Oh, the Oil
I stopped myself from turning on the news today because I didn’t want to get depressed so early in the morning. All this recession talk and the oil prices, its starting to wear on my psyche, and change my moral standings.
For once I am worried about the future, I use to always be positive, that things would be generally a-okay. But now I’m having to change habits to compensate the hit my wallet is taking because of the oil prices. I drive slower, I never go above 65mph and that helps me add another 30 to 40 miles to my tank. A few points in time I’ve even refused to go out and socialize because I didn’t want to use gas.
I keep asking myself, ‘What is the government going to do? How much are we going to stand for this? Are these steep prices the works of oil companies and their money hogging? Are we really running that low on oil? Would releasing the reserve stock of oil help? Or how about off shore drilling?’
The last question scares me the most, because at this point in time, I say go for it, drill where ever in the hell you need to, we need the oil and we need the prices to go down. But would they go down? Why am I for environmental destruction just for my own personal gain? I can’t help it, I’m selfish, and entirely way too attached to my car. But I refuse to be force to stay put because I can’t afford the gas. I stayed stranded for so long without my car that I’m happy to foot out the $800+ in total expenses for my car, for that freedom.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a complete environmental evil-doer. I rarely use my A/C, I keep my car maintained, I recycle, I carpool when I can, and I’m investing in a bike soon to take care of local errands. So to say ‘yes go drill in the oceans, tap into that bank of oil that might be in Alaska’, is quite hypocritical to the previous statements, but with freedom comes sacrifices.
I’ve tried another approach to offset the price of oil, by earning more money. If I can increase my cash flow, it will compensate for the extra that I’d have to put in on my normal income. But to get more income requires more time. Another sacrifice. One of my own.
I heard a story on NPR today, that Chinese officials release gas subsidies to offset the price of gas. But instead of a decrease in price, it went up. That in turn caused barrels of oil to go down. Why did they go down? Because if there is an increase in price of China’s oil, less people will buy it, making more oil available to other countries. That story left me with a sour taste in my mouth and horrible thoughts. If China has that kind of influence on the economy (don’t get me started on the stories of China’s recent increase in corn and beef consumption and how its hitting the economy), why not let China have any oil at all? Or how about we keep their prices high? I don’t want to have these negative thoughts.
Sigh.
So is oil the price I have to pay for freedom? I’d gladly pay it, and do what needs to be done, and yes selfishly find a way where it doesn’t affect me so much. Freedom doesn’t come free, right?
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