- George Bush - It's hard to believe that oil prices would be this high if half of the Middle East wasn't under attack. Furthermore, I just don't like the guy (can you say worst president ever?) so I'll blame him for anything I can.
- The big oil companies - I suspect that they just use any excuse to jack their prices up, with the latest being that OPEC just can't keep up with demand. Of course, maybe this time it's real (see the first item).
- Individual gas station owners - I used to work at a Chevron station, and our gas prices had as much to do with what the guy down the street was charging as they did with what we actually paid per gallon of gas. In other words, the prevailing view seems to be "What's the most that I can charge without losing business to the guy across the street?"
- The auto industry - with all the technology we have today is there really any need to keep coming up with new models that only get 8-15 miles per gallon? Is it really so hard to comprehend that fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource? Once they're gone, they're gone for good, or at least for the next 200 million years or so until the earth can generate some more.
- The American people - would the auto industry be pumping out cars that get bad gas mileage if people would actually quit buying them? My intuition says no. Not only that, but we're an extremely lazy and wasteful society. Is it necessary to drive your H2 around the parking lot at Target 50 times so you can get the closest parking space available? How about to drive a block to the store to pick up a loaf of bread, a container of milk and a stick of butter?
The truth is, we Americans have been spoiled. We're complaining about gas prices being over $3/gallon, but that's still a lot less than what other countries have to pay (excluding those in the Middle East, like Qatar were gas is only $0.49/gallon-thanks Sam). I believe that gas prices were at least this high in Europe when I was still in high school and it cost just over a dollar for a gallon of gas here in the U. S. (that's right, I could fill up my 1977 Chevrolet Caprice Classic for less than what I'm paying now to fill up my Mercury Mystique with its 14 gallon tank). Now it's up to something like $5 or $6 per gallon over there (I could actually look it up, but I'm still just as lazy as ever).
Perhaps this quote from Bill Maher puts it into perspective though "Gas prices are so high, it's enough to make you choke on your $4 latte!" I think that as long as a gallon of gas costs less than a gallon of milk (which happens to be a renewable resource), then we probably ought not to complain. Even though I just did.
6 comments:
It's all about supply and demand, and you forgot to blame China...With their up-and-coming middle-class buying cars and increasing their energy demands, there is a lot more demand in the world for gas/oil. It's actually going to be a lot scarier in the future when energy becomes more scarce...societies need energy to survive, and they will be willing to do whatever necessary to obtain that energy.
Oh, and didn't all of the liberals say that Bush was invading Iraq to get their oil and make oil prices come down? Guess that conspiracy theory was blown all to hell...
I don't think anyone will do anything until people are freaking out and the streets are running red with blood. People won't freak out until they show up to the pump and nothing comes out.
BMW has been making hydrogen powered cars since the mid-90's that work every bit as well as the gas powered cars but hasn't mass produced them because people would have a hard time finding the fuel. A common complaint is that separating water into its hydrogen/oxygen components requires energy itself (in our backwards country, probably powered by coal --- have you seen those stupid commercials where little kids try to sound smart and talk about what a great idea it is to burn a lot of coal? Is this the 1800's or what?)
People come up with interesting ideas like putting solar collectors in orbit and beaming the energy down to earth using microwaves but it doesn't even have to be that complicated. Why doesn't anyone talk about geothermal energy anymore?
And there are many countries in need of humanitarian aid more than Iraq. They just aren't part of Bush's agenda. I don't think "Operation Quicksand" was aimed at lowering gas prices, I think its meant to strong-arm our way into a favorable position in controlling and obtaining their oil supplies. You don't think Bush and Cheney's inner-circles of friends are posting record profits off high gas prices? Cha-ching!
It also puts them in a position to throw no-bid-construction contracts at their friends like Haliburton.
You also have to factor into the equation: Bush is straight-up retarded.
How much do you pay for milk? At Costco I get it for <$2, which is quite a bit less than we're paying for fuel. You're certainlt right about Dubya, though. Is it 2008 yet??
Well, I live in Vegas and drink special milk that costs me about $3/half gallon. Of course, that's from the grocery store just down the street. I could probably get it cheaper if I was willing to drive all the way down to Costco too, but I'm not.
My main point is that with non-renewable resource that we're going to be running out of it's surprising that gas prices have been so low for so long. I really think we're going to have to run out before people start to care about it though.
Oh, and Psycho, I think you and I are going to have to disagree on this one. Just because gas prices are high now doesn't mean that it oil didn't play a role in the initial decision. Or should I say Cheney's initial decision. I don't think our president is smart enough to have a thought of his own. But that's ok. You can still like the doofus. I guess somebody has to.
i'm going to comment on the important part of this post:
i thought it was a "carton of milk" that went with the loaf of bread and a stick of butter
i just did a google search for the cartoon from sesame street. i didn't really find out whether or not it was carton or container, but plenty of others have the same question.
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