WHY driving sucks: the rising price of gasoline
There are two interesting articles in today's nytimes.com site on the rising price of gasoline:
"Full Tanks Put Squeeze on Working Class" by By ROBIN POGREBIN and "Gas Prices and Rate Worries Rattle Consumer Confidence" by VIKAS BAJAJ and JEREMY W. PETERS.
The first article says that "The latest New York Times/CBS News poll showed that 63 percent of respondents had cut back on their driving because of the gas price increase." The second article, apparently contradicting the first one, says, "[...] economists note that for all the worries over gasoline, expressions of lower consumer confidence often do not translate into weaker overall spending. That may be particularly true when incomes are rising and jobs are plentiful, as they appear to be today."
Whichever article is closer to reality, one thing is clear: it is those of lower means who are hardest hit by the price increase in gasoline as the first articles explains.
The question is, how much of a difference in traffic is that making? And if it is making a difference, is it fair? Will the high price of gas make driving a privilege affordable only to those of higher means while those of lower means have no viable alternative?
The first article goes on to say, "Ms. Lopez could try to car-pool. But she values her autonomy. 'I don't want to depend on nobody,' she said. 'I'm not that kind of person.'" So if car-pooling is not an option and public transportation is not an option, then what's the alternative? Biting the bullet?
In his 20/20 Special last night, John Stossel was debunking the myth and singing the praises of "Price-Gouging", while at the same time he debunked the myth that "The World is Running out of Oil".
Stossel argues, with the help of three Nobel Prize price-winning econonomists, that price gouging is the only incentive to bring in badly needed supplies in a disaster situation such as hurricane Katrina and that the alternative is scarcity. Images of gas stations with signs that read "NO GAS" from the 70's flashed on as he said this. Meaning what?
Here's what he had to say about the myth that "The World is Running out of Oil":
"With the price now up to $70 a barrel, and gas at $3 a gallon, how can that not be true? Isn't that why the price is high?
But what people don't know is that there's a vast supply of oil just 500 miles north in Canada.
'The tar sands of Alberta alone contain enough hydrocarbon to fuel the entire planet for over 100 years,' according to Peter Huber, co-author of "The Bottomless Well."
What is he talking about? The Canadian tar sands are a Florida-size patch of sand and rock, mixed with oil. Lots of it.
Huber said people think we're running out of oil because we're running out of cheap oil, the kind that's found in the Middle East, which is already liquid, clean and ready to refine.
"It's very cheap to get that oil out of the ground. So, of course, that's where people go first,' Huber said.
They can pull it out of the ground for five bucks a barrel.
It costs three times as much to get oil out of Canada's tar sands, because they have to add hot water to the sand to separate the oil. But now that oil is expensive and likely to stay that way, companies find it profitable to do this. " [emphasis mine]
In other words, if you want to keep driving hydrocarbon-fueled vehicles and you don't want to see lines at the pump, expect to pay for gas as much as--if not more than-- you are paying now. There is plenty of oil, but if you want it, you'll have to pay for it at the pump because "cheap" Middle Eastern oil is getting too "expensive" politically and militarily.
Is this good news for traffic? Is it an incentive for public transportation to get its act together? Will driving become a luxury? How long before you get a howl out of Detroit and Japan? The car industry and the oil industry go hand in hand. The minute car sales drop, there will be pressure on the oil industry to find a way drop prices or find cheap oil.
The answer to this is, of course, hybrids (many of which are already on the road in L.A.) or alternative clean-fuel engine cars. But then, if Detroit and Japan were to produce a lot more such cars, you'd a get a howl from oil industry, "hey, wait a minute!"
You can't win. Like the health care system and the pharmaceutical companies, the car and oil industries are far too powerful and have a vested interest in keeping things just the way they are.
America is not Europe or Japan with their well-established and comprehensive public transportation systems. America is the car, the freedom of the open road, individuality on wheels. Try to take that away and you'll get the second American Revolution.
TIP: cheap gas in Venice/Santa Monica
Here's a tip on where to find cheap gas in Venice/Santa Monica. The United Oil gas station on the corner of Washington at Abbot Kinney in Venice had the lowest prices in that area. Sometimes, the Arco station on the corner of Pico at 4th Street in Santa Monica would beat their price, though. If you are in that area, check them out. I always refueled at either one of these two.
Anybody has any tips on where to find cheap gas in the rest of L.A.?
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