuel will DROP! SIMPLE!!!!!!
Therefore just STOP and consider the old adage: Is this trip REALLY necessary? Or is it just an indulgence? Can you stay home an extra night instead of bowling or shopping? Can you find a carpool buddy? Betcha ya can if you try! If every driving American would save just ONE gallon of gas a day, how much would that save? Doesn't seem like much, but when you think of it, it is a LOT. Five hundred thousand drivers a day saving one gallon of gas a day X 7 days = 3,500,000 gallons of gas a week. Just ONE gallon! How long do you think it would take for gas to drop at the pump below $2.00? It would put BIG OIL in a
tizzy!!
They would HATE that!!!
IF government now has a failing, it is their silence on an energy policy. They should be saying exactly what I put here in this thread. Bush is NOT evil, nor is he a conspirator, nor is he "bad". I will not debate the war which, despite some contentions, had nothing to do with oil. If it did, gas would be about 1.89 a gallon! However, he is an oil man and may not see "oil" the same way the public sees it--simply viewing it as not a big deal as opposed to a hot war right now. I think he sees it somewhat the way I do in that the market will take care of itself and and the price of oil will be whatever the market will bear. Nobody likes paying the prices we have now and it HURT$!!!! But nobody is forcing you to buy it and you CAN do something about it! Don't DRIVE so much! 8)
73
CWM