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Last Updated: Jul 10, 2008 - 12:32:05 PM |
Hello and welcome to the upset world of the Dogpound.
As I sit here on Memorial Day weekend, I watch gasoline prices break the $4 barrier and there is no end in sight. What is even more troubling is that we are taking this with just a whimper. There are no protests; there are no banner headlines; there are no marches on Washington. Matter of fact, it does not seem to have much real impact anymore.
I talked to a number of folks at work and those who are taking a vacation trip around the holidays are driving to locations 8-9 hours away. They complain about the gasoline prices, but they are still going.
A senator, I believe from Indiana, was being interviewed and he was asked who was to blame for the rapid increase in oil and gas prices. He said, “You can point at big oil companies, you can point at the Arabs, you can point at the environmentalists, but you really need to point at an ineffective Congress who has not been able to pass an energy program that means anything in the past 30 years.”
I did some checking on what gas prices have been over the past years [thank goodness for the Internet, the in-your-house library] and found some interesting information. Ten years ago, around 1998, gas prices [all $s have been converted into today’s dollars], ran around the $1.50-$1.60 range. Twenty years ago, it was about $1.75, and thirty years ago prices were just over the $2 mark.
Remember that we were still dealing with the newly formed OPEC and their oil embargo that started in the early 70s. To give you a feel for the magnitude of the problem, ethanol has received a lot of attention, and recently a lot of controversy in that this program is taking grain out of the process, which is driving food prices up. However, the point here is that we subsidize this program at the tune of near 7 billion dollars, but that investment has been estimated to increase our oil independence by a whopping 1.1%.
It is a big problem, and that is why big government must step in with a serious program similar to our challenge to get a man on the moon. I am not saying we are entitled to cheap gas; what we are entitled to is a program that will ensure the safety of our economy and our way of life, not for us but for our children and our children’s children.
Gasoline Jokes
*The average national price of a gallon of gas hit an all-time record high; this means that wherever you’re going this summer, it might be cheaper to mail your car.
*They said on the news tonight that if gas prices get any higher, we could see something totally unprecedented here in California. People actually walking.
*Gas prices continue to rise. At the gas station near my house, they have a slot for your credit card and one right next to it for your 401K.
*President Bush announced his plan to increase the number of barrels (of oil) produced. You hear his plan? He wants to make smaller barrels.
*Gas is so expensive, SUV now stands for sport utility victim.
Time for me to go; going to walk to the store. As always be good, play safe, and remember cheap gasoline is not a way of life.
JR and Max
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