Well here we go again with shocking gas price hikes, just in time for the summer driving crush. Funny how it's always something unusual in the world that they use for an excuse to tickle those numbers up a dime a day or more. Last fall it was the hurricanes destroying gulf production capacity, then a major pipeline down, then couldn't get the right grades and blendsto the right places (thanks a lot, EPA, for creating such a smorgasbord of varied state requirements no oil company can accomodate them all) because of shipping problems, etc. This year it's China's accelerated industrialization and demand for oil, the usual Mideast uncertainties, Iran's nuclear ambitions (while Brazil practically has the deed in hand unnoticed), and the shock value of a crude now over $75/barrel for the first time.
It's the big oil companies' greed, my wife insists. Look at their obscene profits! And they're coddled and favored by the Republicans, especially the "ohl bidness" White House in cahoots with them. They haven't the capacity to produce enough even if they could get it cheap, CNN says. They haven't built a new refinery in decades. I asked my eldest son why. "Nimby," he said. "Not In My Back Yard. Nobody wants one where they live."
As I checked our tiny price cards on pumps in our prissy town which doesn't allow signs big enough to see from the street, I watched the prices climb closer and closer through the week to the magic $3.00 figure. That, according to history, seems to be the psychological turn off the trips number for many of us--especially those of us who well remember the $2.29 we were paying just a few weeks ago, even if we've pretty much forgotten the $2.95 we paid after Wilma last October. The Sun Sentinel, our local Ft. Lauderdale paper, suggested we go online and Google "Cheapest gas by zip code" to find the sites listing best prices in our area.
When I checked the tire pressure for the minivan tires at 7/11 this evening, I noted they were selling gas for 2.99 , still unwilling to make the big three dollar declaration till the other stations all do, probably tomorrow. So I went online and used Google. It came up pretty easily with a number of sites, some of which were pretty outdated. But the best site I found was http://www.gasbuddy.com. I plugged in my zip and found a nearby Citgo selling for 2.89 and a Shell selling for 2.93, so I went to the Citgo first and filled up our nearly-empty tank for 2.89/gallon.
But I wasn't the only one there. The lines reminded me of last fall after Wilma: very high stress, very angry drivers jockeying and honking for position, and lots of them. Last fall the cops had to maintain order at the pumps in our town, and I wouldn't be surprised to see those times return, even though there's presumably no shortage of fuel or stations selling it. It's the general panic buying we always get in our cities when we feel our lifestyle may be threatened or that we're losing control over events in our lives. Suddenly our friends and neighbors become the competition and we go into our Survivor mode, making sure that whatever happens, we get ours.
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4 comments:
Yet for some reason, people in your community are still buying and driving HUMMERs. Not the best choice of vehicle for South Florida that has absolutely NO mountains or off roading obsticles.
Many of our stations are over $3. Walmart was $2.95 on Wed. Why wouldn't everyone just go to the ones still under $3?
The europeans are laughing at our anguish. They pay $6+/gallon and only dream about the good old days of cheap $3. Politicians in this country will always tend to bow to pressure when they have to be reelected. Did you hear about the nationwide tax rebate check to help with our energy hardships? Pandering at its best.
Of course, the big honchos in the oil companies are delighted to point out that state and federal governments are raking in even more money than Big Oil. Here in the desert things are a bit more complicated because Native Americans enjoy some tax exemptions, but instead of lowering prices they pass on the money to their tribal councils - probably mostly to build bigger casinos.
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