Do you really need that? That's what I overheard a mother asking her son at HEB about some candy he had his eye on. A year earlier she probably would have bought the candy for him... that is when gas prices weren't as high as they are today. It is unreal how pricy it is to get gas and it really makes the every day American rethink on what they spend their extra spending money because some of that most likely has to be spent on gas.
Car manufactuers are producing cars that are not gas fueled like the hydrogen car or the car that is able to be plugged in. Yes, these new cars are being produced, but in my opinion, not fast enough. Everyone is still driving their gas fueled cars to an from work every day because they have to with no other choice. I believe these cars need to be produced faster and cheap obviously because people can't afford much anymore.
Some kids are being deprived of summer camps and hard working dads are working longer hours with no vacation time because of the sudden increase of gas prices. I got a job for the summer and my parents are making me pay for my own tanks of gas. I realized how expensive gas had gotten when I spent my own pay check on one, single, measly tank of gas. Honestly, I am not the expert on the answer to this but I do know that things need to happen/change...fast.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
While many see the exponentially growing price of gas as a burden to American society, it provides an incentive for those of us who would normally drive a block to pick up a coke from a gas station to get out and be active. As Go-Getter for Government stated in his article As Gas Prices Increase, Extra Spendings Decrease, the amount of money being poured into our gas tanks is affecting the way we live our lives. While I agree that car companies need to create more fuel efficient vehicles sometime in the near future, I also believe that this could be the event that makes people more aware of the benefits of mass transportation.
For years subway, bus and train companies have been trying to convince America that it is much more efficient and environmentally friendly to use mass transportation, but with the economy thriving and car ownership soaring, not many paid attention. Now that the price of gas is putting a dent in everybody’s banking accounts, more people are becoming aware of their city buses or subways and how it may not be as convenient as having your own vehicle, but it is much more affordable. I think that if more Americans start to take advantage of mass transportation, that bus, train and subway systems will become increasingly more efficient and refined to meet the needs of their users. With that, it will become a vicious cycle that users will want to use them more and sooner or later it will be just as convenient to ride a subway to work as it would be to take your own car. Thus, this will cut back on our use of gasoline as a country, and in turn protect our environment and possibly alleviate some of the tension with foreign oil companies.
Also, as I stated before, Americans are already pushing for healthier lifestyles so why not look at this gas crisis as an opportunity to become more physically active and walk or ride your bike if you are going short distances. I understand that not all of us are marathon runners or competitors in the Tour de France, but you can save a lot of money annually if you cut your driving back a little bit here and there.
So instead of looking to car manufacturers to hurry up the process of more fuel efficient vehicles, why not take advantage of other modes of transportation that we already have available to us? In the end, you WILL save money.
Yes I personally agree one hundred percent that gas prices are out of this world insane. At the same time I do not believe that we should take extreme action on manufacturing more cars that have a different energy source other than gas. Everyone in this country is suffering in their pockets with money not just because of the gas prices. Every consumer product price has risen over the past couple years during this time of war not just gas prices. If anything we should just work on lowering gas prices and fixing the product prices we have now not spending billions of dollars on manufacturing a new car that takes other energy than gas. I believe this idea of using something other than gas is a good idea and will be use full in the upcoming years but in this time I do not believe we should try manufacturing this idea right this second. Not just some people are suffering in this country of not being able to go to summer camps or dads working after hours almost everyone is. I believe the citizens of America should take a few steps back and figure out what we can do to make money more convenient. Example--- if we produced a train station that dropped people to their destinations or within a few blocks of their destination this would be more effective and less expensive than producing cars that not everyone can afford. Yes some people aren't allowed to use their parents gas cards any more and this is tragic...... but most people were never offered this luxury and cant even afford a car right now or the every day necessities to live. I think their are much more important problems than just gas prices that we need to fix. I think we need to settle this war one way or another. Preferably coming to a peace treaty or settling for less than a lot of oil.... You are talking about you specifically and making generalizations. If I were to do this I could say something like I have a huge truck that I bought years ago when gas prices were low and now it hasn't moved out of its parking spot in a couple weeks because I have used my long board or walked/biked to my destination instead of wasting a whole paycheck on gas. I can understand how A.C. and a radio makes the world of difference... but I think we should all compromise a little bit and see how far we get other than just thinking about number one...Everyone is suffering right now in their pockets and everyone should have to lose a little to gain a lot.....
Because the United States has historically chosen policies which have favored one industry over another, it is very reasonabe for us to find ourselves in this current unpleasant situation.
The things which we have come to expect from our disposable income, such as the ability to drive affordably to our jobs, now show themselves to be tied to historically favorable policy. For example, the GI Bill, Homestead Act, and oil subsidies, all hailed as measures of great public stewardship in their own time, now show their true and ugly face. The legislation which rewarded our soldiers of WWII also helped to foster an irreversably haphazard, decentralized physical environment and a public conviction that this was a the American norm. Most families, including my own family, are now forced into living situations far from their workplaces.
So, the question is- do we fight past fires with future fires? Do we ease the painful aftermath of imbalanced markets with more subsidies for specific new technologies, knowing full well that unintential effects may similarly reveal themselves in the future? Or do we let the market sleep-off its own mess and innovate, as we make certain personal sacrifices in the meantime?
In any case, by understanding that a full tank of gas, like summer camp and sweets, is a luxury, afforded to us by our government's unsustainable industry favoritism, as well as considering the great evidence available that the US government has previously played a big role in suppressing the development of an affordable car alternative, we may be convinced to not demand cheap gas, but instead, demand a market friendlier to innovation, so we have more hope of catching up with the latest global technological gains of Japan and Europe.
Post a Comment