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  Gas prices vs gas usage

  For anyone to sit and BEG the people that put us in this position to help us out of it is the height of insanity! The fuelonomists have been beating us over the head for years with the notion that we are helpless; OPEC, AlQaeda and Osama are the reason we are getting killed at the pumps. If you believe that, you are lost. Stop reading now.
  At the end of the day, oil is no different than any other addictive substance: As long as we continue to abuse it, we will continue to be held hostage by it. The solution is to stop, or at least ease, the abuse. The first step is to recognize the problem. The problem is that we as humans, or more to the point, as Americans, are spoiled, over-indulgent, self-absorbed, me-first brats. We want it, and we want it now!
  We have to get over that crap. The notion that we deserve everything we want is absurd. What happened to the notion that we deserve what we earn?
  What has to change, and right now, is the way we drive. More to the point, how much we drive. If we continue to drive everywhere we go, every time we want to go, there will come a time (in the not too very distant future) when a large portion of the population will no longer be able to drive, period. Think about it. What happens when you have to choose between eating and driving? If you are laughing and ridiculing this notion, stop reading now.
  I am not going to post the usual gloom and doom about gas prices because there really is no foreseeing how bad it could get. Instead, I have a few solutions...things we can do to help drive the prices down. It can be done, but we have to be personally responsible.
  Here are a few suggestions, none of them really drastic:
  1) Park your car at least one day a week. If you work a 5 day week, stay home one of the weekend days and do your shopping, etc, the other.
  (2) Buy less each time you stop for gas. Rather than fill up, put in a half a tank each time you stop. If you have to stop one more time a week, well, what is more important: a few minutes of your time, or lower gas prices?
  3) Try to work out a commuting arrangement, if possible, with workmates, or school mates, etc.
  Fewer cars on the road, less gas being used.
  4) Keep your car operating at its best. Proper maintenance, ie, tuneups, proper tire inflation, oil changes, etc, can and do save money in the long run. You will get better gas mileage when your car is running optimally.
  Now, obviously, if you and I are the only ones doing this, we are not going to make much of an impact. However, if we as a country can get our minds right, get together and stick to it, a gas budget will have an impact. Gas, at the end of the day, is still a consumable and is still controlled by the most basic law in the business world: supply and demand. If we cut the demand the supply becomes glutted. That is how a TRUE gas war starts.On Gas price rant posted 3 years, 7 months ago 36 Responses