Gas is not a comodity, it is a neccesity. We are seeing now how much it effects our economy. they're making a wicked profit, we're struggling to fill our tanks, and the people in washington dont give a shit. The trouble is, you've got a president and a party who beleives "the economy" is means rich people, and that the cashflow of the actual masses doesn't me shit. They dont care how much money we have, as long as we spend it. 30 million people living paycheck-to-paycheck is exactly what they want, because it benifits their "economy". Unless of course, we're spending it, wich goes to compaines that made whatever they buy (like gas), who are also getting tax breaks for being rich, outsourceing jobs, and increasing their profits far beond what they could if they did things ethicaly.
I call it Trickle-up economics, officialy named Supply-side. And to convince the ignorant voting populus that its awsome, they simply quote the GNP, which says there's money coming in the country and moving around, but says nothing about who its going to, i.e. the fact that the top One percent of Americans control 40-50% of the money in this country. I take that back, they shouldn't be called Americans. its been 220 years, and were right back to an Aristocracy.
A country's strength is measured by the quality of life of its citizens, not the GNP.
Why do we pay outrageous gas prices? Because we have to, you dont have a choice, you dont have power, and no one is going to help you. Certainly not a Republican. Hell there's a couple here that are saying that, in our capitalist society, its their right to exploit you. It's not supply and demand, its not a free market economy, is a group of people who control the oil, working together to keep the prices high.
How excited would you be if gas was $2.00 a gallon tomarrow? It'd be awsome, right? Wrong, it's preception. $2.00 is still more then it should be, but you've been paying so much more for so long that you would think it was cheap. they have total control of the market they sell to. We're a captive audience. Since this oil president has taken office, gas prices have risen 100%, do you think that's a coincedence? You think trouble overseas means anything? We've had much worse scurmishes in the sand, they've never effect it. did you know that the Oil has been flowing out of Iraq for quite some time? Lots of it, why aren't prices down. Reagan got permission to let oil companies drill in Alaska, do bring the prices down in the 80s....did they go down? No, not for a second. This president is doing the same things, and more.
Alot of you probably think I'm just using this as an excuse to attack the right. The simple fact of the matter is, youcant talk about the energy based economy without talking about them.
But I will concede that Oil isn't an just American problem, its a worldwide problem. You can't solve it by changine anything here, alone.
The worldwide distribution of wealth is scewed to something like one third of one percent controlling almost 30% of the worlds wealth.