Are You Ready for $5 A Gallon?
It is coming whether or not you are ready for it. In amazement and utter disgust, I watch the price of oil product change several times a day. Of late it has generally been increases.
I ask myself how do they get away with this? The oil companies have us exactly where they want us, but then haven’t they had us there since the seventies? I recall the gas lines as a child in California. Sitting in line for hours sometimes and then on alternating odd/even license plate number days. They made us wait in very uncomfortable circumstances for the privilege of “robbing and raping” us at the pump. Here we are all over again. I mean at least back, then they did try to explain themselves. Today we get no satisfaction, no explanations, and no respect. The prices change from one hour to the next and what do we do, we have to buy that gasoline. We have to get to work, go to school, etc.
I caution you to brace yourselves. The oil companies aggravate us to a point of exhaustion and then we are too tired to fight. We give in and become resentfully submissive. They actually gave us a reprieve during this holiday weekend but, I am confident they will reach the projected number before this autumn. This is a tactic to get us off guard. We take a deep breath or a sigh of relief, we think to ourselves, “It has finally leveled off” and then they start all over again with a vengeance.
What can we really do? Well you can limit unnecessary travel; don’t make extra trips to the store, pleasure rides, road trips or vacations using the car are a thing of the past. From now on when you think of your car and fueling up think of it as a necessary EVIL. You can buy smaller amounts of gas when you do need fuel, this will cause you to make more trips to the gas station, take up more of your valuable time, thus it will serve as a reminder of how taxing the process is. All we can do as consumers is to express our dissatisfaction in a way to get the oil companies attention and that is hitting them in the pocket, no matter how deep those pockets are. Don’t give in to the thought process that makes you think your participation will not count. It is that same line of thinking that keeps people from voting. Your voice does count, it does matter, and it can make a difference. Write your Congressman or State Representative. Perhaps if enough little voices express dissatisfaction, the combined outcry may get the needed attention. We have to realize that we may not get immediate results either, but if something is accomplished, if it is just media coverage saying, “Small Angry Group Voices Disdain”, it may be enough to attract more angry little voices or two or three BIG LOUD angry voices.
For the moment ride the teaser $3.59 per gallon gasoline. Forgive me here, but they are getting ready to give it to us without lubrication. When it comes, when it reaches $5.00 per gallon we will look back and tell our grandchildren, “I remember when gas was only…. “with tears in our eyes.
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