Tuesday, April 08, 2008

5 Phrases That Don't Make Me Feel Better About Gas Prices

1. They pay more for gas in Europe...
Europe built their cities for foot traffic and horses, so everything's close together and you can take public transportation or walk. I can't do that in Phoenix. It takes me two hours to get to work on the bus, and it would take me three or four hours to walk (I'm assuming, I'm not even going to try walking in this heat...)

2. Gas is still cheaper than milk...
But I don't need to buy ten gallons of milk every week.

3. High gas prices will drive us towards alternative energy sources...
If I could buy a car that ran on carrot juice right now, I would. But I can't. I'm still stuck with my gas-guzzling car that runs on plain old unleaded, and will be for the foreseeable future.

4. Gas prices are higher in other parts of the country...
Then I feel sorry for those poor saps, but I still feel sorrier for myself.

5. If you factor for inflation, prices are lower today than they were fifty years ago...
Well, for that to be comforting, I'd have to have my income factored for inflation to match.

4 comments:

Maurice Mitchell said...

I can't agree with you more. Every single one of those points are right on the money, especially the milk and inflation ones. I've thought of this one:
"The oil companies are just raising their prices to compensate for potential losses in the future."
Name one other industry that raises their prices because costs *might* rise in the future. You don't pay more for milk because some cows might get Mad Cow disease in the future. Most industries wait to see if the losses occur and try to compensate after the fact. Plus, what happens if the losses don't occur? Do the prices drop to compensate for the increased profit? Didn't think so.

Nigel G Mitchell said...

Yeah, it's all crap. How the oil companies can report record profits and still insist they're not making money is beyond me. Anyway, high prices are here to stay, so get used to it.

And how sweet is that photo? I get excited when I see $3 a gallon gas now, let alone $1.

Len said...

I tell my grandkids that I can remember paying seventeen cents a gallon for gasoline and they look at me like I've finally gone senile. Perhaps I have, but I really do remember when gas was $0.17/gallon. And to top it off, they had people that would come out and check your oil and tire pressure and wash all your windows. Really, they did!

And I really did walk five miles to school barefoot in the snow. So, there.

Great post, by the way!

Nigel G Mitchell said...

Amazing to think that only a year ago, gas prices below $2 were only a memory. Now they're back! We'll see how long it lasts.