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 $14.00 more to drive your family to Disney World and back. They take 14% of the money you earn every day -- money you may or may get back with virtually no interest -- and you're spinning around on your eyebrows because you're spending 40 cents a day more to get to that job and back home again!
But, but, but.....you might spend it all when you’re young and not have anything when you’re old!
I just started Sowell's excellent book Basic Economics; what a real eye-opener that baby is.
Maybe it’s because all the !$#@!$@#$#! regulations make refineries TOO EXPENSIVE to upkeep!
I would take anything Consumer Reports says with a grain of salt.
Fortune 500
2. Exxon Mobil
4. Chevron
5. ConocoPhillips
16. Valero Energy
30. Marathon Oil
10% Doesn't seem to be shabby at all in comparison.
I haven’t read that yet! But I love Dr. Sowell, so I should get it and read it stat.
Some math for you when they say “but we only make 10% profit”
Gas at $1.90 = .19 cents profit
Gas at $3.14 = .31 cents profit
.31/.19= drumm roll... a 79% profit increase. Who’s gouging who?
Again, I never notice anyone applauding and hailing the “big oil” when the prices dipped down. Things have really fluctuated the last few years (gone up generally, for sure), but the only noise is made when the prices went UP.
Just why would I not lower my prices if taxes decreased?
The greatest thing going for our economic system is competition. If cost go down someone will lower prices. Once only one of my competitors lower their prices I will have to follow suit just to keep my customers.
Since business does not pay taxes, consumers pay taxes, why do we bother with them in the first place. It would be much more efficient to not pay business taxes. Business would be much more competitive in the world markets, we would all be happier. We would certainly have to make up the loss of income to the goverment from somewhere but then we would at least see the true taxes we are paying.
Business tax is only a slight of hand that politicians play so that we don’t see some of the taxes they are making us pay. The consumer pays all the hidden taxes.
We are so dumb.
I never thank a crook when he just walks past my house. I only complain when he breaks in and takes my stuff.
Your example shows 10% profit in both cases. What was your point?
Somewhere along the way, politicians decided that the primary purpose of government is to maximize tax revenues. That's where the bulk of their attention is focused: "How can we get more tax money?"
In my limited understanding of government, this obsession seems to be misguided.
“honestly-—can you find one good reason why the gas prices are like $3.50 near me?”
How about the dems are in control of congress and they keep threatening to pull out of Iraq and leave the whole mideast in chaos?
I think he main interest in running a second time was to show his father that he could do it and make a legacy for his family.
Since he won re-election a second time, I think his agenda switched directions. No longer does he need or care about the conservative base or the Republican Party future. All he is interested in is serving the interests of his peers, e.g. allowing as much cheap foreign labor as possible in here to be exploited by outfits like McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, etc.
>>That would be about $2.00 a week. Less than the price of a
>>decaf skinny latte at Starbucks. A lot less.
But when I order a latte, I don’t order 15 lattes, as I would pumping 15 gallons of gas. Stupid thought process.
Jet fuel is over $5.00 a gallon. He does have something to whine about too.
Mr. Bush and the government have never built one single refinery or drilled a single oil well. The government doesn't do that, the government shouldn't do that. The government should not have to ask any business to do anything. The government should help promote an environment that encourages business to do what is best for business, make a profit. When business makes a profit consumers get what they want.
Mr. Bush has begged the US Congress to allow more refineries to be built and more wells to be dug but the stupid US Congress has stopped him at every step.
Your complaining about the wrong things won't help, quit being so ignorant of the facts and learn the truth!
Please!
With the Dumbacrats in charge and with the RINO and their partners in the MSM Bush never had a chance. I don’t think any republican administration will ever have a chance because of the STUPID and IGNORANT electorate.
Your wisdom sure zoomed over everyone's heads.
Kris Kristofferson wrote in To Beat the Devil that he'd die explaining how things people complain about are things they could change--with Kris hoping someone would give a [bleep.]
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