"That SUV makes you look fat!" (or: other things to do with your gas money)

Yeah, you heard me flabby; that SUV you're driving makes your butt look big!

The title of today's post, in case you are wondering about my sudden cruel streak, came from some Graffiti by the river (for you Kentites, it's under the 59 bridge, near Brown's tannery.) I laughed when I first saw the phrase scrawled across the cement blocks in bright red, sloppy letters but now I am beginning to think about it. Of course it isn't true- not literally... fat people drive all kinds of cars! Ok, and I suppose skinny people drive SUV's as well. The point is (and isn't it always) gas prices. Driving to work today, I put gas in my car. $2.99.99 a gallon. Ok, a bit much but I expected it with the flare of conflict in Lebanon. I am glad I put something in my tank before work, because after work the signs were beginning to read $3.09.99. That's three dollars and ten cents, folks. What can I do with three dollars and ten cents??? Let's see:

Buy four snickers, make five phone calls on a public pay phone, rent two movies, eat eight packages of raman noodles, feed 22 children in asia for a day, buy a couple dozen worms and go fishing, buy .000081 acres of land (hey, you could put a chair on it or something!), give 30 people a smile by treating them to a dum dum sucker....

You get the point. Yeah yeah, I've heard all about inflation. Gas supposedly costs "the same" as it did ten years ago. I can agree with that, that our $3.10 is economically as valuable as 1997's $1.33 -it's not, by the way. when inflation is considered, gas in 1997 cost an average of $1.61.77 by today's economics; that's a bit less than half the cost of today's gasoline- but even if we agreed that it is, the average american has to work more now to get the same amount of gas he did in '97. (disclaimer: the following is based on FEDERAL wages; Thanks to Clinton, each state has the ability to raise and lower minimum wage as they please, but in states where the minimum wage is lower than the federal minimum, such as Kansas, the higher standard is followed- the majority of states have wage laws equal to the federal minimum. I am also assuming that the average worker earns minimum wage.) In 1997, the minimum wage was raised to $5.15 per hour. So for one hour's work, not considering taxes and social security because I don't like math, the average worker could earn 3.87 gallons of gas. Today, one hour of work gets us a whopping 1.66 gallons! If you consider that the average car holds 12 gallons, the average worker must spend 7.22 of his hours to fill his tank up once. That's an entire day's work. In '97, the same amount of gas could be earned in 3.1 hours.

Now before you go sending me tons of e-mail ranting about the flaws of my logic, let me point out that I realize that there are people in this country who make well above minimum wage. I realize that the upper and upper-middle classes will not feel the effect of these fuel economics as dramatically as I have presented here. The most dramatic effects, as is the case with any economic change, will first be seen in the population Rawls describes as "the least well off." Minimum wage income families already have difficulties affording the gas needed to drive to work. School districts are being forced to cut bus routes to save on fuel costs and the children are forced to walk in dangerous conditions (their parents can't afford to drive them). If families can't afford to get to work, they lose their job, when they lose their job they become dependent on government programs like welfare. They can't get another job because they can't make it to their appointment- why? because they can't afford gas in their car to get there. One has to ask if the government would lose less money by lowering the gas prices, or by creating a gas-aid program intended to keep people off of welfare. I see with the gas prices increasing about a nickel a week, the middle class is not far behind in feeling the pain as severely.

For my italian homework today, I am supposed to write a composition about what the world will be like in ten years. My projection is pretty grim in the ways of transportation if either gas prices don't level out, or minimum wage doesn't go up. If minimum wage goes up, however you have to keep in mind so does inflation (and so, therefore, do gas prices). Our government's greed (along with the greed of other governments) to keep their slimy tentacles wrapped around the power behind oil is going to drive us into a technological regression. The only way to prevent this is to support alternate fuel sources. Yes, I know that buying a hybrid car won't actually save you hundreds of dollars in gas,but it will support development of furthur technology that will turn our dependence away from oil. If people stop buying hybrids, they'll stop making them; simple as that. If they stop making them, there will be no need for improving them. There are engines out there that run on pure hydrogen.. and guess what: the only biproduct is H2O, which can be broken down to- you guessed it- oxygen and MORE hydrogen! A car that creates it's own fuel! Why hasn't the government put more into these types of energy? Because the power isn't in hydrogen; it's in oil. Why is there power in oil? because people depend on it. Remove the dependency, remove the power.

Yes, the key to overthrowing the government is to buy a hybrid.