Oil on the Streets, It's up to Our Ankles

As I may have said before, I'm a small business owner in my neighboring Staunton, Va.. I work all the time to keep the income coming. I'm also very thankful that I'm one of the busiest repair shops around, when some of my competitors are scrimping for work. Two days ago I ran a few miles down the road at lunch to get a bite to eat. I pulled into this Mom and Pop station that has been as solid as stone for thirty years and noticed something peculiar... all the gas pumps had brown paper bags on the pump handles. I walked inside, grabbed what I needed, then proceeded to ask the owner lady why all the pumps were down. She informed me she hadn't sold gas for over three months. She said she couldn't afford it. The taxes were eating her up, and until THEY stopped getting crazy with these prices, she wasn't going to do it anymore.

That statement made me think. I know everyone is hurting right now. Where we live the current gas price is hovering around $3.69 for regular.

I just can't believe what is happening. I'm angry that this country's economy is strictly based upon what our oil industry buys from Arab Countries. How could WE, The United States of America have allowed ourselves to get in such a bind? Our economic structure should never depend on what others can and will inflict upon us.

Greed, unfortunately, is going to grind this country to a halt. For years car manufacturers have had the technology to give us fuel efficient vehicles with the capacity for 80 to 100 miles on a gallon of gas. You cannot tell me that if our top scientists can send a Space Shuttle into orbit, that we cannot develop more efficient modes of transportation.

THEY don't. And they won't until we demand a change.

I get very angry because I do care for all of us. We have to be a collaborative nation in order to succeed. We just allow things to happen to us because we say nothing and we remain ASLEEP because we feel our voice will never be heard or acknowledged.

I disagree.

This country was based upon WE THE PEOPLE.

I'm forty years old. I didn't expect to see such a great decline in the car business as I have in the last three to four months. I live in a rural Virginia setting. The Shenandoah Valley to be exact. Up and down the highways I see trucks, SUV's, and four wheel drives posted with FOR SALE signs in their windows. They're going cheap.

I keep telling everyone it's going to reach $5.00 a gallon before long. And when it does, people are going to freak. A lot of devastation is going to happen. There will be an uprising of angry people who are going to take revenge on the wrong people to blame.

If you have any comment about this article, please let me know. I'm going to dedicate a website in the very near future about this situation. I also invite any comments or complains you may have regard this subject and others regarding the state of our country.

Thank You,

J.J.Allen