A REAL Solution For Rising Fuel Prices?

How do we whack America’s politicians across the head hard enough to get them to pay attention to the toll the rising cost of fuel is taking on our economy? How do we force them off their portentous posteriors long enough to become interested in solving the problem?

The economic emergency staring us in the face has been simmering for months and is on the very verge of boiling over. Just this week, we’ve witnessed the shut down of three major airlines and the loss of over 80,000 jobs in the month of March. The already outrageous cost of fuel is forcing truckers to park their rigs because they are actually losing more money when they drive than when they don’t. Suddenly, the public is shocked into a bigger reality when the cost of goods at the grocery store takes a sudden and major jump; the fuel costs mean higher transportation costs, and the trickle-down reaches the tomato bins.

You think that’s bad? Just wait until the new minimum wage kicks in on July 24^th. The rise in gas prices has put the lower income earners in this country behind the same 8-ball that everyone else faces; they need to make more money to pay for fuel. So, the minimum wage goes up, and there will be another hike in the price of sauerkraut and eggs, (imagine THAT combination!)

With these rising prices, people will cut back on travel, on purchases, and we’ll have more layoffs. The tax-rebate isn’t even going to make a quiver in the overall economy. The fact that prices at the pump have more than doubled in the last 18-24 months while Washington has barely done more than pay lip service to big oil, is now like a flock of chickens coming home to roost.

We’re in trouble. And, it doesn’t seem to me that a President’s proclamation that we’re not in trouble is going to restore 80,000 jobs or bring back three airlines. We have to do something…. more than burying our heads in the sand and pretending the problem doesn’t exist, or that it isn’t serious and growing.

Quit shopping at Exxon and Mobile and send a message to big oil? The only thing that will accomplish is to put thousands of small-time convenience store and service station owners in the poor-house. Exxon and Mobile will either sell out to someone else, or sell their gas to independents, and the amount of oil coming out of the ground won’t change one iota.

Where’s all of the money going that big oil is charging at the pump? According to them, the Arabs and the rest of the cartel are getting it with their + $100 a barrel oil charges. If that were the real answer, it seems to me, our major oil company profits would not be UP by billions per quarter…. The money would be in some other country. So, that claim appears to me to be a big fat and blatant lie.

“Oh,” they cry, “we’re out of refinery capacity, and the environmentalists won’t let us build any more refineries, so the market is driving the prices.” If that is the case, why wouldn’t they expand production capabilities at their current facilities? Cost prohibitive, probably…. Some lame answer like that. Billions of dollars in increasing profits per quarter?

There’s no doubt that the world’s oil supply is growing smaller; at some point in time, we will run out unless we curtail our use or find another energy source. And, at the same time, demand is growing as third world countries start to motivate. So, there is some credence to the claim that the market itself is driving prices up. But, the extent of unchecked big oil profits defies any and all reason.

So, what to do?

Is grumbling about it getting anything done? What effect does our crying and occasional email or letter to our Congressional delegation having on the situation? Well, it appears that all they are doing themselves is to grumble and cry to the oil companies…. where billions of dollars of increased profits can either threaten any one’s reelection or guarantee a hefty contribution to a campaign. Talk about the tail wagging the elephants and donkeys!

Back to the opening question: How do we force them off of their big butts to DO something? First of all, of course, you have to remember that Congress has done absolutely nothing about anything for at least two decades now. So, getting their attention and getting them off of their duffs and in actual productive motion is going to be a bigger project than moving Mt. Everest.

Nevertheless, one thing that is guaranteed to get their attention is to have big money interests come pounding at their Congressional office doors. No one can argue that statement. So, how do we turn the issue from Joe Z. Public vs. Big Oil Pockets to Big Corporate America vs. Congress? How do we whack our wonderful leaders across the chops and get their attention? We need a big, solid whack; a fly swatter simply won’t do.

The idea of not buying gas for a day won’t work either, because we’ll just buy it on another day. But, the intent of that suggestion bears some consideration. The idea is to take a day’s profit out of the big oil pipelines and to get their attention that way. Let’s expound on that thought.

Take a work day, any day, say the 4^th of August, (I like that, because it’s a play on the 4^th of July, being Independence Day). On August 4^th, beginning at 12:00 AM and lasting until Midnight that night, everyone walks off the job. No one goes to work. Everyone goes home and stays there. Have a big hootin’ block barbeque party.

Think about it. There’d be no one to sell airline tickets, no one to fly planes, no one to drive 16-wheelers, no one to dig gravesites. My God, we’d even have to clean our own bellybuttons! Oh, we’d keep essential skeleton crews going in hospitals and emergency services but, outside of that, the national economy will come to a screeching halt. For just for 24 hours, imagine no domestic product being created, no services, and no sales tax revenues. Hell, if you’d take that day without pay, there’d be no income tax revenue, either!

Would that make a statement, or what? The truth be known, I think that statement would reverberate around the country and the world for years, even decades, to come.

Do you think that the big corporations, the Wal-Marts and MacDonald’s of the world, wouldn’t be madder than wet roosters? Do you think that state governors would be crying the blues over the loss of sales tax revenues? Do you envision that big oil would be standing there on the sidewalks with their jaws hanging open?

Wow! I actually think this would create enough pressure in the halls of Congress to actually move Mt. Everest!

And, now that we have their attention, why don’t we force big oil to take some of those billions of dollars in increased quarterly profits and plow them back into research for the creation of alternative sources of energy? Tax their earnings big time and use the revenues to endow universities and other research venues to tackle the problem, but give big oil a tax break if they direct some of their own revenues into internal alternative energy research.

Would I give up a day’s pay to accomplish this? Damned right! I think the dividends to us and our children would be damned well worth it. At the same time, we just might get the reminder message to our elected Gods that they don’t run this country. We do.

How about it? August 4^th? That’s a Monday, you know. Makes a nice three-day weekend……

That’s MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.