Okay, folks, get a grip. It’s time we stop whining about gasoline prices. That’s it. Next time you belly up to the pump, take a big breath and say: Driving is a privilege. Any number of things could happen to deny me that privilege (at my age this is a distinct possibility). If they took away my license, I would cry, whine and maybe swear. Then I would just suck it up and find another way to get where I have to go and be much choosier about going anywhere.
The answer to the price crisis is simple. Drive less. Boycotting Exxon or not buying gas on a given day probably won’t do anything except hurt individual dealers. What we have to do is use less gasoline. It’s too late to buy a thriftier car, and even if you could, the auto industry still isn’t offering us many choices. And, in Malibu, as in virtually all of Greater Los Angeles, public transportation isn’t a great option.
During the oil crisis of the ’70s, price was not the object. OPEC had squeezed the supply line to a trickle. We could only buy gas on alternate days of the week, according to the last number on the license plate: even numbers on Monday, odd on Tuesday etc. Even so, the lines went around the block, and often after waiting a half hour, the sign would go up: No more gas today. Or, no regular unleaded, premium only. For the first week or so things were pretty ugly. Fistfights broke out in the lines. Cars were rammed for cutting in. We behaved like idiots. Then we learned how to cope.
We carpooled, we limited trips to the supermarket or we dragged our old bikes out of the garage, dusted them off and attached a basket to the handlebars. Businesses arranged vanpools for their employees. And guess what? It worked. The lines got considerably shorter, fewer stations were running out of gas by noon, the nation consumed less and soon there was more supply than demand. OPEC wasn’t making any money. Magically, the crisis was resolved.
It is possible for consumers, not just huge corporations and government, to manipulate supply. We simply decrease demand. Pretty soon the squeeze is on them.
If the rumor that the crisis is politically motivated is true, then it behooves us to make sure it doesn’t work. Give it a try. Pretend your driver’s license was revoked. Do your shopping with a friend. Or two friends. If you have a job that allows it, work at home one or two days a week. Teleconference. Use e-mail to tell your congressperson not to vote for the Administration’s disgusting energy plan. Heck, e-mail everybody instead of going to the post office. Order gifts sent UPS to the recipient instead of driving to the mall. If all else fails, walk. That could solve other problems.
In the face of the growing health crisis caused by the accumulation of adipose tissue (belly bulge and dimpled thighs), a shortage in the food industry has come to the rescue
Just in time for summer, the price of our favorite frozen confection is soaring to record highs. Now, it’s unlikely that the administrators of Medicare and Medicaid have manipulated this, but they may reap the benefits. A pint of Cherry Garcia costs 8 percent more than a few weeks ago, the biggest jump in price in Ben & Jerry’s 26 years. As soon as a double cone costs more than a Lean Cuisine dinner we may have a solution to obesity. We’re told the average person eats 26 servings of ice cream a year. Market researchers obviously didn’t figure my consumption of Starbucks Low Fat Latte in that equation (more like 365 cups a year).
The International Dairy Foods Association says about 1.6 billion gallons of ice cream are sold in the U.S. every year. But for a long time we had a glut of milk. This caused prices to drop forcing small dairy farmers out of business. Now demand exceeds supply and, you guessed it, prices soar. Also vanilla is in short supply because of bad weather in Madagascar and cocoa prices are up $1 a pound because of political unrest in Ivory Coast. The same thing happened decades ago when our supply of sugar from Cuba was cut off, but the soda industry switched to high fructose corn syrup and that settled that, sort of. Corn farmers were delighted (they were wrestling with their own glut). Problem is there’s no nutrition in high fructose corn syrup, but then we’re not talking nutritious food anyway. At least ice cream has a little protein and calcium to go with the fat and carbs.
Anyway, the thing to remember is that the law of supply and demand works both ways. If government, or whoever, squeezes our supply of anything, be it petrol or ice cream, we can fight back by reducing demand. It won’t last forever. But the sooner we quit whining about high prices, and just use a lot less, the sooner prices will fall.
Go ahead, try it. And if you still have to have unseemly amounts of ice cream, at least walk to Ben & Jerry’s. Your HMO will thank you. Big Oil can take a hike.