GASOLINE PRICES WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT THEM?

Daily Complaining But Little Adjustments. Gasoline Prices, The Work Place, Church, Living Life, Finances, Marriage, Relationships, etc.

Part One

I was asked this week “What was the lowest gasoline price that you can remember?” I don’t remember what the price was growing up!

In 1960 the gasoline pricewas $0.25. In 1966 we attended Bible Baptist Seminary; and in Arlington Texas, the price of gasoline was $0.17. I worked at a gas station for $1.00 per hour. In 1971 while pastor of Madison Baptist Church, the gasoline price was $0.30; and in 1973 the price went to $0.50, and we felt we were going to go broke at those prices. Then the price went to $1.00 in 1999, and of course, the rest is history. In 2007 the price went to $3 and in 2008 the price is now at $4.

I can remember thinking at each increase of gasoline, the price has to come back down. Yet for a while they would come back down, then up they would go again.

You can take several approaches to this issue.

1. Get mad and fuss all you want. Complain, complain, and complain, or
2. Learn Econ 101 and 201 then
3. Take personal responsibility, and do what needs to be done and learn to
4. Take up the system of personal accountability.
   

But remember this, government intervention is not going to prevent the rise of oil prices. Secondly, boycotts at the local BP, Super Quick or Kroger, or Speedway are not going to work. Thirdly, the current President of the United State or the next President of the United State is not going to change the fluctuation of the gasoline prices. And you really can do something about the gasoline you use.

SO HOW ARE WE GOING TO DEAL WITH THE RISING OF GASOLINE PRICES, THE RISING COST OF FOOD, AND THE HIGH COST OF EATING OUT, OR FLYING ON AMERICAN AIRLINE?

HINT:

• If you are going to buy a Mercedes 500 SL, or a Ferrari F512M or a Lamborghini! Buy a Hot Wheel. They are still 95 cents at your local store.

FIRST A LOOK AT THE GASOLINE PRICES:

(If you Google gasoline prices, you will learn a great deal about this issue: Like the following:)

Oil prices fluctuate wildly. So do gasoline prices. No amount of government intervention is going to prevent the market from fluctuating.

Every spring gas prices go up. They hike even more in the run-up to the Memorial Day weekend and remain high until after Labor Day. Every year we grumble about price gouging and ruthless profiteering just as the higher travel season of summer comes on. Those stinking oil companies have us over a barrel, right? This year it’s far worse. $4 gallon gas with record oil industry profits! What’s up with that?

So what happens you hear like clockwork: Let’s boycott the gas stations, Somebody comes up with some grand plan to punish those filthy rich oil companies. It usually boils down to some kind of targeted boycott. One year the plan was to boycott all Exxon stations. Another year it was to not buy gas on a given day of the week. Another year it was to boycott both Exxon and Shell stations. BP, Super Quick, etc.

It’s my understanding, the whole idea behind these efforts is to create some kind of collective bargaining power, to show consumer muscle in order to ultimately force lower gasoline prices. While it is natural to want to do something to attack the perceived injustice, all of the efforts I have seen suggested suffer from shocking ignorance of how the free market works coupled with childish ignorance of the oil industry.

Most calls for government intervention are founded in frustration and/or a desire to protect one’s turf. Turf protection is why you can’t legally pump your own gas in Oregon, for example. That’s not where Wright is coming from. Many consumers are frustrated with gasoline prices right now. That is understandable.

But most frustrated calls for government intervention are also founded in ignorance of how things really work. I suggest that except for emergency cases, any call for government intervention should be approached calmly and deliberately with an eye on getting a firm grasp on how the matter actually works and what effects intervention is likely to cause. I am not saying that there is never a place for government intervention. I’m simply saying that there is a right way to approach such questions.

From what I have been reading, government intervention or boycotts of gas stations will not work.

But there is a way we all can get through this: “Personal accountability.”

I will give you a website next to give some answers to the above.