Friday, May 14, 2004
A spam email today exhorts me to participate in “Stick it to them Day” this May 19th by which the entire United States is supposed to cease and desist from buying even a single drop of gasoline. The goal is to put pressure on the Bush administration to do what ever it takes to drive down spiraling-high gas prices.
The argument is that if everyone in the U.S. did not purchase a drop of gasoline for one day, the oil companies would choke on their stockpiles. At the same time it would hit the entire industry with a net loss of over $4.6 billion dollars which affects the bottom lines of the oil companies. “Get the word out today!” says the email all uppercase-like.
No I won’t get the word out today! In fact I feel compelled to send out an email to counter this cry to action because as usual, I see the whole thing quite differently. If I had my druthers, I would keep the gas prices up high, higher, and highest for a long, long time to come. There's nothing like a painful pinch to the pocketbook to rally people to action. Yes this would negatively impact airlines, trucking companies, and the shipping industry for a while. Yes food, clothing, building materials, medical supplies become more expensive. But I say pay now or ante up incalculable amounts later (if our beleaguered environment even gives us the option to do that). The oil gig is up. Oil production has peaked. In thirty to fifty years, our grandchildren are going to look at us funny when we tell them we drove a block-and-a-half to the post office just as we looked at our grandparents funny when they told us they walked ten miles to school every day in the snow. So you heard it from an environmentally conscious liberal: BUY LOTS OF GAS ON MAY 19TH!!!!
The argument is that if everyone in the U.S. did not purchase a drop of gasoline for one day, the oil companies would choke on their stockpiles. At the same time it would hit the entire industry with a net loss of over $4.6 billion dollars which affects the bottom lines of the oil companies. “Get the word out today!” says the email all uppercase-like.
No I won’t get the word out today! In fact I feel compelled to send out an email to counter this cry to action because as usual, I see the whole thing quite differently. If I had my druthers, I would keep the gas prices up high, higher, and highest for a long, long time to come. There's nothing like a painful pinch to the pocketbook to rally people to action. Yes this would negatively impact airlines, trucking companies, and the shipping industry for a while. Yes food, clothing, building materials, medical supplies become more expensive. But I say pay now or ante up incalculable amounts later (if our beleaguered environment even gives us the option to do that). The oil gig is up. Oil production has peaked. In thirty to fifty years, our grandchildren are going to look at us funny when we tell them we drove a block-and-a-half to the post office just as we looked at our grandparents funny when they told us they walked ten miles to school every day in the snow. So you heard it from an environmentally conscious liberal: BUY LOTS OF GAS ON MAY 19TH!!!!
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