Yesterday I filled my 6 cylinder Dodge Dakota 2-wheel drive pick up. For about 17 gallons of gas I paid over $63.00! $63 is a big chunk of change for the privilege of driving a car. I fill up once a week. The cost of fuel is draining the little cash that the average family has. I own a scooter. I purchased it back in 2006 when gas prices hit $3 a gallon. I have used it a lot when a car isn't necessary. But sometimes a car is necessary. I have a business that requires me to deliver big heavy boxes of cables to local customers. I can't do that on a scooter. I have four children. I can't drive a small Honda or Toyota sedan. I need a mini-van. If we have another child (which we plan on doing) we will have maxed the seating in our mini-van. The madness has to stop because we Americans just don't have the money to fuel our vehicles at these prices.
I have lived in Europe for many years. I've lived in France, Holland, and England. I was always amazed at the tiny cars and the mega-high fuel prices. The two go hand in hand. High fuel costs force people into small cars or on to public transportation. Public transportation is what the government would like us to use. That is a socialist idea. Don't let the people have the ownership and freedom of their own transportation. Force them to use transportation provided by the government. That makes us dependent on the government for one more thing. The more we depend on them, the more we are stuck paying outrageous taxes. Government health care, government housing, government transportation (they use the term "public" because govt. transportation doesn't sound good). We are becoming Europe, without all the good food, old architecture, and intriguing cultures. Where does it end? We've known that we were heading on a collision course with an energy crisis for years. But in our complacency, and in our pride, we've ignored it. Are we the next big empire to crumble? Or does our pride tell us "that could never happen to us!". I'm worried and you should be too.
On the news yesterday I heard that Costco in Utah is rationing how much rice and wheat you can buy! Does this sound promising? You better hope that you have a huge stock of food because every time prices go up at the pump, the cost of your bread and milk goes up. Transporting bread and milk costs money and uses fuel. (Mormons have been instructed to have a 1-2 year supply of food storage for years.... although many of us are not quite there).
So I attempted to ride my mountain bike home yesterday from work with a dual purpose. 1. Shed some extra pounds. 2. Save some gas. (Did I mention I paid $63 dollars to fill my car?) I really enjoy riding my bike. But I grossly underestimate the incline from Orem to Highland. (I should have known that "High" "land" was not just a cute name). It is a 13-14 mile bike ride. I thought that I could do it in an hour. With the hills (they are worse than they seem in a car) it took me about 1 1/2 hours. If I were in better shape, I would have shaved some time off that. Nevertheless, I'm not sure how viable that is for a regular commute.
As these prices at the pump keep going up, it effects us all in every area of our life. Do you know how heavy 1,000 feet of CAT6 wire is? It costs $15-20 to ship this to my customers. That money evaporates my profits. There is no profit in bulk wire right now. A 100 feet SVGA cable or 150 feet HDMI cable? Again, the cost of freight because of the fuel surcharges is eroding profits from every company that is involved in the supply chain and ultimately effects the consumer.
We need to take this seriously and get our national house in order.
Consider these words written by Abraham Lincoln as part of a resolution in 1863:
"'We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in number, wealth, and power as no other Nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us... It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our . . sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
Until next time
The Cable Guy
http://www.professionalcable.com/
1 comment:
Amen, brother.
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