WHY ARE GASOLINE PRICES GOING UP SO HIGH?
If everyone else in the world is paying a lot more for gas, why shouldn't Americans?
Take your average spoiled American who blames the Arabs for raising the gas prices
unfairly in order to make a bigger profit. It's true, gas prices have gone up by a lot
in the last few months, but is that unfair? Prices still are a lot higher in Canada,
Europe and just about any other developed nation, according to Mike Royko in the May 2,
1996 issue of the Chicago Tribune. Ted Z. Manuel in a letter entitled "Voice of the
People" of the Chicago Tribune, said "Most anywhere in Europe, gas costs are from $3.00
to $5.00 per gallon. We scream when it hits a $1.35 to $1.75 a gallon, which if adjusted
for inflation actually is cheaper than 25 years ago." It seems that Americans just think
the world owes them a favor. Maybe it's time that they start playing fairly and stop
feeling so sorry for themselves!!!
According to many articles, Americans have a lot more to be thankful for than they do to
complain about. For one, cars use gas a lot more efficiently than they did in the past.
According to Royko, "even today's luxury cars give you better gas mileage than the
cheapest Chevies, Fords and Plymouths did not that long ago." What does this mean? This
means that gas prices should logically go up. It's the basic law of supply and demand.
It's true that more Americans are driving, but the gasoline suppliers still deserve to
get paid fairly.
And what about inflation? Well, when you take inflation into account, the price for
gasoline is less now than it was forty years ago. Just another example of how Americans
are spoiled brats.
According to Charles Krauthhammer of the May 6, 1996 issue of the Washington Post,
increases in gasoline prices aren't as simple as supply and demand. He feels that there
are short run and long run reasons for the increasing prices. On the short run, we can
thank an extra long winter for using up a lot of our gasoline reserves. For the long
run, we can thank car loving American drivers, who like to go really fast and really far
in their fancy sport cars that get terrible gas mileage.
Another reason for an increase in price, is that U.S. crude oil production is in serious
decline. According to Krauthhammer, "in 1970, it was 9.6 million barrels a day. Today
it is 6.5 million." The reason it's in serious decline is simple. We're using it up, and
at increasingly fast rates. The more we use, the less there will be, so doesn't it make
sense that we should pay more for something that is becoming extinct? According to Mary
McCormick-Barger, in a Chicago Tribune article called Fuel's Paradise, "present
estimates show that oil will be gone in 35 to 70 years." If we are not careful and don't
find alternatives, none of us will be driving!!!
The gasoline issue is not cut and dried. Many Americans may blame it on money hungry
Arabs and whine about having to pay more to fuel their expensive cars, but can we really
feel sorry for them??? I myself am from Europe and think that people in America have it
pretty good. If anything, maybe they should stop driving such expensive cars at the
speeds that they do, and maybe take a bike trip every once in a while.
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