HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
Apr 6, 2004 A lot of late night comics are making fun of the rising oil prices and blaming OPEC. This made me think back to the 1970s when I pumped gas at a station in New Jersey. This was during the “Oil Crisis” during the Carter term as President. OPEC announced that they were cutting crude production, and our politicians and oil companies instantly announced that OPECs actions would affect pump prices. One day as I was working the station, the oil company called the station owner and told him to raise the prices of the gasoline in the tanks in the ground, he had no choice but to obey, or they said he would lose his franchise. So, we raised the prices of gas that was purchased a week or two earlier to comply with the oil company’s demands. Needless to say, our customers were outraged, as were the station owner and myself. Now think about this; the price of premium gas is over $3.00 per gallon in some locations in this country, and OPEC only announced the cutback two weeks ago. This means that the oil companies are raising prices on gas that was purchased 2 to 3 months ago. Just who are we, the motorists getting screwed by? OPEC? The Oil Companies? The Government? The Greenies? I’d say all of the above. OPEC has this nation by the short hairs, and knows it and uses it against us. The Oil Companies are taking advantage of a bad situation, and have no qualms about screwing us, in this instance or at the start of every summer season, when people are prone to drive more for vacations, weekend trips, etc. The Government just seems to stand by and let the oil monopoly do as it pleases, but sued Microsoft for developing a better computer system and not wanting to share its codes with rivals. The Greenies or Environmentalists. These people would rather protect a moose, beaver or some obscure owl, bat, fish or insect than have the state of Alaska drilled for the purpose of finding if there is in fact oil beneath it and how much. The people would surely welcome the jobs such a project would entail, especially in this shaky economy Prices of gas are being raised that we don’t even possess yet. And there is no outcry from Washington or any of its royal like denizens. The situation in the Middle East has been unstable, (to be kind) for the last 30 years or so, so why are we still so dependant on them for petroleum? There was a huge outcry from people to explore other sources of energy for this nation, solar power, and nuclear power for example. What happened? Solar power was buried for some unexplained reason. Could it be the oil companies were afraid of lowering their bottom line? Nuclear power was made to be the modern day boogieman, that monster hiding in our childhood closets or under our beds. There have been a few accidents at nuclear power plants, but very few compared to gas and oil disasters in the past three decades. This country better wake up soon and the above-mentioned people should get off their collective asses and do something, or the voters and consumers will react to this royal screwing, and that will not be pleasant for some people. Maybe the time has come to tell OPEC to shove their oil, probe Alaska, and investigate other sources of energy, the oil companies be damned if they don’t like it. ------------ Email Mike Romer: triv.fan@verizon.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
