Gas Prices Going Up and Up — Who Really Cares? What Price Does Gas Have To Be To Get YOU To Stop Driving?
Posted by Catherine Morgan on April 9, 2007
WHAT PRICE DOES GAS HAVE TO BE TO GET YOU TO STOP DRIVING? — by Catherine Morgan
I keep hearing about how consumers are not that concerned about the price of gas, as indicated by no visible drop in sales. This has got to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I mean really, 90% of the driving I do in a week, is not something I can just decide I won’t do. Even if gas is $5.00 a gallon, can any of us just stop driving? Maybe if you live in the city, and you can walk or take public transportation to many places.
“I don’t think about gas prices at all,” said Michael Machat, 48, a lawyer in West Los Angeles, where gasoline prices are among the highest in the country. As he filled up his BMW with super unleaded at $3.39 this week, he added, “I guess maybe if it was $10 a gallon, I’d think about it.” — READ FULL ARTICLE
If I need something from my shed, I can walk to it, but other than that I need to drive. The higher gas prices get, the less groceries I will be able to buy for my family, the less prescriptions I will be able to refill, and the more in debt I will become. But, I will have no choice but to continue to buy very much the same amount of gas as I am currently buying.
That may come as a relief to the gas and oil companies, and of course their shareholders, but it is a devastating reality to me and many other people. As a single mother, on a fixed income, and already struggling to pay the bills, I find the lack of concern about the price of gas by our government appalling. It is just another example of the declining middle class, and rich getting richer, while the poor become poorer. I’ve resolved the fact that I am poor, and I don’t really mind it, I don’t have any desire to have any more money than what I need to live…..But, I do think we all should have the right to be able to feed and cloth our children.
This country is spending millions on elections, and billions on war….but nobody can figure out how to keep gas prices low enough so a single mother can still afford to feed her kids. Something is really wrong with that.
How many people would still buy gas if the price was $5.00 a gallon? What about $6.00? $7.00? $8.00? Do we really have a choice?
If the price of milk went up to $10.00 a gallon, we would still have a choice to buy or not buy, there are still many other ways to get our calcium and quench our thirst. When the price of houses goes up or mortgage rates are too high, we can choose to stay where we are instead of moving. If the price of clothing went through the roof, the people that couldn’t afford new clothes could just continue to wear what they have, or go to second hand shops, or swap with friends and family. There are many options for people that don’t have a lot of money to manage when inflation hits. The one thing that can not be altered, is how much gas a person needs in a week or month.
So, all the talk in the media about consumer reaction to gas prices…..is only relevant to people that aren’t living pay check to pay check. The people who are being hurt by these increases in gas prices are the people that are not reflected in the consumer statistics. The people who are being hurt, are the people who are invisible, and don’t really matter, because they aren’t buying new cars, and boats. But, who really cares about those people anyway? Not you.
Two Steps Consumers Can Take To Lower Gas Prices
Can We Ever Kick The Oil habit? Gas Prices, Global Warming, War…..How do you contribute? — See this very interesting and informative YouTube video:
ALSO SEE: Is Global Warming Really That Big Of A Problem?
An Open Letter to the Presidential Candidates
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April 9, 2007 at 9:10 pm
This is just another economic vehicle forcing ordinary citizens into poverty. This is often framed as a pending choice, where consumers are having to drive less and adapt. But you are dead on. If you commute to work, that is not likely to change. Are you within walking distance of a grocery store? Biking distance? How many groceries can you fit on your bike for a single trip?
And then Bush trots out and reminds us all it is patriotic to spend.
This must produce an awful cognitive dissonance. To feel that everyone else must be richer, since the media and the President seem to assume as much in their coverage and comments! Yet to know that one’s friends, coworkers and family members all have face the same financial difficulty you do…
April 9, 2007 at 11:48 pm
You’re absolutely right. Unfortunately, people don’t seem to mind paying a little extra if they can afford it. The problem is that those people don’t represent or speak for the rest of us who can’t.
To make matters worse corn based ethanol is only going to keep the price of ethanol (compared to brewing ethanol from switch grasses) and corn high. So when we see the ethanol industry start to cut into the gasoline market we can all complain about how everything made from corn will be getting higher while our fuel costs are going to get only marginally smaller.
What about the fuel cell car? Fuel cell cars are a great alternative to polluting the air with carbon emissions, but they are in no way cheaper than our current gas models. The electric car was killed off in California in favor of the hydrogen car. See “Who killed the Electric Car?” at imdb.com for the horrific story on that.
What we really ought to do is lobby congress to keep companies like South West Airlines from killing high-speed train bills, and start effectively asserting real control over the big rail companies.
April 10, 2007 at 12:30 am
Thanks for the comments. I remember during the gas crisis in the 70’s, I was just a little girl. My teacher talked about how someday cars wouldn’t run on gasoline, and we had a project to design a car of the future. I was only in elementary school, so I didn’t have a “real” sense of what was possible or not possible. I can remember exactly what my car looked like…..it ran on water — I put a little water wheel where the engine was, the water made the wheel spin, and the wheel made the car run. Pretty funny. I never would have thought back then, that thirty years later, nothing would have changed.
April 12, 2007 at 9:41 am
the other thing with things like ethanol is that I hear that the gas mileage from ethanol isn’t as good as regular gasoline. So in the end does it really save you any money? As long as they can keep the price down because its manufactured here it would be worth it. But knowing the US, we’ll probably outsource it.
April 12, 2007 at 4:47 pm
I’m about ready to give on US. We are becoming just like the other countries but we still have to support them. This is okay if you were able to make it on a fixed income but most of us can not and have to work in order to live in this country. Because people take vacations in the summer is the reason for the gas hike. Will someone stop it. NO Our country is going to pieces and no one really cares as long as it does not effect them. Shame
April 12, 2007 at 5:20 pm
“B Miller” - I wish I could disagree with you on this one…..But, it is clear to me that most people don’t really seem to care, as long as problems are not affecting them. The best example is….When a Republican says they are only Republican because they don’t want tax increases….it doesn’t occur to them that a small tax increase for them could help many less fortunate. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against people being Republican (I even vote for some Republicans), I just hate it when they say that the only reason they are, is because they don’t want their taxes increased.
April 15, 2007 at 10:16 am
I Feel as though the politician’s of all parties dont really care unles you force there hand with the threat’s of no votes. This is ashame! I am in the Military forced to live near the coast. Of course prices are higher near the water. So to afford to live on the amount of money the military is paid (Not much) I am forced to live 30-40 miles inland. Now the price of fuel getting close to three dollars makes for a fuel bill of 80-100 dollars per week just to work. I dont get a limo ride to work on tax payers money. Maybe if I did I wouldnt really care about the price of gas either. I could go on an on but I will spare all my real feelings!
April 15, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Hi Bill,
I agree with you 100%.
April 15, 2007 at 12:18 pm
The issue as I see it is simple. Gas prices are uncontrolled. Gas prices are raised and lowered at whim, for any viable reason that can be thought of. War in a 3rd world country? gas goes up. Summer travel expected to be high? gas prices go up. Some country decides to build a nuclear power plant? gas prices go up. Whoopie Goldberg runs naked on the beach? gas prices go up. The problem is not the price going up per se, its the fact that the industry is a monopoly and uncontrolled/regulated. Oil is used to make gasoline. When there are no other sources of fuel for vehicles or heating big enough or vast enough to challenge oil, then oil becomes a monopoly.
Oil Companies set the oil price at whim, because they can. Do they care? no. who is going to boycot them? the world? As long as we depend on oil, they have a monopoly. A state can put a price freeze on gas stations, and so can the fed gov if they wanted to. But who is going to put a price freeze on Oil?
The answer has ALWAYS been, to develop other sources of fuel, (solar, electric,etc) in large enough quantities and “utilize” those sources (manufacturers especially) to integrate those sources into everyday use in order to produce a consumer “choice” other than oil. As long as oil goes unchallenged, the consumer will not have a choice but to pay whatever the whim of the oil company is.
BTW, on a side note, Buzz Pitman of Daytona Beach, Florida and his father produced a car engine that runs on water several years ago, and were not the only ones to do so. They’re lives were threatened by “Power and Industry” if they ever tried to patent and manufacture the engines.
Bruce DePalma (brother of famous movie producer/writer/director Brian DePalma) created an device the size of a tool cabinet that produces free electricity and runs perpetually that everyone could own and install in their home. Free Electricity. He was exiled from the United States, so he moved his research to New Zealand. Just as he had refined his device and ready for production, he got a “mysterious” illness that killed him. His research is public domain and always will be at http://depalma.pair.com
Why do we allow good people with good ideas and good solutions to be thwarted by Government?
April 15, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Thanks “Irocket” - Thanks for your comment. It is obvious to me that the whole “alternative fuel” business (or lack there of)…..is being squelched by “big-oil”. It is very sad that because of a handful of greedy businessmen….so many people have to suffer. The funny thing is, that when we do finally run out of oil….it will be these big “multi-billion dollar” companies that will benefit by monopolizing what ever energy source we do finally come up with.
April 24, 2007 at 11:52 pm
I feel as if there is something that needs to be done and no one is doing anything. What will it take to get lower gas prices?? CA gas prices are WAY TOO HIGH! I feel as if 3.00 is WAY TO MUCH for a gallon of gas. I think 2.25 is the highest I am willing to pay. We need caps on these things. If not we will just be paying higher and higher prices. Not fair at all and I am sorry but in the long run people will just adjust and live with it and there will be another hike - greed - that is what makes the rich richer!
April 24, 2007 at 11:55 pm
Hi Cindy,
Thanks so much for your comment. You might be interested in a post I did a few days ago….TWO STEPS CONSUMERS CAN TAKE TO HELP LOWER GAS PRICES. Let me know what you think.
http://informedvoters.wordpress.com/2007/04/22/two-steps-consumers-can-take-to-lower-gas-prices-stop-buying-gas-from-exxon-and-mobile/
May 2, 2007 at 8:48 pm
The week before Memorial Day everybody should do their shopping for the week-end. Have local get togethers. If we all stay off the roads that week-end the tankers of gas will be stacked up in every harbor and low and behold we just might see prices come down. It’s worth a try, if we all try it just might work.
COME ON PEOPLE LET’S TRY IT FOR THE SAKE OF QUALITY OF LIFE IN AMERICA.
May 2, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Sounds like a good idea to me. Thanks Jack.
May 9, 2007 at 7:44 am
TERRORISM IN THIS COUNTRY IS FORM THE OIL CAMPANYS.BOYCOT THEM ON MAY 15TH 2007
May 9, 2007 at 7:51 am
BOYCOT,BOYCOT,BOYCOT,BOYCOT THE TERRORIS ON MAY 15TH 2007.THAY ARE THE ONES THAT ARE KILLING THIS COUNTRY FROM WITH IN.
May 10, 2007 at 2:32 pm
It doesn’t matter how high gas prices go, I’m an oil price hostage. Why? I live at least 15 miles from the nearest public transportation. So far I’ve been lucky to be able to make a living from home, though it is getting harder and harder. If that should change I might have to spend a very large portion of my income just getting to and from work.
If I am lucky and can continue working from home I still need to drive in order to at least get food. No matter what our situation, the majority of Americans rely on oil. Seems they have us by the proverbial balls, don’t they.
May 21, 2007 at 11:25 am
Do we have choice say ‘NO’ to gas? Answer is NO. Are there any Government Gas Price Control Department? All we can do is save Gas as much as we can. Please cut extra expenses such as boating, RV or motorcycling. It’s time for you say NO to extra gas now.
May 22, 2007 at 11:34 am
I originally agreed with the boycott campaigne. However I have since heard some information that has swayed me and it makes sense. If we all continue to use gas the same as in the past a one day boycott will do nothing. Our goal should be for everyone to reduce their usage by one gallon a month. That, the oil companies will feel!
(It wouldn’t hurt if those of us who can reduce it even further.)
As far as boating, RV of motorcycling goes, we don’t need to give it up,take shorter or fewer trips.
December 9, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Congressman Paul is also an economist.
What Congress Can Do About Soaring Gas Prices
http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2006/cr050206.htm
Pain at the Pump
http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2007/tst112507.htm
Foreign Policy, Monetary Policy, and Gas Prices
http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2006/tst050806.htm