Posted on 05/17/2007 5:48:48 AM PDT by cweese
My goodness, people! Don't you realize that there are things in your life that you really need to be worrying about? What's all this weeping and moaning over gas prices?
With every single paycheck the Imperial Federal Government seizes about 14% of the money you have earned. This money is put into an income redistribution fund from which you may or may not draw a check when and if you reach a certain age. Die too soon and that money goes to someone else .. not to your heirs. Live long enough and you may .. just may ... get most of your money back, though there is no legal guarantee that you'll get a cent.
Yet here you sit pissing and moaning about gas prices.
We did the math here last week, but let's pull out the calculator again for those of you who don't come here every day.
First, the figures:
According to the AAA, one year ago the price of regular was $2.929. Today that price is $3.114. That's an 18.5 cents per gallon increase over the past year.
Now we go for the average gas mileage for cars in the U.S. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that as of 2004 the average mpg for new cars sold in the U.S. was 24.7. In 1980 it was 23.1. So, to make a point here, we're going to go even below the average price for 1980. We're going to use 20 mpg.
Now ... for those of you who went to government schools, I'll do the math for you. You're driving your family of four 1400 miles to get to Disney World and back. That means you'll be burning 70 gallons of gas at 20 mpg. The gas is now 18.5 cents more expensive than it was last year. Let's go ahead and round that UP to 20 cents. So, we burn 70 gallons and each gallon costs 20 cents more than it cost last year. That's going to cost you an amazing $14.00.
Oh My God! What an incredible tragedy! What a devastating blow to your finances! You're going to have to spend $14.00 more to drive your family to Florida this year than you did last year! That's $3.50 for each family member! How in the hell are you ever going to be able to afford this? Alert your local radio station news department! Call the newspaper! Sound the alarm! Americans are being crippled by these rising gas prices! Call your politician. Something has to be done about the evil oil companies! Get the government involved! We need more regulation!
Oh .. and you people driving to and from work need to be outraged too! Are you doing your share of the whining?
The average commute to and from work in this country is 16 miles. Now of course we know that cars don't get the mileage on a stop-and-go commute as they do on the road, so we're going to lower the gas mileage figure from 20 to 15. So, you're driving 32 miles (on the average) to get to work and back every day. That is gobbling up about 2.13 gallons of gas. Go back to that 18.5 cents per gallon increase over last year and you'll see that you're spending about 40 cents more for gas for your commute this year than you were last year. That would be about $2.00 a week. Less than the price of a decaf skinny latte at Starbucks. A lot less.
Oh, the humanity! You're spending less than the cost of three text messages on your cell phone every day to cover the increasing cost of gas! Tell your boss you're going to have to quit! You just can handle this any more! Get fired! Go on unemployment! Forty cents a day! That's it! Your back is broken!
Come on people, wake up! Your governments -- local, state and federal -- are stealing money from you every single day to fund vote-buying programs. Your local elected officials are ripping you off to support welfare artists and to study the mating habits of Polish zlotnika pigs. How do you think they feel when they see you griping about gas prices? They LOVE it! They steal you blind and there you sit complaining because you're going to have to spend $14.00 more to drive your family to Disney World and back. They take 14% of the money you earn every day -- money you may or may get back with virtually no interest -- and you're spinning around on your eyebrows because you're spending 40 cents a day more to get to that job and back home again!
I'll grant that the states don't use all of the money that they rake off from the gas tax on Road Upkeep, but the poster's point was that the gas tax is one of the few taxes that actually works correctly.
I hadn't thought about it in those terms, and I'm inclined to agree.
Someone else here said it best. “If illegal immigrants can afford gas, the price is not too high”.
I put 50K/yr on my 97 Town Car, the last true Lincoln. Fed income taxes still cost me more than gas. I however have to figure gas into my variable cost of doing business, and when I buy my next vehicle it will probably be foreign- maybe a Scion xB.
Also, I am paying outrageously for home heating.
I drive a fuel efficient car but I drive 60 miles a day back and forth to work. Every little bit extra that costs me is noticeable.
Sounds logical to me.
What did you find whiny about Boortz’s analysis?
A one minute examination of my checkbook records on Quicken show that even if gas doubled it wouldn’t amount to much in my budget.
Boortz is suffering from what I call fair tax delusion syndrome
I kind of have to agree with you on this one...
While I agree that Americans should be taking a harder look at the way gubbermint is picking our pockets, Neal fails to realize how the higher price of gasoline affects practically everything we buy.
A simple example: the price of stamps. While there have been other (significant) factors behind the recent rise in postage, the price of gasoline has been a major one.
Now, apply that to your milk, eggs, Playstation, etc.
First, the federal gas tax is $0.184 / gallon, not 18%.
Second, how do you propose to pay for the roads if not through the gas tax? Although I have problems with the way some of the gas tax money is skimmed off for public transit boondoggles and how some of the money is sequestered in the highway trust fund to hide part of the deficit, in general the gas tax is the fairest tax we have. If you burn gasoline you are 99% likely to be using it to drive on the government owned roads. Those who drive the most pay the most. This is opposed to using the "from each according to his ability" income tax or an inefficient tax per mile requiring government inspectors to check your odometer regularly.
Considering America’s technological and economic capabilities, gas prices are way too high. We have every right to complain.
I agree. I remember sitting for hours in the gas lines in the mid-1970’s in Houston. In the middle of the summer. Not fun.
This makes sense if we were only upset about the prices this year compared to last year. They were out of control last year also. Lets really compare it to where gas prices should be which is in the low $2.00 range.
New math based on his milage.
Old price $2.09 (3-4 years ago)
Current price $3.14 (here in Ohio)
Difference $1.05
Florida trip now will be 70 miles or about $74 dollars. It is high but not that much since it is a vacation. Pay it.
The problem is the monthly cost this adds getting to/from work. He stated 32 miles a day which turn into about $12 bucks a week or $45 dollars a month. In my case it is about $70 bucks a month more. I travel further.
It hurt last summer and it’s going to hurt worse this year. I like Boortz but I don’t want to be lectured by a millionaire,money it’s not that big of a deal when ya have big . He needs to wake up and step outside to where the real world lives and realize this is budget busting in many cases.
Every week we are giving $10-$30 dollars more a month to the countries that want to destroy us. Can we start drilling in Alaska already? Drop a few refineries right outside the tap also !!
You will feel the wrath of the Oil Company whores now.
I’m glad my car doesn’t run on milk ($3.58 per gal) or orange juice! ($2.72 half-gal)
Wrong. If you nattering nabobs of negativism would bother to research the subject, you'd see the truth:
He's not suffering, he enjoys it. ;)
The reason there were “gas lines” is that the prices weren’t allowed to reflect the price/demand dynamic.
The question is, would you rather pay 3.19 for all the gas you want, or have the price fixed at 1.68 and not be able to get it?
Now those suggestions make a hell of a lot more sense then Neil Boortz telling me I should ignore the man behind the curtain !!!
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