Sunday, April 27, 2008

Gas prices are making me choke

Well, my fellow Americans, we really find ourselves in a mess when it comes to gas prices in our country.

We have become so dependent on oil that we are again facing record gas prices. Recently, the national retail average for a gallon of gas broke the $3.50 barrier, and with the summer vacation season coming, experts expect the price to go much higher.

Of course, there is a silver lining in this for us here in Coffee Country. We can be grateful that we do not live in Florida, California, and Hawaii because some parts of those states have already seen prices break the $4 a gallon barrier.

Although Hawaii is often described as 'paradise,' that news makes me glad I live here in Tennessee. However, we can all expect to pay higher at the pump as the next few months unfold.

How much higher? Many analysts see the price for a barrel of oil rising to $125, and because of this, the country's national average for gas could reach $3.80 a gallon very soon.

A couple of weeks ago I experienced a case of gas price 'sticker shock.' I was driving home one evening from Nashville and stopped at a gas station near the interstate to fill up my tank.

As I pulled into that store's parking lot, I saw that they were selling gas for $3.40 a gallon, and I did a double take. I was stunned prices had jumped up that high so fast.

I told myself that it must be just this one station and that if I drove around Manchester I would find a much better price. However, I could not so I bought my gas and grinded my teeth about having to pay these prices.

Even though I was frustrated, deep down I knew the only person I could be upset with about this was me. After all, my reliance on gasoline as perhaps the most important resource I need to conduct my daily life was a result of decisions I've made.

And the same goes for the rest of America. We grumble about paying high prices and don't like that Exxon and other huge corporations make tidy profits, but our decisions created the marketplace that we are currently in.

For years, we have thumbed our noses at ideas like conservation and developing alternative fuel sources that could have avoided the mess we find ourselves in now. Now, the joke is on us.

The most compelling aspect of this is whether we have learned our lesson or not. Will the soaring prices cause us to change our driving habits? Will we all look for ways to avoid making unnecessary car trips?

Or will it be business as usual? Will we simply cope with this problem by putting all our fuel purchases on our credit cards and then praying that the problem will go away?

As much as I would like to believe that these high prices will force us to conserve more, I don't believe it will happen.

Whether we understand it or not, we are a nation of extravagance compared to most of the world, and a primary way we express this is by how we use our cars.

For whatever reason, many believe our vehicles are an extension of who we are and reveal a lot about us.

I tend to agree. Why else are there all these huge cars, trucks, and SUVs out on our streets?

Because of that, I don't expect things to change.

3 comments:

Chris Martin said...

By the way, the time listed for this posting is correct...I did it at 3:21 a.m. The phone rang about 1:30, and I haven't been able to get back to sleep. Insomnia stinks.

Mister Jimmy said...

I feel your pain. Though I get around 35 mpg overall and 45+ highway (if my tires are inflated properly, I don't drive too fast, etc.) I still find myself doing comparisons with current prices and prices just a couple of years ago. Then $10.00 would pretty much fill the tank.
However, I'm still faced with the supply side of the supply/demand equation. Our demand may have gone up some but not as much as other parts of the developing world? And the supply is only limited buy how much the suppliers want to put on the market. I think the price of gasoline to drive the common automobile isn't nearly as critical as the effect the prices have on everything else: airlines, the transportation industry in general, price of corn and other grains.
What we need is that engine that will run on hydrogen, or maybe a really powerful solar car!
But you're right I think, at some point we have to get away from having our lives so dependent on fossil fuels. I can see the day when we'll hear of gasoline tanker trucks being hijacked.

Joltin' Django said...

You know, if the U.S.'d started drilling for oil in ANWAR when that whole thing was first proposed ('bout ten years ago), and if the U.S. allowed for more drilling off the coast of Florida, there'd be millions of additional barrels of oil on the world market right now ... and the U.S. would be less at the mercy of OPEC, indeed.