I was thinking that I haven't heard much about the rising price of gas recently. Here in southwest Missouri it has remained at around $3.59/gal for several weeks. I expect that it will go up as summer gets closer and we tend to want to use more of it.
I have to say that it's been nice not to be hearing too much about it. One of the things that I did notice as the price was climbing--the people that make the most over the high cost are the the people that drive the SUVs or larger gas guzzling vehicles. The people that drive hybrid vehicles or high gas mileage vehicles are more likely to brag about the mileage they're getting than complain about the price. I've become one of the second group now that the Del Sol is running better and has a new set of tires. Hwy mileage on the trip to Chicago was 41+/gal and normal back and forth to work is around 38mpg.
The other thing that always makes me shake my head at the gas station is hearing somebody complain about the price of gas as they pay a dollar or more for a half liter of ...
...water!
I wonder if they ever think that they are paying about $8 per gallon for water that they can get for free in a cup while they complain about gas that is less than half the price. In a way it is funny that while a third of the world's population doesn't have a clean, safe source of drinking water and in the US you can drink the water from just about any spigot at any gas station without worrying about getting sick, we pay to have our water put in a land polluting plastic bottle with a fancy label. Definitely falls into the category of a first world problem.
Just a thought...
John
We have really been brainwashed by the media concerning the price of gas. Their 'prediction of gas prices going higher in the next week', usually sparks someone's interest to raise their prices to prepare for the increased cost. Then the 'snowball effect' occurs. Gas prices get raised everywhere. It's a vicious cycle.
ReplyDeleteYour comparison of gas prices and bottled water prices makes a great point. This same analogy can be used with Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, energy drinks, etc. We would be better able to keep things in perspective when we evaluate the bigger picture!