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 does not care. He is a politician and that is it. He has his fed retirement and perks. He can go back to Texas and enjoy the ranch and hang out with the fat cat oil execs.
I agree. However, I like to think of it like this...
30 million illegals = 5 million additional old cars and trucks spewing carbon monoxide into our atmosphere = increased demand for gasoline = just another burden on the taxpayers to support the Reconquista.
We can immediately lower the carbon in our atmosphere and lessen the strain on our refining system by sending these criminals back to their pristine environmentally friendly paradise.
You of course, make good points.
However, most of our “oil” typically comes from the US; 2nd from Canada and (unfortunately now) Venezuela.
(As an aside to the old “blood for oil” mantra about wars like in Iraq: Iraq provided about a whopping 5% of our oil. We’re not gaining much by controlling Iraq. Better to invade Canada.)
As another point, you talk about budget. But for the vast majority of us, what is it making us SACRIFICE? A 2nd TV? Cable modems? A baseball game? Candy bars? Cell phone?
We have it too good to complain. Most of us have quite a bit of “disposable” income, and so it is only that that is really affected by an almost-essential like this.
well, I don’t exactly have subpoena power to access oil company records, nor can I prove that the speculators have fixed the commodoties market, nor can I prove the OPEC drives prices up deliberatly
I do know a few things: BP is being investigated for price fixing in natural gas
oil companies also voluntarily reduced refining capacity in the past to drive up the price of oil and cut costs. In fact, it isn’t the EPA that shut down all the refineries-—it was the oil companies themselves
Have you priced milk?? I worked for a fuel company before retiring loved to see people come in and complain about the cost of gas while their standing in line holding a bottle of $1.39 water and asking for a $24 carton of cigarettes.
“oil companies also voluntarily reduced refining capacity in the past to drive up the price of oil and cut costs.”
Ahem...you have a source for that, or did it just sound good in your head?
“First, those who are complaining about the gas price pinch likely also complain about government waste.”
HAH! Not at all true. It’s the liberals who hate “big companies”, “big oil”, and love government telling everyone what to do and taking their money.
Living in a straw hut collecting welfare is a choice within our control also, but many of us would rather not choose it.
By the way, if you truly believe that oil companies are price gouging then why in the world would they aspire to only making 10% profit? One would think that a price-gouger would be interested in making more like 30-40% or more. No?
We’re getting hit hard because our son is finishing up his degree this summer and next fall, and his senior classes aren’t offered on our local campus of the State U, he has to drive 70 miles roundtrip.
So 4 days a week this summer term and 4 days a week next fall term is going to add up but he’s on scholarship and lives at home, so we can’t complain.
We looked into getting a more fuel efficient car (his gets around 20 mpg city and 25 highway)...but by the time you buy a car that gets significantly better mileage, you’re laying out some bucks, and then I checked insurance rates on a newer car and they would go up about $200 per month (since his car is a ‘96 and he’s 19 the rates are relatively cheap...love those teenage driver insurance rates.)
So all in all, we’re better off just keeping the older reliable car, letting him put the miles on it and pay the extra gas.
They’re always being “investigated”, exactly because of the whining and not understanding commodities markets or markets in general. (Never mind all the gov. prohibitions and other regulations.)
And they’re ALWAYS found innocent.
Yeah, it’s a big conspiracy.
Why do you think there is “big oil” as a WHOLE rather than several competing companies? Yeah, I’m sure Exxon is in cahoots with Chevron.
The 16oz. bottled water some people buy is about $1-$1.30 at the take out store. That makes that water $8-$10.40 a gallon. No one complains about that, & bottled water is always being sold. No bottled water companies have gone out of business that I know of.
And don’t get me started on the price of Starbucks, Seattle’s Best & all the other gourmet coffee shops that consumers are shelling out $5/per 12oz.
Where’s the leftest’s outrage over that?
They take a hell of a lot more than 14%, But I know he is referring to the Social Scamurity system.
Remember this:
If a young person could put the same amount of money S Security takes and put it into your own account, you would retire a millionaire AND after living off the earnings which would be 6% of $1M = $60K/annually), you could then pass this on to your heirs on your demise.
Ahhh, but the politicians prefer unarmed peasants.
because 10% of $4 dollar gallons is higher than 10% of a gallon that costs $2
honestly-—can you find one good reason why the gas prices are like $3.50 near me? it makes no sense why they have gone up like $.75 a gallon in the last month
plus, check this:
from Consumer Reports:
The industry became concentrated in the hands of a few vertically integrated companies and allowed domestic oil companies shut down refineries, reduce stocks, and exploit markets when they become tight,” said Mark Cooper, CFA’s Director of Research.
from Consumer’s Report at http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_other_issues/001086.html
If you listen to much Boortz you will figure out that he believes earning money is incredibly easy and that anybody ought to be able to afford any luxury they desire. He will tell you to invest in real estate first, clearly assuming that anybody listening has plenty of money lying around to do so. He will also tell you that paying for private school is just as easy as driving a slightly older car.
The bottom line is that Boortz believes anybody who doesn't have a 6-7 figure net worth is just too lazy to earn it. Each and every show that he does reflects that attitude.
Moving to a location where you can get work close to your home in a better job market is also a choice some of us make. I have done it more than once. I find it much more effective at staying employed and providing for my family that just complaining.
The money is out the door to the employer; it doesn't care where that money goes--whether it is to me or the government.
If we chose to eliminate payroll taxes and my employer cut my salary as a result, I'd find a new employer. That's not one that is worth working for.
Please tell us who in this country is living in straw huts, “realism”.
Welfare (or not) queens in the urban ghettoes are about the level of “scraping by”.
And when you’re living on dirt like people in the Ozarks, then you can equate yourself to “straw huts”.
Anyone else has disposable income that can be sacrificed for necessities. This country is VERY rich.
We import more petroleum than we produce domestically.
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