Spiking Gasoline Prices Causing Real Pain For The 99%
Prices And Politics: Most of the 99% feel real pain when they pay $4 a gallon at the pump. But the more fortunate just tell them to move or buy a Prius. Gee, thanks for the advice.
Nothing quite divides the elites from regular working folks like a spike in the price of gasoline. To the latter, it's a blow to the household budget. To the former, it's a teachable moment.
The lesson always seems to be twofold. One theme is that there's no fighting higher gas prices. The other is that there is plenty you can do to adjust and, in the process, help build a better world.
Then you get lists of helpful hints such as the following in a Los Angeles Times editorial last week:
"A world of alternatives to the internal combustion engine is flowering, and complaining about the cost is pointless because there's something to fit every pocketbook: The very rich can buy high-performance electric sports cars ... and those who can't or don't want to spend so much can ride public transportation, with Measure R-funded rail lines on the way in Los Angeles County. In between are a host of options: bicycling to work (or, for those who don't like to pedal, riding a new generation of electric bikes), riding high-mileage scooters and mopeds, or buying a hybrid or electric car. Some next-generation hybrids will hit showrooms this summer, when a newly improved Ford Fusion hybrid arrives and Toyota launches its Prius C, a smaller and more economical version of its popular gas-sipper."
We don't mean to pick on just one editorial board, but this prose is a perfect expression of a certain mindset. This is how people think when they're lucky enough not to need a car for their livelihood, or when they make enough money not to care when gas tops $4 gallon.
But most Americans are car-dependent and will remain so for at least a few more decades.
Bicycling to work, for instance, is an idea that might make sense in a few college towns with good year-round weather. That's a short list.
Waiting years for a rail line to be built to your neighborhood doesn't exactly meet your short-term needs. And, contrary to much wishful thinking, hybrids still carry a steep premium.
For most of the 99%, the only solution to high gas prices is lower gas prices |
