EMPORIA STARTED its day as usual Tuesday — people got up, had what passes for breakfast these days, climbed in their cars and headed for work. It was a quiet morning.
Oh, as people drove past gas stations, there may have been a brief intake of breath. Occasionally, muted, mournful “bonks” might be heard as drivers who had decided the night before to wait until morning to fill the tank hit their foreheads against the steering wheel in penance.
Overnight, gas had gone up as much as 14 cents and regular was just a flea’s sneeze away from $3 a gallon.
At work, people remarked on the change, but they did not rant or threaten to rebel. After years of trepidation and anger, people are tired of worrying about the price of gasoline. Price increases, which used to be a fuse for social dynamite, have passed beyond outrage or resentment.
Now, gas prices are treated like the weather — if prices go down, it is a sunny day; if prices go up, it’s another thunderstorm. But in any case, there is nothing that can be done.
Of course, nobody believes that the value of a gallon of gasoline really went up by 3 percent between sunset and dawn. The price of gasoline has little to do with the intrinsic value of crude oil or the cost of refining. It has more to do with the politics and upsets of the world. Tuesday’s jump has been attributed in part to violence in Nigeria, which led to the closing of a port that normally ships 15,000 barrels of oil a day.
Now, 15,000 barrels of oil is nowhere near 3 percent of the daily gasoline consumption in the United States. That’s enough oil to make about 292,500 gallons of gasoline. In 2003, the United States was consuming about 375 million gallons a day. The Nigerian oil represents about a tenth of 1 percent of U.S. demand.
The oil companies insist that the price of gasoline is, at bottom, just a matter of supply and demand. That is not quite the case. In pricing gasoline, other factors intervene. It is more a matter of supply, fear, greed and demand.
After years on the price roller coaster (which, no matter how steeply it may dive, always winds up higher than before) people have given up the illusion that they can affect the price of gasoline. The market is too complex and the people who own the oil are too rich and have too many friends in Congress and the White House.
Might as well try to change the weather.
MelissaE (anonymous) says...
Absolutely, Patrick. I agree.
M
May 3, 2007 at 2:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
daveedailey (anonymous) says...
Someone should write a book on how to kill the little man with big business. How sad that our country is run like this. The so called middle class of people are no longer, it is rich or poor. The age old story of the rich get richer and the poor get poorer!!!!Emporia, alone will see more foreclosures on homes, businesses, etc. because of the price of gas and taxes being on the rise (of course to help big companies save money).
May 3, 2007 at 2:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mythoughts (anonymous) says...
I'm being nickel-and-dimed to death by the gasoline, gas, electric and phone companies. Never mind the cost of groceries! With an oil man in the White House, what can we do? All he listens to is the sound of money piling up in his investment accounts.
May 3, 2007 at 4:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Kelonia (anonymous) says...
I can afford a quarter tank of gas every 2 weeks. So, for me that means I can go to work and I can go home. I can't take my children to after-school functions (the schools are across town from me). I can't afford to take them to their church youth group. Once every 2 weeks I can go across town to Aldi's or Walmart for groceries.
I figure if it gets too much higher I can always walk to work. That's what most of us will end up doing eventually. Walking is good for you so it's not that bad of a prospect.
Just happy Emporia is small enough that I can get by with that little gas every 2 weeks.
How do other people deal with the high cost?
May 3, 2007 at 8:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bdprotheroe (anonymous) says...
Out here in The Bay Area, gasoline prices are inching towards $4.00/gallon for regular, and by summer that milemarker is predicted to be surpassed. Yuck! Like many San Franciscans, I do not have a car, thankful for MUNI ($45/month pass for subway, bus, street car, cable car), BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and living in a walkable city. I realize Emporia doesn't offer such services, but I would think there are alternatives that can be implemented there. Here are a few...
The most popular car on the road in SF is the hybrid, with Toyota Prius being very prevalent. Carpooling, so many people participate in these programs. Bikes. I realize these are not solutions for everyone, but they are ideas worth considering.
Does Emporia have any companies like ZipCar (www.zipcar.com) or CityCarShare (www.citycarshare.com)? Such companies allow those persons without cars to rent a car (simply using a key phob, and bypassing the salesdesk) for a few hours at rates as low as $7.00/hour (which includes insurance). These cars (Mini Coopers, Toyota Prius, Scions, etc.) can easily be found throughout the city. Comments posted to other editorials in The Emporia Gazette have stated a need for more locally grown businesses in Emporia. This is one suggestion.
Brian Protheroe
San Francisco, CA
May 3, 2007 at 9:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
blulitespecial (anonymous) says...
Tired of being nickel-and-dimed to death up north of Emporia,too.An out of state holding company bought our phone company and closed the office.Now we mail the bill to New York City.Still 20 cents a minute to call Emporia.DSL is still nearly double that of Topeka.
Some investor-type good ol' boys near Wichita bought the gas company up here.Our bill doubled overnight this winter.It's going up again because they're not making enough.I'm converting to propane just to be able to tell them where they can go.
My property valuation on this old place has tripled!!! over the price I paid for it seven years ago.
I only drive when I want to go somewhere.Emporia is the closest place to buy food. Want me to spend money there? Lower my property,utility,and vehicle taxes,lower my various state taxes.The bean counters tell me that I should move to Texas.I'm thinkin' they're right......after over 100 years here,a lot of my family already has moved there .A lot of those snowbirds don't vote here because they're Texas residents.
I WILL have to make adjustments.That means spending a little more carefully,driving less.Who to pay? The high taxes,or go shopping? The taxman always gets his first! $4 gas? Sell it in L.A.! I already cut back.
May 3, 2007 at 11:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
daveedailey (anonymous) says...
Sorry folks, but I have to respond to "bd". Emporia is a rural community. Can you picture farmers going to their fields in cable cars, carpooling on tractors? Most of the area of people live outside the city and in so many different directions carpooling is little of an option. If you received the e-mail about not buying gas on May 15th that is all fine and dandy if everyone would try. First, the people in the big cities, especially back east, would suffer because all most everything is trucked in.The problem you would not be able to get all the truckers to agree. After all it is their livelyhood. This country is getting in sad sad shape while a president is happy lining his pockets with all the money he will ever need. Maybe if he had to suffer like the working class and would listen to what we say, the world (USA) would be a better place to live. Oh, that bring to mind, what do you suppose the illegals think of us now?
May 4, 2007 at 8:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
westaber (anonymous) says...
Would it do any good to complaim about $3.00 a gallon for gas? The oil company's keep getting richer and we keep gitting poorer. Maybe when they get more hybird cars we won't need their oil.
May 4, 2007 at 8:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
daveedailey (anonymous) says...
Can you afford a hybrid car? Not many of us can. Besides, by the time they figure this all out we will already be in the "poor house". Also, I feel really sorry for the independent gasoline station owner, they have to pay for their shipment of gas upon arrival.
May 4, 2007 at 9:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bdprotheroe (anonymous) says...
Just recently, I was waiting for the bus near a gas station. Several of us dropped our jaws when we read the price of gas on the billboard. It read $6.82. Obviously, a mistake. But then, another person waiting for the bus made the comment, "Perhaps that's not the price of the gas. Maybe the owner is desparate to sell the gas station, at a price of $682." :)
Yes, I believe the gas prices are affecting everyone, the consumers and the gas station owners.
As for your question about the affordability of a hybrid car. That's just another reason I don't own a car... everything has gotten more expensive!
Brian Protheroe
San Francisco, CA
May 4, 2007 at 2:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
siamesefred (anonymous) says...
Davee, I see your point about the feasibility of carpooling around here. But some are doing it when it makes sense. I have friends in Admire who work in Emporia. They've decided to share driving, alternating weeks. Both work in offices where they don't need a car during the day and mostly work the same 8-5 sked, so it works. Of course, my other friends who work shifts at the manufacturing plants often don't have schedules similar enough to make it work.
May 7, 2007 at 6:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
eljefe101 (anonymous) says...
wats ur problem with illegals???? Its like u Love em or Sumtin
May 11, 2007 at 7:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
blulitespecial (anonymous) says...
$3.28 today.I did not fill up.Just 15 bucks worth of E10 and 2 for the mower.Time to spend more time at home.See ya at Dillon's in 2 weeks!
May 18, 2007 at 4:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mylife (anonymous) says...
It's up to $3.38 on my side of town. This has got to stop. Although we all know it won't. It's just gotten out of control.
May 18, 2007 at 4:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )