Rant Time
Warning: political rant coming through.
/rant on
So I'm driving down Route 23 today in desperate need of filling my car's tank. First place I see has regular gas at $3.24 a gallon. Next place I see has it at $3.21. After passing five gas stations the lowest I saw was $3.19 a gallon with the highest at $3.29 a gallon.
Why is gas so damn expensive?
(And yes, I realize New Jersey has incredibly cheap gas compared to the rest of the country. Our state doesn't have a heavy gas tax. Instead, they screw us with our property taxes.)
My dear Bear tells me it is because people are investing in gas futures driving the price up. Well fine. That is the way capitalism works. But if they are supposedly "paying" so much for gas, why is it that companies like Exxon are making record-breaking profits? Something is fishy here.
Back in 1960, when Kennedy was elected, the country was getting out of the third recession of the 1950s. One of the big concerns Kennedy had was not only another recession but also a rise in inflation. Because of that, he made sure the government got involved in negotiating new contracts between the steel companies and their workers so that the price of steel would not go up. In 1963, most of the steel companies raised their prices to handle "increase costs" (e.g., the new workers' contracts). Kennedy got incredibly pissed off. Why? Think of it this way: if the cost of steel goes up, what does that do to the price of most goods? Back then, steel was important in most major industries. If the price of steel goes up, the price of everything else must go up to compensate for the increased cost. Therefore, you have inflation. Kennedy not only made the DOD not buy any steel from companies who increased prices, he also got Bobby to start hearings in front of grand juries about price fixing.
What happened? The steel companies were forced to back down and lower prices. Of course, they were pissed off at Kennedy but most of America thanked him for it because it avoided inflation.
Fast-forward to 2008. What happens when the cost of gas goes up? The cost of everything else goes up. I'll put it to you this way: we have to pay an extra $3 a month to get our Poland Water delivered to us "until the price of gas goes below $2 a gallon." WTF?!!! All other industries are affected as well, especially those that require transport. What does this all mean? INFLATION.
So why the fuck isn't the government doing something about it? This is getting crazy. I am hearing that gas will cost as much as $4.00 a gallon by this summer! Can't these idiots see what kind of detremental effect this will have on our economy? I know the lobbyists have hands in quite a few of the Congressmen's pockets, but even they will be negatively affected by all of this.
Then again, we have a president who still has yet to admit we are in a recession.
Right now, if one candidate would claim that he/she would actually do something to end the ridicuous gas prices we have right now, I would vote for him/her no matter what other stances they have. I commute 90 miles a day and pay over $200 a month for gas. That's not including all the other things in my life that will go up in cost because of the rising gas prices. That is just outrageous.
Why hasn't any politician out there serious tried to do something? Why can't we have a president (or another other politician out there) that has enough balls to stand up to big industry? Then again, why aren't we as a people rising up and demanding change?
Bah.
/rant off
/rant on
So I'm driving down Route 23 today in desperate need of filling my car's tank. First place I see has regular gas at $3.24 a gallon. Next place I see has it at $3.21. After passing five gas stations the lowest I saw was $3.19 a gallon with the highest at $3.29 a gallon.
Why is gas so damn expensive?
(And yes, I realize New Jersey has incredibly cheap gas compared to the rest of the country. Our state doesn't have a heavy gas tax. Instead, they screw us with our property taxes.)
My dear Bear tells me it is because people are investing in gas futures driving the price up. Well fine. That is the way capitalism works. But if they are supposedly "paying" so much for gas, why is it that companies like Exxon are making record-breaking profits? Something is fishy here.
Back in 1960, when Kennedy was elected, the country was getting out of the third recession of the 1950s. One of the big concerns Kennedy had was not only another recession but also a rise in inflation. Because of that, he made sure the government got involved in negotiating new contracts between the steel companies and their workers so that the price of steel would not go up. In 1963, most of the steel companies raised their prices to handle "increase costs" (e.g., the new workers' contracts). Kennedy got incredibly pissed off. Why? Think of it this way: if the cost of steel goes up, what does that do to the price of most goods? Back then, steel was important in most major industries. If the price of steel goes up, the price of everything else must go up to compensate for the increased cost. Therefore, you have inflation. Kennedy not only made the DOD not buy any steel from companies who increased prices, he also got Bobby to start hearings in front of grand juries about price fixing.
What happened? The steel companies were forced to back down and lower prices. Of course, they were pissed off at Kennedy but most of America thanked him for it because it avoided inflation.
Fast-forward to 2008. What happens when the cost of gas goes up? The cost of everything else goes up. I'll put it to you this way: we have to pay an extra $3 a month to get our Poland Water delivered to us "until the price of gas goes below $2 a gallon." WTF?!!! All other industries are affected as well, especially those that require transport. What does this all mean? INFLATION.
So why the fuck isn't the government doing something about it? This is getting crazy. I am hearing that gas will cost as much as $4.00 a gallon by this summer! Can't these idiots see what kind of detremental effect this will have on our economy? I know the lobbyists have hands in quite a few of the Congressmen's pockets, but even they will be negatively affected by all of this.
Then again, we have a president who still has yet to admit we are in a recession.
Right now, if one candidate would claim that he/she would actually do something to end the ridicuous gas prices we have right now, I would vote for him/her no matter what other stances they have. I commute 90 miles a day and pay over $200 a month for gas. That's not including all the other things in my life that will go up in cost because of the rising gas prices. That is just outrageous.
Why hasn't any politician out there serious tried to do something? Why can't we have a president (or another other politician out there) that has enough balls to stand up to big industry? Then again, why aren't we as a people rising up and demanding change?
Bah.
/rant off
Comments
You are not alone, thanks from a like minded adult who was a teacher in a former life . I have worked for attorneys here in Houston for 25 years so I have the grown up version of your nightmare.
Please forgive the poor punctuation, I am in a post 4/15 melt down right now.
Ciao from the mommy of 6 cats .