I Reined Myself In. I Swear I Did.
Warning: Attitude awaits you if you read any further.
I read a news story today about Harvey Pollack, a gas station owner in Wisconsin who closed down his station for a day. It seems that he is hoping other station owners will follow suit and the net effect will be that the gas companies will feel enough of a pinch that they decide to lower prices.
Disclaimer: I am not an economist, I just play one on my blog.
My very uneducated assessment: If Americans are willing to buy gas, it doesn't matter if you close down your station. Gas companies won't feel a pinch unless the DEMAND for gas is decreased.
And now for the lunacy: the following is a quote from the article.
Maria McClory, 38, drove 10 miles out of her way to buy a diet soda from Pollack's station after seeing local television coverage of the protest. "I just wanted to support them and thank them for making a statement," said McClory, who drives about 100 miles a day for work in her sport utility vehicle.
Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? I think we should all follow Ms. McClory's example and start going out of our way (literally, if possible) to pat people on the back for the statements they are willing to make. This way we won't actually have to CHANGE THE WAY WE BEHAVE, but at least we'd all feel less guilty about our complete unwillingness to make a statement of our own. Don't you think?
A Question: How high do you think oil prices would have to get before large numbers of people started reducing their consumption?
I read a news story today about Harvey Pollack, a gas station owner in Wisconsin who closed down his station for a day. It seems that he is hoping other station owners will follow suit and the net effect will be that the gas companies will feel enough of a pinch that they decide to lower prices.
Disclaimer: I am not an economist, I just play one on my blog.
My very uneducated assessment: If Americans are willing to buy gas, it doesn't matter if you close down your station. Gas companies won't feel a pinch unless the DEMAND for gas is decreased.
And now for the lunacy: the following is a quote from the article.
Maria McClory, 38, drove 10 miles out of her way to buy a diet soda from Pollack's station after seeing local television coverage of the protest. "I just wanted to support them and thank them for making a statement," said McClory, who drives about 100 miles a day for work in her sport utility vehicle.
Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? I think we should all follow Ms. McClory's example and start going out of our way (literally, if possible) to pat people on the back for the statements they are willing to make. This way we won't actually have to CHANGE THE WAY WE BEHAVE, but at least we'd all feel less guilty about our complete unwillingness to make a statement of our own. Don't you think?
A Question: How high do you think oil prices would have to get before large numbers of people started reducing their consumption?
Labels: stupid stuff
posted by 
at 10:42 PM
8 Comments:
I think gas prices will have to get a lot higher--maybe double what they are now--before anyone starts making any long-lasting changes.
Grrrrr, Big Oil and our addiction to it. Don't get me started....
It's like water and electricity, you have to have it. And "they" know that. What else are you going to do, buy a horse?
Those Amish have us beat!!
I saw that same story (Wisconsin guy)... they said he hasn't made a profit in 30 months. Probably not a good idea to shut off the pumps for a whole day then. But, if you're not making a profit, might as well make a statement.
Spot on. Until we actually start USING less, there won't be any real change in the demand. One day doesn't make a different in the big picture.
Urg. I hate that I can't edit comments! That should be "difference" rather than "different." :-/
We're already changing... We don't drive nearly as much as we have been and we walk to walmart when we can. And hopefully when the house sells, we'll be close to my work so that the driving time/distance won't be so much...
Yeah, we're feeling the pinch of the gas prices already!
It really is an ugly issue. And am I the only one who feels like I will never ever know all the facts from either side? It seems to me that even if I spent a whole month of doing nothing but research, I would still not be able to entirely unearth the whole truth. And that to me is the biggest frustration. It seems that all information is only given out through a filter of bias. Frustrating!
If we want gas prices to go down we also need more refineries.
There isn't a shortage of oil, but it's sitting unrefined and causing us to import refined gas, which adds to the cost.
It was $3.35 here a week or so ago. Now I can get it for 2.94. It still stinks, but at least its a little lower. Here's my point. It went down even though we're not using any less (as far as I can tell) so personally, I think we're all being schnookered.
I don't really know anything though.
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