May 2008
What the Media Refuses to Admit About Gas Prices
05/26/08 06:08 PM Filed in: Media | Indiscriminate
Ah, summer. A time for
good and bad things to start happening again, like
they do every year. A time for flowers and trees to
start blooming, for grass to start growing, and farms
to be planted. A time when new music starts to be
released, both good
and
absolutely
horrible (has music lost all intelligence
... and clarity?) music. The time of the year when
far too many girls realize they can again dress
like skanks and still remain warm (could you
possible wear any less threads?). People start
camping and fishing, the smell of freshly mowed
grass is wherever you go, the gnats and bugs
become killer, you can finally feel good about
eating ice cream, multiple summer blockbusters are
opening every weekend (especially in June), and
the price of gas continues to relentless soar.
The media does a fantastic job of blaming the Bush administration; everyone wants to make sure the next president is going to do something about the outrageous treatment of our friends in the Middle East so they'll lower the price of oil. Obviously, if the war was over gas prices would go down, since we're fighting in oil-sensative zones, right? And let's not forget those "don't buy gas" days we all keep getting Facebook invitations to.
Sorry. That's not going to work. And unless our next president can get our economy fixed up, canceling a war won't fix the gas prices either. This is because the war isn't actually going on in oil-sensative zones anymore, despite what the media continues to say. I know we all became paranoid about gas prices and terrorism in 2001 and have associated gas prices with terrorism from that point on, but, for the most part, they're unrelated these days.
In 2002, the US dollar was equivalent to the Euro, one for one. In 2008, one USD will buy you 0.63 Euros. For a fancy graph, check out this Wall Street Journal article which will explain this all better than I ever could. Foreign oil prices are up a bit, but the majority of the fault lies with our decaying economy and especially the dollar.
So, while people complain (and the media continues to do it it's job: Misinforming the public) about the Bush administration doing an awful job, and the war in the Middle East driving our gas prices higher and higher, you now know the real reason for our high gas prices. And, next time you're filling up your tank and subsequently emptying your bank account, just think how fortunate you are. After all, unless you live in California, the vast majority of other countries still pays far more for one gallon of gas than you do. Europe pays over 8 dollars (5 Euros) for a gallon of gas, and they aren't even panicking over there.
News Flash: Boycotting gas prices? Participating in those "Don't Buy Gas" days? That's only going to drive the price of gasoline higher. If a successful boycott were actually carried out (most successfully on a single distributor), the result would be less competition for the remaining companies, thus driving the price UP not DOWN because they would have less reason to price competitively. More than likely, however, a successful boycott is near impossible since one day of sales won't hurt a gasoline retailer; the customers will simply buy it all back the next day. We all have to get to work, right? (As a side note, I have yet to find a Facebook group that actually spells boycott correctly. There are two t's. My generation is going down the pitiful ...)
You want gas prices to go back down? Cut up your credit cards and purchase things up front, like you actually have money for them, not on credit.
The media does a fantastic job of blaming the Bush administration; everyone wants to make sure the next president is going to do something about the outrageous treatment of our friends in the Middle East so they'll lower the price of oil. Obviously, if the war was over gas prices would go down, since we're fighting in oil-sensative zones, right? And let's not forget those "don't buy gas" days we all keep getting Facebook invitations to.
Sorry. That's not going to work. And unless our next president can get our economy fixed up, canceling a war won't fix the gas prices either. This is because the war isn't actually going on in oil-sensative zones anymore, despite what the media continues to say. I know we all became paranoid about gas prices and terrorism in 2001 and have associated gas prices with terrorism from that point on, but, for the most part, they're unrelated these days.
In 2002, the US dollar was equivalent to the Euro, one for one. In 2008, one USD will buy you 0.63 Euros. For a fancy graph, check out this Wall Street Journal article which will explain this all better than I ever could. Foreign oil prices are up a bit, but the majority of the fault lies with our decaying economy and especially the dollar.
So, while people complain (and the media continues to do it it's job: Misinforming the public) about the Bush administration doing an awful job, and the war in the Middle East driving our gas prices higher and higher, you now know the real reason for our high gas prices. And, next time you're filling up your tank and subsequently emptying your bank account, just think how fortunate you are. After all, unless you live in California, the vast majority of other countries still pays far more for one gallon of gas than you do. Europe pays over 8 dollars (5 Euros) for a gallon of gas, and they aren't even panicking over there.
News Flash: Boycotting gas prices? Participating in those "Don't Buy Gas" days? That's only going to drive the price of gasoline higher. If a successful boycott were actually carried out (most successfully on a single distributor), the result would be less competition for the remaining companies, thus driving the price UP not DOWN because they would have less reason to price competitively. More than likely, however, a successful boycott is near impossible since one day of sales won't hurt a gasoline retailer; the customers will simply buy it all back the next day. We all have to get to work, right? (As a side note, I have yet to find a Facebook group that actually spells boycott correctly. There are two t's. My generation is going down the pitiful ...)
You want gas prices to go back down? Cut up your credit cards and purchase things up front, like you actually have money for them, not on credit.
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