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!
he is whining about how people are unhappy to be paying $30 dollars and not even filling up their tank (which happened the other day to me). He is unhappy that they are unhappy with the oil companies, market speculators and price gouging
I think he sounds like a real jerk here. too bad we all don’t make as much money as he does and can afford astronomically high gasoline costs
OK, fair enough, I got the #’s wrong. My point was that there are congressmen and women in front of the tv cameras daily, blaming oil companies as the only culprit in the rising costs of gas. If the feds are THAT worried about it, quit with the $0.184 tax per gallon for a while.
That certainly tastes like a whine...
Happy anniversary. :-)
Ah, ye olde ‘price gouging’. Prove it, sport.
He makes a good point, and while I don’t like the price of gas, I can’t see a reason to complain too much, except to congress because of the tax on fuel.
What kills me are those moaning about the price of gas while sipping on bottled water and cafe mochas. When gas gets to the same price a gallon as those items, then let them complain...
Bingo!
“I think he sounds like a real jerk here. too bad we all don’t make as much money as he does and can afford astronomically high gasoline costs.”
You’re going to have to do better than his words harming your sensibilities, and resorting to class warfare, if you want to carry the argument. Paging Silky Pony (he’ll fight for you).
Difference: Stamps STAY up and ONLY go up.
Gas fluctuates up and down - but noone thanks the oil co’s for “reducing” the prices!
What he is stating, is, of course, true.
But to the average American, the monumental rise in gasoline prices is heartbreaking, while he/she are trying to raise a family and survive in an increasingly complicated world.
NOW is the perfect time for the Administration to push for more refinery capacity, clean coal use, nuclear energy, drilling on the Alaskan North Slope, and alternate energy.
It is also an opportunity to re-emphasize the significance behind assuring governments favorable to US exist in oil producing areas.
BUT, as usual, Mr. Bush is asleep at the wheel and the fall-out will blow-back in Republican faces in 2008 instead of in Democrat faces where it belongs.
This administration is perhaps the most inept in history in taking advantage of situations and using them to its own best advantage.
At this point, I simply don’t believe Bush cares anymore.
Thank you Mobile!! You only made 9.5b this quarter
The last True Lincoln was my ‘79. ;-)
Wow, I didn't even realize, but thanks!!!
A little more than a year ago ... Jan/Feb or thereabouts ... I seem to remember $2.10 gallons threatening to drop below $2.
That means that in human thinking (we tend to round things up and down), a year ago the cost of gas was a buck cheaper than it is now.
So those big tank vehicles now cost $20 plus more at the point of sale ... the place you go to on a Friday, calculating how much you have left out of your check to take your wife/family/girlfriend out.
My little Cavalier costs about $11 more to fill up now, kinda' like me just giving a sawbuck away.
Between work travel, church, school activities (the kids), shopping and the occasional trip to the local convenient store because of ... whatever .... I fill up twice a week, so my weekly outlay is no longer about $40, but closer to $60.
In case anyone hasn't been watching ... as single parent I do, ... even at WallyWorld the cost of groceries is more this year than last ... cheaper by a few cents only than in other stores, but more than a year ago.
So my gas bill is up and my grocery bill is up.
Life requires more than gasoline and eating ... (there are, I'm sure, some here that may say I'm full of $h!t) and T.P is more expensive, too.
I could go on, but why bother ... my pay stays static until an industry hits enough of a crisis that pay increases just enough to break even with the then current level of "just making it", and the cycle starts all over again.
I don't have an answer, but I know what I see.
Just pray there are no reports of a hurricane off the coast of Florida or the Gulf coast that may hit in a week to ten days .... plywood will go up this afternoon by about 3 bucks a sheet.
Gas was $1.80 per gal when I bought my truck. Used to cost $45 to fill it once a week. Now it costs nearly $80, yeah $140 more a month than when I bought it.
This is a choice within your control.
You are correct about that. Good point (by you and others). It’s almost a true consumption tax - really the only taxes we should have.
Yeah, I have a similar problem. I have a ‘91 landcruiser that gets 10mpg. With $3.00 gas, it’s a $70.00 fill up. I have learned to limit my driving.
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