I spoke up about high gas prices... Here's what I did and why!

That's right folks! After much debate to what my first post would be about, I decided my first post should deny ignorance. After all, that's what we're here for. I decided to deny it right, with dignity and to speak out and make my local news/media aware in an attempt to get them to run a story of rising gas prices with the mind of the middle-class worker. It's a struggle and a sin to pay these outrageous gas prices. Yesterday I spent $50 to fill my tank from empty. For reference, I have a 97 Honda Civic (not a big gas tank). So, I got in my car and a feeling came over me as I felt I had just been robbed. Today was different though, I woke up and decided to speak up for the first time. I wrote and email to my local news/media and followed up with a phone call to the news hot-line to aware them of my incoming message.

Here's what i wrote:

Hello all at the 22/28 News Stations! I'd really like to know where the news is? What exactly do I mean? Well for one example, I haven't seen anything on the news recently in OUR area about gas prices hitting the fan. There's only one other thing I'd rather not see hit the fan and this is pretty darn comparable. Do you know what our area and the rest of the country needs right now? ACTIONS&REACTIONS.

We are huffing and puffing after we open the car door, sit down and realize "$50 didn't fill my compact car". To put the news swing into it, 'That's what a local unhappy resident reported to us today, that the gas prices have risen dramatically and it's time that a voice is heard'. Well you heard it alright! Outrageous gas prices are affecting everyone in our area and across the globe. This link is updated daily with U.S. gas prices. Take a close look at the bottom of the page. It's not rocket science here, the chart is rapidly growing and we know we are getting slapped on the hand at the gas pump. It's more importantly affecting what this nation thrives on, the middle-class working man. This report from MSNBC(Feb11,2011) states that gas prices are up $0.50 cents from this time last year at a national average price of "$3.127" . Now that was February so can you guess what it is today? I should really leave that job up to you and wait to hear that answer live on television, but I'll save you some time. Remember that chart from the previous link? This week our NATIONAL average is up to ~$3.52 for Regular (87) Unleaded. That's $0.39+ up since last month which is a 12.568% increase. Last year this time, gas prices were ~$2.60/gallon of gas(3/1/10). With some extra math involved, that's an increase of 35% or $0.88. Imagine a company with profit gains of that proportion. Oh wait, there is... It'd also be of interest to check this real-time map of the U.S. with color coded gas prices found here as this, and the chart can be an eyeopener.

One news article had OPIS chief oil analyst Tom Kloza, stating "oil demand will slide in the U.S. by May, as refineries slow fuel production while they switch to summer blends of gas. World oil consumption also may not rise as much as expected". My thought on that is when was the last time gas prices let up in May? School is about to let out and summer begins. Families begin to take vacations and travel to visit others, save money for trips across the nation to take time away from it all. For one to think gas prices to diminish at this point is blasphemy. We know gas prices take a hit all through summer. Memory serves me well as gas prices always, in a near religious fashion, rise from the dead. How can we be so sure? Well, repent and believe because once again that chart I mentioned earlier immediately becomes handy once again. As you'll find on the chart, in the past two years gas has risen in these time periods. From March 2009 to July 2009, gas rose from $1.90 to $2.70 in only four months. In 2010 from the same time frame, the national average rose again from $2.60 to ~$2.91.

My question is, should the national populace be willingly paying this much for gas? What will we be paying in the months to come? Surely prices will rise as we head towards summer and no one is really saying anything of it. If we see numbers being replicated from previous years, statistically, we will see gas prices for regular (87) unleaded fuel hit record numbers close to, if not beyond $4.00/gallon. Diesel in our area alone has hit that price range this week alone! Where is our cry for outrage?! Here is where we hold it in your hands, the local news/media.

This dramatic fluctuation still has us in silence, but why? Because after a busy day of work, school, errands and driving your kids everywhere, we still have more to worry about once you arrive home. How are this months bills going to get paid? My rent/mortgage? My utility bills? The escalating nature of this realization spins our minds to a number of scary scenarios of which are more important than some "cents" going up in gas prices. What we don't perceive, is that it should be a major concern because it's slowly eating away at more and more of our hard-earned dollar. It's comparable to a slow growth of pests in ones garden. The bountiful plenty which you nurture and feed your family on is in trouble because of the new money eating critter that is eating your ability to keep that garden going and have fair yields. I know in this economic state-of-being, that it's hard enough to keep a middle-class garden going let alone those who struggle over their economic turmoil in trying to find jobs, just lost their jobs, or have been out of a job for a long time. The nations garden is withering slowly and we must be heard.

Namaste,

Dr. Rage

[Sources used in e-mail]
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You can make a difference.
Start drafting folks.
And thanks for reading my first thread.

If they run it, I'll be back to report.

~The Doc

Nice to see people taking action within their community. Keep it up and get like minded people to follow your lead, if enough citizens demand the truth we just might be able to win this thing. S&F

Good for you..I wish more people would stand up to the system like this..Unfortunatley I have a feeling your message will fall on deaf ears..and closed eyes.