As gas prices inch ever closer to $4, I have begun hearing about these "movements," like the "Give Up Gas for a Day" event. And I have been asked whether D and I are factoring in the cost of gas into our Disney World budget since we are driving there and back.
Perhaps because not too terribly long ago we saw gas edge up close to $4 and then back down, I am not as blown away by this situation as everyone else seems to be. Perhaps because D and I drove around Iceland and paid waaaaaaay more than $4 a gallon/liter for gas, I'm not undone by US gas prices inching up to match what people in other countries have been paying for years.
Driving to Florida for a family of 5 is still a hell of a lot cheaper than flying. And even if gas is $5 a gallon or $6 a gallon we will pay nowhere near what we are gonna shell out for 3 days worth of tickets into Disney World.
Whenever I hear people bitch about gas prices and invite me on Facebook to participate in "Give Up Gas for A Day" or whatever nonsense, I understand why many people throughout the world think that Americans are a bunch of doofi (I'm assuming this would be the plural of doofus). Americans, in general, don't want to be inconvenienced. We think that if we just lay off gas for a solid 24 hours, BP and Shell and Chevron will see that we mean business and beg us to come back to using gas.
My own personal belief is that it is gonna have to get a whole hell of a lot worse before people understand that they are going to have to make real, legitimate and LONG-TERM life changes.
Caroline Baum wrote an article in which she expertly noted that, "Along with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, Americans wants a guarantee of cheap gas prices." Furthermore Baum notes that, "Americans don't want cuts in their Medicare and Social Security benefits. They don't want to pay higher taxes." In short, they (or we) don't want to give up anything, and we don't want to sacrifice in order to have anything either. We want the government to take care of everything, but we want to government out of our business too. We want loads of government programs, but we also don't want the deficit to continue to be as high as it is.
We are a country of 3-year-olds, and I know because I live with a completely fucking insane 3-year-old. All 3-year-olds are bonkers who want exactly what they want when they want it and throw a grand-mal fit when they don't get it.
Political diatribe over.
Driving to Florida for a family of 5 is still a hell of a lot cheaper than flying. And even if gas is $5 a gallon or $6 a gallon we will pay nowhere near what we are gonna shell out for 3 days worth of tickets into Disney World.
Whenever I hear people bitch about gas prices and invite me on Facebook to participate in "Give Up Gas for A Day" or whatever nonsense, I understand why many people throughout the world think that Americans are a bunch of doofi (I'm assuming this would be the plural of doofus). Americans, in general, don't want to be inconvenienced. We think that if we just lay off gas for a solid 24 hours, BP and Shell and Chevron will see that we mean business and beg us to come back to using gas.
My own personal belief is that it is gonna have to get a whole hell of a lot worse before people understand that they are going to have to make real, legitimate and LONG-TERM life changes.
Caroline Baum wrote an article in which she expertly noted that, "Along with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, Americans wants a guarantee of cheap gas prices." Furthermore Baum notes that, "Americans don't want cuts in their Medicare and Social Security benefits. They don't want to pay higher taxes." In short, they (or we) don't want to give up anything, and we don't want to sacrifice in order to have anything either. We want the government to take care of everything, but we want to government out of our business too. We want loads of government programs, but we also don't want the deficit to continue to be as high as it is.
We are a country of 3-year-olds, and I know because I live with a completely fucking insane 3-year-old. All 3-year-olds are bonkers who want exactly what they want when they want it and throw a grand-mal fit when they don't get it.
Political diatribe over.
2 comments:
I heart this post! We are a nation of 3-year-olds much too often...
I agree with a lot of this Carrie - I think it is going to take these higher prices for consumers to demand and manufactures to provide (at relatively reasonable cost) much more efficient vehicles. The only thing that I really dislike about our van is how poor the gas mileage is... I don't think we're buying anything new anytime soon but I would lobby hard to spend the $ for a hybrid van if it were available.
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