The Good Old Days
The recent price increase is due to the instability in Libya. Libya is a major oil producer, so the possibility of losing this source is causing the price to rise.
Crude oil is exported from the Middle East to Europe, then exported from Europe to the United States. In the U.S. it is refined and some of the resulting oil products are exported to Europe and Asia. Sort of blows a hole in the buying local philosophy of shopping.
Plan on prices rising even more dramatically. Unfortunately, gas prices don't just affect the cost of driving. Farmers pay more to produce food. It costs more to transport food. And it will cost more to buy electricity to store the food. So, food prices rise even more. The same is true of other consumer goods.
How do we handle this problem now? Drive less. Drive vehicles that get good gas mileage. Stock up your pantry. Buy used goods. Repair rather than replace. Basically, live frugally.
I remember buying gas for 25 cents per gallon when I was a teenager. Boy, am I getting old!
God bless,
Pam
Gas prices went from 3.14 during the morning (on Wednesday) to 3.19 in the evening to 3.29 the next morning. There are stations down the road at 3.39.
ReplyDeleteNo article in the local papers or online, nothing on CNN about the drastic increases (I just checked this morning, normally I don't read CNN but figured it would be ineteresting to see if they had anything on the gas price increases, so there may have been before).
Remember a few years ago when it went up (and not nearly as drasticly) and people were throwing a hissy fit. There were going to be riots if gas hit $4. Not anymore. We've become numb.
And what have any of us done since the last gas hike? Probably nothing. Maybe some people carpooled for a month or two, or drove a "little" less, but they are back to their old lifestyles, not having changed a thing. Sad.
Sorry for the rant.
25 cents! Wow :)
ReplyDeleteI remember when my hubby and I were dating almost 12 years ago. We lived about 50 miles from each other and gas was 99 cents a gallon. We often wonder, if we'd met when gas prices are where they are now (3.55/gallon today) would we have ever ended up married?
But it's a great rant Carolyn and so true. We have short memories when it comes to these things. I remember the big shortages of the 1970s and waiting in line for an hour to get ten gallons of gas.
ReplyDeleteMy European readers are probably thinking we are out of our minds for complaining about $4 a gallon. They routinely pay twice as much for gasoline than we do.
Oh, during the last shortage the big oil companies made record profits!
As for Libya..."those that live by the sword, die by the sword".
Bless you,
Pam