Filling up my tank is one of those banal routines that sort of fade into my memory. I know I do it about once a week. There’s no escaping it, so I hit the closest gas station and pump 10 or so gallons worth of regular unleaded into my car. I don’t think twice about it. It’s not like I have a choice.
Today, it finally hit me: $2.99 a gallon?!!?
I’ve been hearing some folks spreading horrible rumors of paying $4 at the pump, but I figured they were talking about somewhere in California. WTF is going on here?!! I really thought you had to be out west to go find the cheap gas station and drop three bills for a gallon of gas.
Who is responsible for this?
Our oil stockpiles are up. The price of crude remains well below last year’s high of $78 (at $66) and the most *I* ever paid for gas last year was a couple of cents short of $3. Didn’t these fuckers make record profits in 2006?
WTF? Hook a brother up.
Shouldn’t the price gasoline, being a necessary commodity, be subject to more stringent regulations? Regulations that cut down on rampant profiteering?
I understand that a lot some of this money goes to R&D, but I also understand these motherfuckers get PAID. Maybe they could pump some of that surplus $$$ toward improving the country’s transportation infrastructure and public transportation systems. Lord knows a city like Miami needs something like this. Badly. You can’t get anywhere without a load of gas.
I wish I had the choice to jump on a subway to get to work. To get anywhere. The Metro doesn’t take me anywhere I need to be M-F/9-5ish. I’m not even going to mention the bus system here.
All I know is that I am relegated to driving. The stop & go. And now, the $2.99+ per gallon at the pump.
May 1, 2007 at 6:43 pm |
you know, every once in a while i stop to notice that gas prices have risen, but it’s usually not something that’s at all on my mind. last week i was reminded that stateside folk like to talk about gas prices. a *lot*. i wanted to smack my father at least twice for bringing it up yet again, but when i wasn’t putting all my effort into tuning him out, i did wonder why– more specifically, for what purpose, if the distinction makes sense.
and then i drove around aimlessly because i wasn’t paying for the gas. (i’m comfortable with seeing a conspiracy here, because there probably is one, but this also begs the question- doesn’t this happen every year when the weather gets warmer? people drive more, supply and demand, etc.)
home again, it’s $0.74 down the road today. i figure, eh, it’s still incredibly damn cheap if you really stop to think about it.. a lot of problems are made much worse by the fact that we really *don’t* stop to think about it. creo yo.
p.s., i’m lobbying for the phrase “put gas” to be inserted into this post somewhere.
woo!
May 2, 2007 at 6:31 am |
Yeah, that’s the thing, prices do rise come summertime, but it’s not summer yet. At least not officially. You know what I’m sayin?
It’s also a lot easier to ignore when you’re not tightening up your budget.
btw, I tried to put gas somewhere in there, but couldn’t figure out where.
*rim shot*
July 13, 2008 at 8:21 pm |
[...] I stand corrected. Nowadays I’m content if I can fill up at $4.09/gallon. [...]