The time has come.
We're being noticeably affected by the gas prices (and/or whatever is affecting those).
Whenever my husband and I talk about gas prices, I have this flash back of filling up my parents' Honda Accord in high school. Gas was 78 cents!
Doesn't that sound absurd?
I'm sure everyone has their own rant and rave about this issue. My bottom line question though is this...why can't the "powerful ones" do something about it? I know its complicated, but this is getting ridiculous. When are the people who make things happen going to make something happen? When do we get over not wanting to see oil rigs for aesthetic purposes? When do we go ahead and tap into Alaska's resources?
AND, are you telling me with all the brilliant minds out there, no one can quickly come up with an alternative fuel and implement it's use? Really?
Ok, whew. Just something that's been the subject of many conversations at our house, and therefore on my mind, a lot recently.
So, how about you?
Has the increased price of gas, food and basically any and every service/good we buy affected you yet?
Tell me about it.
Go ahead, let it all out.
We can lament together.
7 comments:
AMEN!!! It's so terrible, Greta. I'm totally with you. Yesterday, I filled up my car. Now, mind you, I own a Jeep Cherokee. Not exactly your most fuel efficient car, but c'mon. It's 13 years old and still going strong! I love Caleb (yes, I name my car) We don't drive it often, but it was $60.00 to fill up the tank. Seriously??? That's CRAZY! And I am convinced that someone, somewhere can do something about this and is just choosing not to. :/
Also - food prices. BREAD?? Bread is SO expensive! Went grocery shopping today and it was absurd. Bread was among the most expensive things on my list. :-O! This just should not be.
Throw. Up.
it IS terrible! we have trips planned over the next 3 weekends, and i shudder to think how many times we'll fill up the gas tank and how much $$ it will cost! it is truly out of control.
i'm also out raged at the cost of bread! and have you purchased milk lately?? yikes!
maybe we should learn from the amish - all we will need is a horse, a carriage, a cow, and a garden, and we're set.
The prices are ridiculous! For us to visit my family, it costs us at least $60 in gas, and that was before the last lil hike in prices.
Like you, I remember 78 cents a gallon... those were the days! :)
I just heard on the radio this morning that a man out west is starting a movement- "pray at the pump". When he gets gas, he just bows his head and prays for the prices. Other people have joined in. Prayer is probably our most powerful tool at this point....
And, I know we are going to feel the crunch even more in a few months since we will be going down to one income. Scary.
G, don't you know that oil companies need better profits. It's hard for them when everybody consumes way more gas than they did 20 years ago. Oil execs need to be able to go to Disney too.
I don't even want to start on gas and government and politics and landfills. It's really all the same. But I saw an interesting show the other night on alternative fuels etc. There are neighborhoods (I think in Texas) where people actually prefer to live next to an oil well...rig...whatever those bird looking things are. The price of housing next to them is actually higher than in other parts of the neighborhood. Know why? I'll tell you. Because people would prefer to have that next door to them than another house. It's not that they don't like neighborhood life. They just want more space. So about the aesthetics of seeing oil rigs, some people are paying more to live with them. Of course Texas suburbanites don't typically hug trees and pour paint on SUVs I guess.
i´d like to leave a comment with an outsiders perspective. Everyone knows that the U.S. has the cheapest gas in the world (or has had). We also have one of the worst public transportation systems (of course outside of new york, san francisco, boston, big cities, etc). Now of course, this has to do with many factors, one being the size of the country. The U.S. is also known for having the biggest cars and the most cars.
I know the gas prices make it really hard for the people living in America on top of the increase in food prices. In America, most people are dependent on cars.
However, I´m not surprised. This was bound to happen because so many places in the rest of the world pay 10 times as much as we used to pay. We are just catching up. There is not an endless supply of oil. And the whole world needs to share it!
What the U.S. needs to remember, in my opinion, that we have been spoiled all these years. It´s not uncommon in other countries for people to share cars, have one car per household or two, unlike the 4 that my family has in Georgia!
To make a comparison. Gas in Germany, if you get the cheapest, which is diesel, you will pay 5.20 euros for 4 liters (a gallon) which in dollars is 8 dollars! If you get regular gas you will pay 10 dollars a gallon! and its even more expensive in the U.K! What is the result? More carpooling, more public transportation, less cars. (Ok, Germany does have a lot of cars, they are known for that so if you compare it to the rest of Europe they have a lot, but compared to the U.S. they don´t have much)
What am I trying to say? its still cheaper than the rest of the world! It´s unbelievable but true! I am trying to think positive about what´s happening in the U.S. and hoping that this will force them into thinking about public transportation options and just conserving, having less cars and smaller!
And listen, I´m moving back there, so this will affect me too, and I´m not looking forward to it! But we need to remember that we have been lucky all this time!
I hope this will end up being a good think for the U.S!
Amen to you and to Kristin too. It stinks but it's true. I'm the book-keeper in the house and I sat down to balance our budget last night and it was startling. We have been overspending by increasing defecits in our food and car portions of the budget for the past few months. Black beans and rice anyone? And ironically, the stores we live closest to are the more expensive grocery stores, so I have to use more gas to drive to walmart and sam's so I can spend less on groceries.
Kristin - I agree...to an extent!
It would obviously be better all around if everyone used LESS of everything, fewer cars, less gas, less waste, etc. So, while I do think public transportation should be given more attention (especially in my city, the Bham area...it stinks here!), I don't see that happening any time soon. And it definitely won't happen in time to help those of us out who are feeling the hurt from all the rising prices.
How realistic is it for us to go down to 1 car? It's just not. How realistic is it cut back on driving and car pool on longer trips/errand runs? It definitely is and we are doing this!
I don't feel like we live an extravagent life. That said, I've been to enough places to know we definitely have more than we need, a lot more. For a family who is already working on getting down to minimums (not bare minimums, but minimums), things are just discouraging right now.
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