In case you’ve just crawled out from under a rock — or in case you’ve been walking to work — gas prices have been soaring. I just filled my tank for $3.18/gallon. My theory for the rise in gas prices is that we’re being seeing the urban legend about cooking frogs played out at the gas pump: If you dump a frog in a pot of boiling water, he’ll jump right out. But if you put him in cool water and gradually raise the heat, you’ll have frog legs for dinner. In other words, at the gas pumps we’re being acclimated to being boiled.
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Author: Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."
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We need to stop whining. Whining gets us nowhere.
If we don’t want to pay $3+ for gas, then we shouldn’t. The problem is is that wer;e dumb enough to pay, so they can charge what they want.
Next thing you know someone will charge you $9 to sit in a dark room to watch commercials and then have you pay $6 for popcorn…
I thought I read somewhere recently that the “boiling the frog” analogy is actually a false one. (Frogs will escape before the heat becomes lethal in either case.)
“I thought I read somewhere recently that the ‘boiling the frog’ analogy is actually a false one. (Frogs will escape before the heat becomes lethal in either case.)”
Chris, that’s why I called the story an “urban legend.”
Our gas prices actually went down 10 cents today… after rising 10 cents over the weekend!
If you live in the Richmond, VA area you can find the cheapest gas via http://www.richmondgasprices.com. If you live elsewhere try substituting your local municipality for “richmond”. It’s set up for many major metro areas, and cities like Virginia Beach will capture a large swath of land.
Stephen, thanks for the reminder. San Diego’s cheapest gas prices can be found by clicking here.
Actually the cause is the geniuses at the EPA. Under pressure from environmental groups the forced fuel providers to add MBTE to gasoline to clean up the air. Unfortunately MBTA is a horrible pollutant in our water.
Never one to admit they were wrong now the environmentalists have demanded that the EPA get MBTE out of the fuel and add ethanol instead. The EPA listened to their special interest masters and agreed without giving the fuel companies ample time to make the transitions.
Ethanol can not be shipped in pipelines as gasoline can so it is being shipped (by ship) down the Misssissippi out of the Gulf of Mexico to both coasts.
This current fuel hike is the result of low supplies as a result of this transition, nothing else is involved. Don’t listen to the talk about oil prices that is for oil FUTURES. That is the price investors expect oil to be 6 months from now not th price being paid for it today.
And to pile on the EPA/environmental masters, there are around 50 mandated blends of gasoline to meet the requirements of the local air quality districts. Gasoline sold in San Francisco cannot be sold in Los Angeles. Different air quality districts, different mandated blends.
A slight surplus of gas in one market cannot be sold in another that has a shortfall. Guess who pays?
Sorry! That’s what I get for skimming!
Peopel are just going to use cars that use less gas.
A large chunk of what you pay for gas is taxes. And believe me, the feds and the state would just love to tax us even more at the pump.
I paid 2.82 recently, and expect it to rise very soon. I’m so happy I drive a Civic!
I don’t like high gas prices anymore than anyone else, however let me put things into a little perspective. In 1983 I was a college student earning $3.35 an hour and gas prices were $1.28 per gallon. Today I am a college professor making about $40 per hour and gas prices are $3 per gallon. Not too bad once you look at what has happened to the price of houses.
Well, Prof:
For the many in the world not making $40/hour, like, for example, most of my neighbors, making $5.50 an hour, gas is a tad more expensive. For you, a gallon of gas cost 38% of an hour. For them, it costs 54%. Just to point to out that it may be time for a minimum wage hike…
People will switch their priorities, that’s all. The big news in my area are all the men and women pawning their jewelry to afford gas. My colleague just bought a small car to replace the truck that she and her husband are selling. For me, it’s hard to be sympathetic for someone who complains about gas but just plopped down the money for two top-of-the-line i-Pods for his pre-teen kids.
Ethanol is short supply right now because they need more refineries. But nobody wants any kind of refinery ‘in my back yard’.
One more word: ANWAR
Why would you want to drill in ANWR? For once, this is one thing I agree with the environmentalists about.
Forget the “it’s only a 2% footprint” thing – that would fly if it were all in one place, that was just barren tundra or something. But that’s spread out over a large chunk of the area, and some of it is breathtakingly beautiful. That IS worth conserving, IMNSHO.
And after we ruin one of the last remaining pristine, beautiful swaths of land left in the world, what do we get? A maximum potential to increase US oil production by a staggering *4* percent. W00t.
For me, it’s hard to be sympathetic for someone who complains about gas but just plopped down the money for two top-of-the-line i-Pods for his pre-teen kids.
Amen. The main reason people are complaining more now than when the last gas hikes happened is because they have more debt and more luxuries that they don’t want to part with.
In the 70s, how many people had a cable TV bill, broadband bill, cell phone bill(s), and 7 credit cards?
But that’s spread out over a large chunk of the area, and some of it is breathtakingly beautiful. That IS worth conserving, IMNSHO.
Have you been there? Many people haven’t – many people never will. The only ones that are there are the caribou (whose numbers will only increase, since they will be on private land so they will be protected from hunters by security guards, plus they will gravitate toward it, because it’s going to be a warmer place than their usual mating grounds) and mosquitos galore!!!
And after we ruin one of the last remaining pristine, beautiful swaths of land left in the world,
Then what’s Yellowstone? What’s Glacier? What’s Carlsbad? What’s the Grand Canyon? What are the Everglades? What’s…. (I think I’ve made my point)
Those are protected federal lands, just like ANWR. Protected for a reason.
Have I been there? Not yet. I do plan to in the next year or two, with a friend of mine. Until he finishes up his graduate work though, he has neither the time nor the money.
Look, I know the temptation to dismiss any ideas that come primarily from the Left. I concede that the American Left has been wrong about just about everything else. Do not let that tempt you into dismissing every idea by way of ‘ad hominem en masse’, though. Let each issue be argued on it’s own merits, and not dismissed a priori because of who is promoting it. People these days tend to be so quick to shoebox themselves into some political movement, and then have what positions they’re supposed to take on issues be dictated to them. This is especially grievous when Catholics are doing it. But that sort of thing is everywhere on both sides.
It took me quite a long time to start to see *some* environmental issues they way they do. Perhaps living in Maine, and spending weekends up in the North woods all summer long has some influence on that. Though heavily logged, it is one of the last great wilderness areas left in the continental US. Some ‘immigrants’ from Massachusetts want to turn it into an endless sea of high-rise condos, so at the end of the day, what they want to build thier condos to look at ceases to exist. There is some tangible value in preserving some places like that. I don’t know where you live, but I suspect it’s in a large metro area, where there is far less exposure to and appreciation for pristine nature.
Do I favor curbing all development? No. But I think that whenever a truly special, pristine wilderness is destroyed, it’s everyone’s loss. And it’s certainly not worth a temporary 4% boost in domestic oil production! Seems like an awfully permanent ‘maybe’ solution to a very temporary problem.
Let’s not forget that moving to ethanol has seen the price of ethanol shoot up $.77 to $2.77 a gallon since December. They can’t make it fast enough. We also have the problem of switching to summer blends causing shortages as it can’t be gotten there fast enough, that’s why you hear of stations running out in parts of the country.
Also, though the good proffessor is right to compare gas prices of that the 80’s. March of 1981 gas was, on average, $1.41 a gallon which is $3.12 in today’s dollars. Current average is $2.94. People remember the price in dollars and cents, not the relative wage. Watch some old episodes of Little House on the Prarie and you’ll be shocked what you can get for a nickel.
As a geologist, I have to point out, how much work do you think it takes to get you a gallon of gasoline? Someone needs to find it, pump it, ship it to a refiner, refine it, ship it to the gas station, and there it’s pumped. Start comparing other items in price by the gallon, you’ll be glad the car doesn’t run on mouthwash or milkshakes. It’s really not bad when you consider what you get, and can do, with one gallon of gasoline.
Chris-http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/b1/botfly.asp
You’ll probably go up and see the beautiful part of ANWAR on the coast and all the beautiful parts have no oil.
All debating of wether or not to drill aside the part they want to drill in really is disease ridden, filthy, and horrible for anytime of the year when it’s not frozen solid, cold, and miserable. It’s at its best when it’s frozen as the bugs are down and the caribou aren’t having their brains eaten by botflies.
Don’t believe me, go to that inland area where they’re looking at drilling in the summer. Watch out for the botflies
Yes Michelle, we are getting boiled. This crunch hits large families very hard. I am not in a position to drive a civic or an electric car to move my family of seven. In particular, whereas a twice-monthly trip to get our kids some time with either set of grandparents never used to cause a pause, now we hardly ever go. Now, in our gas guzzling suburban, a roundtrip to my parents will cost us $40-$50 and twice that to my wife’s parent’s house.
“In other words, at the gas pumps we’re being acclimated to being boiled.”
So that’s why my glasses keep steaming up!
You could perhaps trade in the Suburban for a more efficient minivan. It might be a start.
What does the Suburban get, 16mpg or so? Most minivans will put you up into the mid-high 20s. That would nearly cut your fuel costs in half!
Ah Chris, I would if four baby seats would fit safely in a minivan. Triplet toddlers and another a year older all require these monstrous safety seats which don’t fit well side-by-side in minivans. As soon as they are safely past the 40 lb and 4 yr threshold we will likely switch to a van. In the meantime, as Michelle puts it, we boil.
Suscipe, my brother and sister-in-law have five still at home. One of the things you may try is a switch off with the grandparents – one time you drive to see them, the next they to you. Also, are you able to do a split with any other realtives? When we do big outings as a family, I or our other
…brother pick up the youngsters and take them in our child-friendly cars.
Very well Suspice. In the meantime then, I feel for you 🙂 But bless you and your large family!
and there is also this:
IRVING, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–April 27, 2006–Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM):
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) today reported first quarter 2006 results. Net income of $8.4 BILLION ($1.37 per share), increased $540 million from the first quarter of 2005. First quarter 2005 net income included a positive special item of $460 million from the sale of ExxonMobil’s interest in Sinopec. Excluding this impact, first quarter 2006 earnings increased by $1.0 BILLION.
ExxonMobil’s Chairman Rex W. Tillerson Commented:
“ExxonMobil’s first quarter earnings excluding special items, were $8.4 BILLION, up 14% from first quarter 2005. Higher crude oil and natural gas realizations and improved marketing margins were partly offset by lower chemical margins. Net income for the first quarter was up 7% from 2005.
*** This same Mr. Rex W. Tillerson earns approximately $18,000 per HOUR!!! ***
I am sure that Mr. Tilerson doesn’t whine when he fills his tank.
For the rest of us, and for me who earns $11 per hour, it’s pretty tight. I try not to whine. I conserve where I can, try to consolidate my errands and neutral is becoming my favorite gear when going downhill.
Hey, it’s not difficult to ride a bike or *gasp* take the bus with the rest of the schlubs. You don’t want to pay $3.15 a gallon then don’t.
I hear people saying that we are too dumb to realise that if we stop paying for the gas it’ll be cheaper well I dont really think it will be because then the other modes of transit such as buses will learn that more and more people are using them so their prices will go up so I’m not to sure if it really is cheaper.