Gas prices are up 25 cents from January, and in all probability will top the record ($4.11 in July 2008) by the end of April. That's when refineries begin producing a different, more expensive formula required for summer.
Photo: SeniorLiving.Org
At a time when more oil production at home remained shelved, along with the Keystone pipeline project, one wonders where the outrage is. American consumers are struggling to make ends meet, and although the current administration says it is doing everything it can to bring prices down, the policies just aren't working. Wouldn't it be nice to get ahead of a problem instead of chasing one?
The national average this year began at $3.28 a gallon. So far this month, the price has jumped to $3.49, reports MSNBC. Prices are much higher on the two coasts because states charge higher taxes on gas, and in New York and California, the average is around $3.70. That's a huge hit for the American household. Add to that the skyrocketing cost of food, and once again, where's the outrage?
Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research said, "When the price gets anywhere near $4, you really see people react." That may be true, but waiting for something to happen to react seems like an ostrich policy. This administration should act, not wait to react.
So once again, consumers endure the destructive brunt of indecision. They will drive less, unless of course they have the luxury of a hybrid vehicle, which most can't afford to begin with.
The high gas prices at the pumps this early in the year are a gloomy indication of what is to come, with Spring just around the corner. There will be dire consequences in store for the American consumer, at a time when most just can't afford another set-back, but it's curious that there doesn't seem to be the same outrage that has surfaced in the past.
Gas prices are just the tip of the iceberg. Have you bought a pound of butter or cheese lately? Perhaps consumers have just become immune to sticker shock at the grocery store...and at the pumps.
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Comments: 22
In my own town one of the Republican committee members (the entire board is republican, thank goodness) has this idea of converting the town's fleet to natural gas. The reason? Not only do we have a lot of the stuff, because we have a lot of the stuff we can be confident that the price will remain affordable for a long time (at least the length of time of the cars we are purchasing). Now that is not for everybody, but consider this; the more people we get to switch the less demand for regular gas and thus … the price will drop!
Electric cars (NOT THE ONE FROM GOVERNMENT MOTORS) is also a solution in dense urban areas. And remember, these cars recharge from the grid at night when only coal fired plants are running. Imagine, running a car on coal; how cool is that?
We would have so many options with a change of POTUS. Remember that in November!
It gains us everything since real polution is local. Ozone, for example, is a good and wonderful thing in our upper atmosphere, but can cause sickness and death when trapped in urban areas. The same thing is true for most polutants. Having one type of polution in a dense urban area is always worse than a different type of polution in an area where the concentrations can be dirbursed and cause minimial damage.
That's basic common sense.
So now, we come to the other points to your argument, toxins and radioactive materials. Particulate matter is a serious concern. So too is radioactive materials (A 1,000 MW coal-burning power plant could have an uncontrolled release of as much as 5.2 metric tons per year of uranium (containing 74 pounds (34 kg) of uranium-235) and 12.8 metric tons per year of thorium.) Coal ash itself can contain arsenic and lead.
On the other hand, is not “filthy” a relative term? I mean if coal is filthy then what is the automobile. Cars emit the following filthy emissions: Nitrogen oxides (a precursor to smog and acid rain), particulate matter (causes negative health effects, including but not limited to respiratory disease and cancer), and volatile organic compounds, all released into dense urban areas with crowded populations of people.
Have you ever seen the commercial for the Nissan Leaf? The commercial shows a world where everything is running off some gas-guzzling engine, from cell phones to music devices to even the dentist’s drill. There is an old French saying “the perfect is the enemy of the good.” In other words, nothing is perfect; we trade off bad things for less bad. Searching for the perfect only leaves us with the things that are bad because we never find the perfect.
What good does "outrage" do?
Too many forces beyond the control of consumer "outrage."
Competition from across the planet for oil to be refined.
Costs of obtaining, refining and delivering the product to the consumer.
Taxes added hopefully used to maintain driving infrastructures. Part of the tax to assist in paying for mass transit and other goodies.
Speculators who are allowed to affect the cost of oil via an economic system that allows them to do so (within the USA, unsure how the situation is handled elsewhere but the USS is notorious for allowing the skimming of wealth via infrastructures, various "institutions" etc. Just as wealth that should be used only for medical care is diverted to pass wealth to folks not at all involved with healing the sick... typical skimming that the masses of citizens suffer immensely from).
Many "things" that affect the price of gas, diesel fuel, house heating oil etc.
Generally, scum politicians have little to no control over affairs.
And interfering with costs could possibly only make matters worse!!!
Switch to more fuel efficient vehicles. Drive less. Drive "smart," I see so MANY drivers fighting the traffic's flow, not driving logically and sensibly, etc. A well-honed, aware driver can detect the ignorant drivers in MANY ways.
"Hurry!!! Step on it, Mabel. The light ahead is red. If we speed up maybe we can reach it in time so we have to stop!!!!"
Sound silly? It is. But so many drivers I see do just that.
Technological advances may assist in using controlled stop and go lights to assist logical traffic flow.
So many different things We, the People can do to save gas, etc.
For the working-poor doing the best they can and performing tasks society needs/wants done at the pitifully low minimum wage and near that (lagging far behind the cost of living) perhaps some sort of tax rebate or something.
Let's work together, folks.
Less demand, generally, assists in driving down costs or at least assists in minimizing rising costs.
Good Luck!!!
well it is not in the media - but it is there.
the media only reports, and shows outrage when we have a gop potus - even tho BOTH parties are at fault!
milk and butter? - oh well those are diary products, and it takes fielfd corn to feed them, which is sky high, because we insist on paying companies to convert it to ethanol (which is more expensive, worsens gas mileage, and creates more polution).
the record high price of corn caused that - as well as, because every farmer is growing more corn, there is lower production of soy bean, cotton, oats, wheat and other farm crops - which drives up prices on bread, cereal, clothing and many other products!
you know - the stuff we buy every week and month?
buit of course those items are not counted fairly in the stated inflation rate.
as as long as the STATED rate is better - they can say the economy is improving!!!!!!
Happy sheeple.