In one gear and out the other...

[drewbear]

So I saw two things today which, when juxtaposed, say a lot about the current state of America's relationship to private transport and our "right" to cheap fuel.

First, while driving to lunch I pulled up next to one of those godawful stretch Hummer limos. Now, those are bad enough, but this one went that extra mile for godawful and overly grandiose consumption. It was jacked up about 4 feet off the ground and on oversize wheels. Not quite monster-truck sized, but in the same vicinity. So here's this vehicle that's already a paean to conspicuous consumerism and the owner of the limo service managed to find a way to make it even MORE over-the-top.

Then came the flip-side. When driving home from work just now, I passed several gas stations. Keep in mind that this morning, when I drove in to work, the highest gas price for regular was (if I recall correctly) $3.61/gal. This evening, the cheapest station was at $3.69, with a full lot and a line of cars 10 deep in the street and police presence to maintain order! The next cheapest stations were at $3.99, $4.09 and, I kid you not, $4.79.

Congratulations, everyone! We managed to celebrate 9/11 with a spectacular new tradition! Don't expect to ever see gas prices fall below $4/gal after this weekend! Happy Terrorist Blood-For-Oil Price-Gouging Insensate Panic Day!

I'm not going to get into my opinions on WHY the prices are jumping so drastically, since I'm certain they're pretty commonly held and kinda trite at the moment.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I have two words for you: Hurricane Ike. When 15-23% of refining capacity is offline indefinitely, investors freak.

BTW, you might want to call our parents on Saturday or Sunday if you can. The flooding from Ike could be bad for them as well as Houston and Longview.

~your sister Katie

[drewbeartx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I knew it was because of Ike, but dude! This is just ridiculous!

How're you and everyone doing in Houston? I know that Ike was making landfall near there.

Gas prices

[(Anonymous)]

I topped off my tank at Sam's this afternoon for $3.41/gal. Perry has instituted mandatory fines of $25000 for every instance of price gouging and $250000(yes, that is correct) if the gougee is a senior.

Most stations here have gone up 10 cents since yesterday.

When an old woman backed into my car in a parking lot several years ago, she was in a honking big SUV. When she got out and looked at my car (her bumper was level with my hood) she said she was going to have to get a hummer, because she would feel so much safer. I guess for when she backed into people.

Re: Gas prices

[drewbeartx.livejournal.com]

Good for Perry.

There's a statistic I read a few years back (validity may vary, to paraphrase Mark Twain) that said that SUV owners were 3 times less likely to be killed or seriously injured in auto collisions. However, people in standard vehicles involved in collisions with SUVs were 20 times MORE likely to be killed or suffer serious injuries.

[bigjohnva.livejournal.com]

It's that big ass hurricane hitting Houston where 4 of the biggest refineries are located. They are currently shut down therefore no gas production therefore price gouging... sucks.. gas went up 20 cents here in No VA.

[drewbeartx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I knew it was primarily due to investors & oil companies taking advantage and/or freaking out about Ike, but still, that's a ridiculous jump in less than a day. The smallest jump (at the station with the police presence) went up 18 cents and the biggest jump was the one at $4.79, which went up more than a dollar.