Perspective

Forgive me, but nothing validates my suspicion that most people are economic retards more than a discussion of gas prices...

"Times are sure tough with gas prices so high and all. We are really struggling..."

Let's assume you own a regular sedan that gets 20 miles per gallon. If you roll a 1979 Suburban and complain about gas prices you are outside the sphere of reason worth considering. I want to focus on the otherwise reasonable software engineer who makes say $75,000 and drives a sensible, semi-luxury vehicle.

To make math easy, let's say your commute is 20 miles.

At $4 a gallon, driving to or from work costs you $4.
At $2 a gallon, driving to or from work costs you $2.
Extra cost per day (both ways) = $4.

Number of work days per year = (about) 235.
At $4 a gallon, yearly commuting cost = $940.
At $2 a gallon, yearly commuting cost = $470.

DIFFERENCE PER YEAR = $470.

That's $1.29 per day.

Great googly-moogly! $1.29 every day. Desperate to make ends meet, how can I possibly afford that? I have a $3000 monthly mortgage payment, $300 a moth car payment, and three-pack-a-day smoking habit. I'm suffering more than anyone here! The big oil corporations are stripping me of my heard earned money. We are all victims of greed and corruption!

Since this affects everybody, let's be strong together. Let us behave like a herd of wildebeest avoiding the lion by stampeding in a tightly woven pack. Safety in numbers, right? Yes, we must bitch about this collectively as much as possible until it goes away. Tell everyone you know how much it hurts!

"Oh, God, I'm famished. Just couldn't afford to eat these last few days...you know, with gas prices what they are..."
"I hear ya. I'm feeling the hurt too. Had to put down the dog yesterday, just couldn't bear to see him suffer like that. Well, at least little Jimmy got to learn about the facts of life..."

If everyone feigns intense suffering together, we can really make a difference! And, what harm could it possibly do? Who's to say I'm not suffering anyway? Who's to say $470 a year isn't enough to break me?

Well, I can take a crack at it...

THINGS YOU CAN DO TO SAVE $1.29 A DAY:

Smoke 4 less cigarettes a day.
Drink one less beer every 3 days.
Go with the sub-premium vodka in your next Colorado Bulldog.
Order water instead of lemonade.
Drink tap water instead of bottled water.
Tip 18 instead of 20 percent when you go out to eat.

THINGS YOU CAN DO TO MAKE $1.29 A DAY:

Beg.
Look at the ground while you walk across the parking garage.
Peek under the vending machines in the break room.

THINGS YOU CAN DO TO HEDGE THE HIGHER GAS PRICES:

Go with the 58-inch HD plasma television instead of the 60-inch.
Savings: $808.00
Days of gas paid for: 626.36
Years of gas paid for: 1.7 years

Go with the Mercedes CLS-Class rather than the SL-Class.
Savings: $28,350
Days of gas paid for: 21,977
Years of gas paid for: 60.21

Just sayin'