Thursday, September 04, 2003
The Great American Starving Rat Race
"Roughin' it in the great outdoors
Guidebooks tell us where to go
Winnebago Warrior
Slow down traffic, climbing hills
30 gallons to the mile
Honey, quick, the polaroid
Winnebago Warrior
Brave as old John Wayne
Winnebago Warrior
A true yankee pioneer..." ~ 'Winnebago Warrior' - The Dead Kennedys
Yes folks, I'm talking about gas prices. Your gas prices. They just keep going up! And up! And up! And UP!
"What to do", you ask? Well, we as Americans can start by not being such fucking pigs and learn to conserve a little, for starters. Because let's face it, Americans are like a swarm of flies nesting on one gigantic piece of petroleum shit when it comes to gas consumption. Production and consumption have become the two key definitive words that describe American oil companies and motorists, respectively.
"But no", you say, "I can't go without my car! It's the only form of transportation that I have! I need my car!"
And therein lies the problem. Over the past 60 years or so, American motorists have become slaves to their vehicles much like couch potatoes are slaves to their remotes, or how fatasses are slaves to their rate of food consumption. American motorists just can't stop driving, half of the time needlessly, to points of destination that really serve no purpose to their daily lives. And no, I'm not including the majority of motorists that utilize their automobiles to get to work every morning. I'm talking about the "Winnebago Warriors" that were eulogized in the Dead Kennedys song that I quoted above. I'm also talking about the Fast And The Furious Rice Boys that like to soup their little gas-guzzlers up way past what is road-necessary. I'm also talking about the cruisers, the drag racers, the low-riders with their hydraulics, the Sunday drivers, the SUV gas hogs, etc. who all have the nasty tendency to drive their way to nowhere in this country for no particular reason but to get there and then home again.
According to Oil360.org, American motorists consume about 1 out of every 9 barrels of oil used in the world, and consume about 130 billion gallons of gasoline a year, or an average of 690 gallons for each average driver. So it is fairly obvious that American cars have a bit of a drinking problem.
Still not convinced? If not, then I suppose that you are one of the countless Americans who actually believes that gas prices in the U.S. are at an all-time high. I don't fault you for believing the media's distortion of the facts, because they do it all the time. But actually, gas prices are nowhere near where they were in 1981 when gas prices were averaged at $1.35 a gallon, when adjusted to inflation would cost $2.70 a gallon today. Last week, the national average on gas prices was $1.718 a gallon.
As you can see by the National Association of Railroad Passengers' chart, the true culprit to the Great Gas Hype of today isn't rising gas prices (they have, in fact, been steadily falling over the past 20 years), but rising consumption of gas among American motorists coupled with a limping economy overall. The average American today is starting to pinch their pennies a little tighter due to the symptoms of Clinton's recession, while still demanding more of the same when they should instead be rationing their luxuries that they have been taking for granted ever since the economic boom hit us in the 1990s. But of course, your average greedy American won't stand for a solution so simple, because it infringes upon the Great American Way Of Life. Which is 'production' and 'consumption'.
I won't go into detail about Dubya's War and its obvious oil-based bent, because it should already be obvious to you. What I will go into detail about is how you the consumer are part of the problem concerning the vast oil industry's grand conspiracy to take your money. According to the International Center for Technology Assessment, the real price of gas is anywhere from $5.60 to $15.14 per gallon. Gas is priced lower in this country because of the federal government providing tax breaks for domestic oil companies in order to effectively compete with international companies and to keep domestic oil prices attractive to the American consumer. When the American consumer thinks that he/she is getting a good deal on gasoline, he/she will drive more because they know that they can afford to.
Think of it in another context. Let's say that I owned a liquor store deep in "da hood", where a lot of blacks tend to frequent. Now, let's assume that most blacks living in da hood drink 40-ouncers of Old English, and let's say that I purchase these 40s wholesale at $1.50 apiece from my distributor, who promises me a steady longterm supply just as long as the demand remains strong. Now, in my good business sense, I would want to price these 40s in a monetary range that these niggas can afford. Hence, $2.75 for a 40-ouncer would be out of the question; none of these hoodrats would want to buy my shiznit. But if I were to price it at, say, $1.79. Then you can bet your ass that I'd have da hoodrats be comin' up in my hizzouse, yo! Fo sheezy! Now, I may lose a little up front by pricing lower, but I want the hoodrats to keep coming back to my establishment, and the only way to do that is to price their liquor cheap and keep it coming. Hence, in the long run, I make more money, supply remains constant, and the demand remains drunk and complacent.
In a nutshell, pricing gas lower keeps the consumers filling up at the pump, because pricing at the actual cost of gasoline would keep the consumers away. For one, because Americans in general are cheap. Yeah, we spend a lot of money and we enjoy living the life any way that we can, but when it starts to hurt our pocketbooks, that's when we start getting frugal. Yeah, the oil companies lose a little up front, but they want their hoodrats to keep frequenting their establishments, meaning their gas stations. And the only way to do that is to price their gas cheap and keep it coming. Hence, in the long run, they make more money just as long as their supply to the consumers remains constant, and the demand remains on the road and complacent.
It's a healthy relationship for the oil industry, a not-so-healthy relationship for we the consumers when you consider all the environmental havoc that we as a collective gas-guzzling society are doing to our country and society, and an ecological nightmare for our generations to come. But what the fuck do you care, just as long as you aren't on "E", right?
Fuck the Earth, it's your happiness that matters most.
Guidebooks tell us where to go
Winnebago Warrior
Slow down traffic, climbing hills
30 gallons to the mile
Honey, quick, the polaroid
Winnebago Warrior
Brave as old John Wayne
Winnebago Warrior
A true yankee pioneer..." ~ 'Winnebago Warrior' - The Dead Kennedys
Yes folks, I'm talking about gas prices. Your gas prices. They just keep going up! And up! And up! And UP!
"What to do", you ask? Well, we as Americans can start by not being such fucking pigs and learn to conserve a little, for starters. Because let's face it, Americans are like a swarm of flies nesting on one gigantic piece of petroleum shit when it comes to gas consumption. Production and consumption have become the two key definitive words that describe American oil companies and motorists, respectively.
"But no", you say, "I can't go without my car! It's the only form of transportation that I have! I need my car!"
And therein lies the problem. Over the past 60 years or so, American motorists have become slaves to their vehicles much like couch potatoes are slaves to their remotes, or how fatasses are slaves to their rate of food consumption. American motorists just can't stop driving, half of the time needlessly, to points of destination that really serve no purpose to their daily lives. And no, I'm not including the majority of motorists that utilize their automobiles to get to work every morning. I'm talking about the "Winnebago Warriors" that were eulogized in the Dead Kennedys song that I quoted above. I'm also talking about the Fast And The Furious Rice Boys that like to soup their little gas-guzzlers up way past what is road-necessary. I'm also talking about the cruisers, the drag racers, the low-riders with their hydraulics, the Sunday drivers, the SUV gas hogs, etc. who all have the nasty tendency to drive their way to nowhere in this country for no particular reason but to get there and then home again.
According to Oil360.org, American motorists consume about 1 out of every 9 barrels of oil used in the world, and consume about 130 billion gallons of gasoline a year, or an average of 690 gallons for each average driver. So it is fairly obvious that American cars have a bit of a drinking problem.
Still not convinced? If not, then I suppose that you are one of the countless Americans who actually believes that gas prices in the U.S. are at an all-time high. I don't fault you for believing the media's distortion of the facts, because they do it all the time. But actually, gas prices are nowhere near where they were in 1981 when gas prices were averaged at $1.35 a gallon, when adjusted to inflation would cost $2.70 a gallon today. Last week, the national average on gas prices was $1.718 a gallon.
As you can see by the National Association of Railroad Passengers' chart, the true culprit to the Great Gas Hype of today isn't rising gas prices (they have, in fact, been steadily falling over the past 20 years), but rising consumption of gas among American motorists coupled with a limping economy overall. The average American today is starting to pinch their pennies a little tighter due to the symptoms of Clinton's recession, while still demanding more of the same when they should instead be rationing their luxuries that they have been taking for granted ever since the economic boom hit us in the 1990s. But of course, your average greedy American won't stand for a solution so simple, because it infringes upon the Great American Way Of Life. Which is 'production' and 'consumption'.
I won't go into detail about Dubya's War and its obvious oil-based bent, because it should already be obvious to you. What I will go into detail about is how you the consumer are part of the problem concerning the vast oil industry's grand conspiracy to take your money. According to the International Center for Technology Assessment, the real price of gas is anywhere from $5.60 to $15.14 per gallon. Gas is priced lower in this country because of the federal government providing tax breaks for domestic oil companies in order to effectively compete with international companies and to keep domestic oil prices attractive to the American consumer. When the American consumer thinks that he/she is getting a good deal on gasoline, he/she will drive more because they know that they can afford to.
Think of it in another context. Let's say that I owned a liquor store deep in "da hood", where a lot of blacks tend to frequent. Now, let's assume that most blacks living in da hood drink 40-ouncers of Old English, and let's say that I purchase these 40s wholesale at $1.50 apiece from my distributor, who promises me a steady longterm supply just as long as the demand remains strong. Now, in my good business sense, I would want to price these 40s in a monetary range that these niggas can afford. Hence, $2.75 for a 40-ouncer would be out of the question; none of these hoodrats would want to buy my shiznit. But if I were to price it at, say, $1.79. Then you can bet your ass that I'd have da hoodrats be comin' up in my hizzouse, yo! Fo sheezy! Now, I may lose a little up front by pricing lower, but I want the hoodrats to keep coming back to my establishment, and the only way to do that is to price their liquor cheap and keep it coming. Hence, in the long run, I make more money, supply remains constant, and the demand remains drunk and complacent.
In a nutshell, pricing gas lower keeps the consumers filling up at the pump, because pricing at the actual cost of gasoline would keep the consumers away. For one, because Americans in general are cheap. Yeah, we spend a lot of money and we enjoy living the life any way that we can, but when it starts to hurt our pocketbooks, that's when we start getting frugal. Yeah, the oil companies lose a little up front, but they want their hoodrats to keep frequenting their establishments, meaning their gas stations. And the only way to do that is to price their gas cheap and keep it coming. Hence, in the long run, they make more money just as long as their supply to the consumers remains constant, and the demand remains on the road and complacent.
It's a healthy relationship for the oil industry, a not-so-healthy relationship for we the consumers when you consider all the environmental havoc that we as a collective gas-guzzling society are doing to our country and society, and an ecological nightmare for our generations to come. But what the fuck do you care, just as long as you aren't on "E", right?
Fuck the Earth, it's your happiness that matters most.
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