Big Oil Subsidies have been the big protest on my “social networking” radar as of late. That, and now a shirt that sports: “Ford. BUILT WITHOUT YOUR TAX DOLLARS!”
I honestly have to say it’s a bit better than the clutter over the passing of a Penn State football coach or Pittsburgh football’s passing. Statistically speaking I can probably get away with saying that as we’re in the sub 20 reader category most of the time.
I enjoy seeing what people feel the need to “like” and repost. It makes me feel a bit more hip and current since I haven’t watched tv regularly for pretty much the last 20 some odd years. Go ahead and accuse me of living under a rock, but you’ll be knocking at my door when the Zombie Apocalypse arrives. Not really because I have any food or ammo, but primarily because we have the keys to post apocalyptic transportation littered throughout our urban dwelling. That is unless the Zombies turn out to be able to sustain more than 15mph for an extended period of time- in which case I should prove to be a tasty snack. So I guess I’m banking on the slower breed of z-men (and women) so popularized in the classic movies. I’m also figuring they’re all heading to WalMart as that’s where a bulk of the population from around here goes on a good day. For the zombies WalMart will be, nutritionally speaking, highly disappointing. Nevertheless, it will be an endless buffet of human junk food.
Back to the transportation issues at hand:
I have no doubt that Big Oil has been subsidized FOR YEARS. It’s nothing new. Back when I actually watched TV I remember gasoline prices around a dollar or so a gallon. Heck, back in the 90′s they were still cheap- seems to me I easily remember sub $1.50 a gallon. Things didn’t really get saucy until a few years ago when ”soared” to almost $4 a gallon around here. Up until that point, the SUV was king. Bigger was better. Ford sold a whole lot of Explorers, Expeditions, and Excursions. (I always thought they should have gone with the Explosion and Extinction for a couple of those names, but I don’t think sarcasm is a good sales pitch for the masses.)
Note: I’m trusting the couple dozen or so people who may read this post already know, or are quite capable at searching the web for a few auto sales stats so I’m not linking much.
The interesting patterns that I noticed during this time of gasoline rising were: 1. People complained of high gas prices. 2. People complained of high gas prices. 3. People complained of high gas prices. 4. People cashed in on “Cash for Klunkers.”
Ooooooh. I just remembered that program. What a doozy. Trade in your free market gas guzzling luxury vehicle for something a bit more fuel efficient. Remember, we’re not going all hippie with this thing and insist that you get something that actually delivers over 30mpg, we just want you out of the single digits and low teens. Forget that a bulk of the behemoths were made in the good old US of A by companies who were thumbing their noses at the CAFE standards for fuel economy by licensing those passenger vehicles as trucks, and BUY AMERICAN THIS TIME TOO- OUR ECONOMY DEPENDS ON IT! My personal rant involves people getting nice bailout checks for their late model Canyonero when our teenaged Saturn didn’t qualify as a klunker because it was still pulling close to 30 mpg. Buick me.
And now back to the Apocalypse:
Honestly, can you really believe oil wasn’t subsidized for decades? How could it be cheaper than milk? Do you really want the subsidies to stop? Are you ready to pay $6 or more per gallon?
If history is a predictor, the answer is: no.
I remember the gas shortage of the 1970′s. We didn’t make cars a whole lot more fuel efficient, nor did we look to lessen our driving habits. I remember the 90′s when people cited the need to own a Hibatsu Monstrosity for safety’s sake (just forget the whole Firestone incident). I remember the last few wars when we needed to send a bunch of people 1/2 way around the world because our oil got under their sand. From the 1950′s on we needed to make suburbs. I listen to coworkers who need to live miles away from where they work. I mean, we have no stores or housing within walking or biking distance of most places of employment, right? (Is the whole sarcasm marketing campaign going well?)
Protesting Big Oil profits is fun. Changing your lifestyle to reduce consumption: not so much. In my small, completely unscientific study of those protesting and sharing links about the travesty of Big Oil making absurd amounts of money off of the common Joe, I’ve noticed that these people have a huge protest key already in their possession- AND they are inclined to use it on occasion.
What is it?- It’s a bicycle. It’s not a toy.
You don’t always need to turn a key to get somewhere.
A few brief thoughts on the Ford campaign:
While Ford didn’t take the bailout money that Chevrolet and Chrysler did a couple of years ago, they did take a nice big loan out from you and me. Granted, the money was available to many auto manufacturers over quite some time, but it’s still taxpayer money. I honestly don’t know what the terms of their loan are. I do find it interesting that they need the loan to meet the CAFE standards which they were dodging during the SUV boom by licensing the SUVs as trucks instead of cars to get away with more in the emissions realm and less in the fuel economy realm. They did make a oil-tanker load of cash in the good years, so why do they need to borrow from Joe Taxpayer to fuel their R+D department for making more fuel efficient vehicles now?
I don’t know the answers to a lot of these questions. I do know one transportation answer that flips the Buick at much of the debacle. I can see the T-Shirt now:
Surly Bikes: Good for when gas gets pricey- and the Zombie Apocalypse. Whichever comes first.
