Daily Musings From the Mommy Cave

Friday, September 12, 2008

A natural disaster seems like the perfect time to jack up the price of gas!

The general panic has hit quicker than Jim Cantore's (the Oatmeal Man as I refer to him because of his outpouring of love for oatmeal at various times during his comentary on The Weather Channel) hard-on when he turned the calendar and realized it was HURRICANE SEASON!! You know what I'm talking about, "Oh no! Hurricanes a coming! Oh the oil refineries!" and to which the great gasoline tycoons are all saying "Ah yippiee! ah yippiee!" and doing the Charleston on their nice granite floored mansions.
I love how all my life there has been one distinct season where the idiocracy was just amazing! It happens each year in my great state when the snow starts to fall. If you even mention accumulation, let alone in terms like feet or double didget inches, it seemed like you wouldn't want to even go near a grocery store and heaven forbid if you ran out of the necessities like milk or toilet paper at the same time as a "big storm" was coming or a cold front because you were just shit out of luck. Now it seems like there's another season to worry about and what sucks the most is that I live in a land locked state. Hurricane Season!
As if our economy isn't bad enough and people are making huge cut backs just to stay affloat and on top of things, cutting back luxary items which are hardly even luxorious, but we now have to prepare to budget more than a few extra dollars just because a hurricane may or may not take out some of our oil refineries. We don't even KNOW what's going to happen and if they'll be hit hard but in preparation for this prediction, let's go ahead and raise gas another 15-50 cents overnight and make everyone rush for the gas pumps. It's bad enough that you have to wager a few extra miles to get a few cents cheaper gas and that a nickel more at the pumps means a tighter grocery budget, but to do it without even knowing if there is a need for it is ridiculous.
What galls me to the bone is that now they're throwing around threats on how it could be $5 or $6 very shortly. WHAT?! Like I can really afford to pay that much for gas. On average when it raised to $3 we were paying about $200 every 1 1/2 weeks if we conserved, if it raises to $5 we won't have to worry about bargain shopping for diapers and complaining about the cost of raising a child, we'll have to wager the need for basic things like fresh fruit being more than just a need to a luxury just to make sure we can afford to drive to work to get the money to pay for the needs and the bills and the gas to get there again for another week. A family of 3 on a 1 person income just cannot do it and it's getting to the point where a family of 2 on a 2 person salary is cutting corners to keep things in check.
What is going on with our world that this is continuing to be allowed to happen and what's worse that it's becoming accepted as just another injustice but way of life that we need to just get used to no matter how unfair!

posted by SNM at 11:52 PM -

2 Comments:

At September 15, 2008 at 5:18 PM, Anonymous said…

But, didn't you talk about moving closer to your husband's job and how that would cut what you spent on gas because he could walk?
At September 15, 2008 at 5:55 PM, SNM said…

Thanks for the comment!

Yes, we had discussed the possibility of moving closer to his work so that he would be within walking distance. However, with developments going on in the town and the area that his work is located, real estate and rental properties/condos/town houses/apartments are too expensive at the current time for us to afford to move. Most places we've inquired that meet what we need, (min. 3 bedroom) require 1st and last months rent plus the current month's rent upon moving in, or a hefty deposit fee plus rent in order to move in.