Holy crap I completely forgot to write a post last night! I've been trying to get the one thing (Civilization 4) to work on Linux that is holding me to Windows, what a pain this is turning out to be. I did catch the news and have a couple of really good ones to talk about. And the two that I'm about to talk about are something that has been a recurring theme over the last few years.
First, I'm going to delve into one of the few stories not about the Democratic National Convention, the price of gas. If you talk to just about anyone in the industry they will tell you that they don't make any money off of a gallon of gas. Considering the profits that the oil companies are posting in their quarterly statements I don't believe that one bit. But this story wasn't about the price of gas and how much money they make. It was about how much higher it is then it was last year. And why are they talking about last year's prices? My guess is that it is the only way they can make it seem like a big number. And let me answer your next question before you ask, it is 17 cents per gallon higher then it was last year (the national average according to AAA), $3.84 per gallon. That is about a 6% increase over last year. You know I'm not one to defend the oil companies no do I know what the actual inflation rate was but I wouldn't guess this is much higher. And if you consider the fact that they had to shut down production due to the hurricane, I wouldn't consider it to be abnormal. So what does that 17 cents mean to the average American? Not much really. If you look at the typical car sold int he US you'll find that the gas tank holds somewhere between 10 and 25 gallons of gas. That means to fill up will cost an extra $1.70 to $4.25. Is that a real large amount? I don't think so, but many are complaining. And if you look at those that complain the most you will find that not only do they drive something that gets less then 20 miles per gallon but they also drive in a very inefficient way. You know the type, foot to the floor when accelerating, foot to the floor to pass someone, driving well above the speed limit, and will sit with the car idling for 30 minutes to keep it cool. I'm not saying that they need to be a hyper-miler but come on. Take a look at what you are driving and how you are driving it before you whine about the increased price of gas. In my vehicle I drive roughly 30000 miles per year and get roughly 32 miles per gallon. That gives an increase of about $160 per year based on the 17 cents that the story was about. What's all the fuss about people? Wait I know, it's all those people driving 30000 miles a year getting 16 miles per gallon, that extra $320 is killing them.
The other topic that I wanted to talk about had to do with a commercial that was aired last night. I find it really annoying that BP is still talking about all the good that they are doing for the Gulf Coast. The commercial was talking about how much they have invested in cleaning up the gulf and how they have shared their experiences with other oil companies to prevent this from happening again. Do they think the American people are really that stupid? They are doing that because the government has required them to do it! They aren't doing it because they really care. All they want to do is give the impression that they care. If the government would let them they would stop all clean up procedures and move on. I can't believe that they feel the people of the United States are so gullible.
No comments:
Post a Comment