High Gas Prices
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I am fed up with the continual increase in gas prices. It has caused my family to cut down to one car and even then we are struggling to keep gas in that car.
My husband has to commute 30 miles one way to go to work. If my calculations are correct, it averages out to be 300 miles a week, which is a full tank of gas. To that, you have to add doctor appointments, gorcery shopping, and bi-weekly trips to see our nearest relatives.
It is getting to the point that we have had to limit the amount of food that we purchase to feed our family because higher gas prices. The higher the prices for transportation cost has increased food cost, the higher the food cost the less that we can afford to buy. I am not referring to purchasing steak and other high costing foods; I am talking about the basics, MILK, EGGS, and BREAD.
For a family of five, we budget $100 for every two weeks. Yes that is little, but it buys the basics to survive. In my opinion, we need to do something to change it. Families should not be faced with buying food to feed their children and themselves or pay the high rising gas prices, which also include utilities.
In my opinion it was cazy when gas went above $80 a barrel and now with it over $100, it is, my opinion just STUPID and it shows how some people are so GREEDY. Greedy to the point that they are willing to make our whole nation suffer because they are ignorant when it comes to other people's needs to live.
My husband has to commute 30 miles one way to go to work. If my calculations are correct, it averages out to be 300 miles a week, which is a full tank of gas. To that, you have to add doctor appointments, gorcery shopping, and bi-weekly trips to see our nearest relatives.
It is getting to the point that we have had to limit the amount of food that we purchase to feed our family because higher gas prices. The higher the prices for transportation cost has increased food cost, the higher the food cost the less that we can afford to buy. I am not referring to purchasing steak and other high costing foods; I am talking about the basics, MILK, EGGS, and BREAD.
For a family of five, we budget $100 for every two weeks. Yes that is little, but it buys the basics to survive. In my opinion, we need to do something to change it. Families should not be faced with buying food to feed their children and themselves or pay the high rising gas prices, which also include utilities.
In my opinion it was cazy when gas went above $80 a barrel and now with it over $100, it is, my opinion just STUPID and it shows how some people are so GREEDY. Greedy to the point that they are willing to make our whole nation suffer because they are ignorant when it comes to other people's needs to live.
This, again is a good thing. People speak out about SUVs and unnecessary vehicles/commutes, etc. But that's where it ends - just talk.
People really need to start thinking carefully about "where" they work and "how" they get there. We are a commuters society and the market ($$) will adjust a lot of these bad habits that our society exhibits and now the upcoming "problem" that higher fuel prices will become a priority for people to address in general.
Remember, summer is fast approaching so we havne't seen the end of rising prices :(
Why needlessly? We are going to do the energy conservation anyway without headlining it. Most of the energy wastage is in buildings, and companies are going to build energy efficiency structures out of their own economic interest.
Secondly, some consumers need high occupancy vehicles. I for example drive 4 children to school everyday, and they all have to be in rear seats due to their young age. So something like a Chev Tahoe Hybrid or Escalade Hybrid is in my future. And I can juice them up with solar from the roof.
If we tell folks that their sports cars will beat Maserati or Dodge Viper, doing 0 to 60 in 3.2 seconds (no typo- three point two seconds!)., and if we tell folks they can drive around the vehicles they have now and pay 89 cents per gallon of "gas", then that eases folks into the green mindset.
I suggest easing folks into the water. Too many folks in the movement take a kind of puritanical attitude that everyone needs to be converted over to their point of view instantly, and what we need to do is just throw folks into the water.
It may feel like the righteous approach, but politics is about the art of the possible- let's make this easy for folks rather than get high and mighty with them.
Gas here is still wayyyy cheaper than it is in Europe (except maybe for you Hawai'ians), so radio jocks can shove that message.
I know so many people who drive all the way across town (1.5 hours of a commute) for a 25K job. That, to me is incredible. There are 50 places to work between these peoples' homes in the burbs and where they have to commute to. Again, bad habits on a wide scale. We have HOV lanes everywhere in my area - totally underutilized unless it's a Saturday night when everyone's going out. Unbelieveable.
It's funny that you have mentioned the .89 figure. I had a 4wd pickup a few years ago - that ran on propane, a full conversion. LPG was exactly .89 per gallon when fuel then was approaching $2.20..
And speaking of high and mighty, there's nothing wrong with acting in your own economic interest, and that's what higher fuel prices will do - hopefully. Personally I don't think that there is there anything high and mighty about calling people out on it either.
Good day.
Although I have no doubt that the oil companies are gouging, the fact is that India and China are building cars like crazy and we are competing for oil. OPEC isn't pumping more, so the price goes up. This would not change even if we nationalized all oil companies.
What we need to do is move over agressively to electric vehicles. It isn't just the fact that the price of gas is so high, but that we are sending about 1.5 billion PER DAY to the countries that would be our adversaries. Ironically, some of that money that pays for our gas funds Iran's nuclear program, and the extremists who are killing our troops in Iraq.
Thank Bush/McCain for their brilliant strategy on the mideast.
The vehicles I listed above are beefy american cars, but run on 89 cents per "gallon"*, so why isn't Detroit building them like crazy? Because the batteries needed for average daily driving can add about $10K to the price of the car.
What we need is a way to erase that cost. Like a government program to sponsor loans for the batteries that are paid back through electricity surcharges. That way, the consumer buys the car for the same as a gas car and still pays much less than you would for gas. More details on this proposal may be found here: (Link ).
*Assumes that you pay your electricity company 10 cents per kilowatt hour, the national average.
I would love to be able to afford a hybrid, but honestly folks, we are a family that is one paycheck away from losing everything.
We only have a 93 Buick Skylark that has over 250,000 miles it---the other car that we "retired" is my 97 Buick LeSabre (the gas hog).
I live in a small community and everything is within walking distance, so conserving gas during the day is nothing new for us. It is sort of funny actually, the kids and I take the wagon to the grocery store and go grocery shopping.
My husband has no other choice but to commute because that is where the top paying jobs are. Yes he could find a job in our small town, but in reality, who can really afford to work for min. wage of 6.50 an hour and pay for three children, food, mortgage, and utilities?
I honestly would like to know who keeps saying that our economy is growing...I would love the chance to give them a "slap" of reality and make them live like the rest of society lives, even if is cost them their filet minon dinner for a week.