Gas jumped from $3.17/gallon this morning to $3.49/gallon this morning.
It's piracy. Outright piracy.
And the not-so-funny thing? They can get away with it because everyone I talked to said basically the same thing.
"We all have to buy it; we have no choice."
"We have to get back and forth to work. How else can we live?"
Which is true, in a sense. And the people who are feeling the pinch aren't the people who need to change their habits. The people who are feeling the pinch make $7.00 an hour at a 20 hour a week job, for whatever reason. Lack of education, whatever. That part doesn't really matter at the moment.
They already don't make unnecessary trips. They already watch their gas tank's gauge like hawks, eking out one more mile on fumes because they know they can't buy any more gas until payday. They're the ones that are making McDonald's dollar menu so popular, because they can't afford anything else to eat.
The people who need to change are the people driving the SUVs--the seven-passenger vehicles; the Hummers--who have two incomes, higher education (wouldn't that conceivably make them smarter?), and 'professional' careers, and they won't change because they're not getting hit where it counts. Sure, they complain, but they also have $40,000 in CDs in the bank and consumer debt of over $9,000.
They are the 32 million people who intend to travel over 100 miles this Memorial Day weekend. Until they change their consumption, the gas prices will continue to rise. I predicted that we'd see $3.50/gallon by the Fourth of July--I was wrong by a month.
They've never gotten up in the morning and had to decide--do I take a sick day to day so I can buy groceries/feed my children/feed my pets? (If those low-wage workers get sick days, that is.)
They've never had a late fee in their life. They wouldn't know how to rob Peter to pay Paul. They don't think twice about spending $10 on lunch at the office, or donating $20 to the baby shower fund.
And it is only when these people begin to change their consumption will the gas prices fall.
If every person who intended to travel over Memorial Day decided en masse to stay home--now that might get the idea across. Until then, prices will continue to rise. And rise. And rise.
And pretty soon, workers won't be able to afford the drive to work. And pretty soon, the stores will suffer even more, because it's a big circle, you realize; when one spoke on the wheel breaks, another will soon follow. And then another, and then another, until the whole thing falls apart.
I really don't want to be around when that happens.
It's piracy. Outright piracy.
And the not-so-funny thing? They can get away with it because everyone I talked to said basically the same thing.
"We all have to buy it; we have no choice."
"We have to get back and forth to work. How else can we live?"
Which is true, in a sense. And the people who are feeling the pinch aren't the people who need to change their habits. The people who are feeling the pinch make $7.00 an hour at a 20 hour a week job, for whatever reason. Lack of education, whatever. That part doesn't really matter at the moment.
They already don't make unnecessary trips. They already watch their gas tank's gauge like hawks, eking out one more mile on fumes because they know they can't buy any more gas until payday. They're the ones that are making McDonald's dollar menu so popular, because they can't afford anything else to eat.
The people who need to change are the people driving the SUVs--the seven-passenger vehicles; the Hummers--who have two incomes, higher education (wouldn't that conceivably make them smarter?), and 'professional' careers, and they won't change because they're not getting hit where it counts. Sure, they complain, but they also have $40,000 in CDs in the bank and consumer debt of over $9,000.
They are the 32 million people who intend to travel over 100 miles this Memorial Day weekend. Until they change their consumption, the gas prices will continue to rise. I predicted that we'd see $3.50/gallon by the Fourth of July--I was wrong by a month.
They've never gotten up in the morning and had to decide--do I take a sick day to day so I can buy groceries/feed my children/feed my pets? (If those low-wage workers get sick days, that is.)
They've never had a late fee in their life. They wouldn't know how to rob Peter to pay Paul. They don't think twice about spending $10 on lunch at the office, or donating $20 to the baby shower fund.
And it is only when these people begin to change their consumption will the gas prices fall.
If every person who intended to travel over Memorial Day decided en masse to stay home--now that might get the idea across. Until then, prices will continue to rise. And rise. And rise.
And pretty soon, workers won't be able to afford the drive to work. And pretty soon, the stores will suffer even more, because it's a big circle, you realize; when one spoke on the wheel breaks, another will soon follow. And then another, and then another, until the whole thing falls apart.
I really don't want to be around when that happens.
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