A few weeks ago, when I was buying gasoline for more than $3.00 per gallon, and diesel fuel for my tractor for almost as much, did I join in the whining about high fuel prices? No, I did not. Corrected for inflation, fuel was actually cheaper than it was in 1981.
We take for granted the processes in which crude oil is refined into fuel and delivered to the buying public in a reliable and safe manner for our use. The fact is, that entire process is a wonder. We get a bargain. Some of us have become so use to being able to buy fuel that we take it as a given, and expect that it will always be available at a low price.
When we buy an automobile, or a truck, or a tractor, or any other device which uses fuel, we accept the fact that these things are very much more expensive than they were 25 years ago. We may not like it, but we know what has happened to the value of the U.S. Dollar and we know that the good ol' days of $5,000 cars are gone. So why do we expect to pay $1.00 for gasoline? Why do we plunk down $40,000 for an SUV, but bitch about paying $3.00 per gallon to put fuel in it?
Why do we, especially we in states with abundant, but untapped, offshore oil deposits, bitch about the high price of fuel, and the high profits earned by the oil companies, while we prevent the drilling for offshore oil, and the drilling for oil in Alaska, which would reduce the price of oil? We are acting like foolish spoiled children who want what we want, regardless of the realities of the situation. We want cheap oil without letting the oil companies drill for more of it. We don't want to pay foreigners for that oil. We don't want to let the oil companies drill for oil where it actually is - off the coasts of California and Florida, and in Alaska.
When a five year old acts like that, we ignore him.
Back to my home place.