Friday, September 09, 2005

Exactly where my sympathy ends

In the sea of post-Katrina woes, I've noticed lots of whinging* about gas prices in the US. That's exactly where my sympathy ends. I would say I'm very sorry for y'all, but I'm not. I would like to say:

Welcome to my world. In fact, welcome to the real world. In the rest of the world gas is expensive.

I notice that the cheapest gas in Nashville and in Knoxville is below $3 a gallon, the most expensive is a bit above that.

Guess what I pay for gas? About $6.50 a gallon the last time I filled up, it's probably more now, (especially since the nice folks in Europe sent you all a lot of our gas reserves to help keep your prices down) That wasn't unusual, that wasn't price gouging by some profiteer on the Interstate out of Atlanta, that was just what I paid. Of course, it's called petrol over here - I guess the extra letters make it more expensive. When I bought my car 8 years ago, I paid around $5 a gallon.

What I really, really can't believe are the calls for Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to cut the measly amount of tax on a gallon of gas. C'mon people, get real. Those taxes pay for the roads you like to drive on and all sorts of other kinds of things. Those taxes are supposed to be a disincentive for you to drive around aimlessly, do things in two trips instead of one, polluting and using up non-renewable resources for no reason, etc.

Quit bloody whinging.

*to whinge: British word for bellyache, whine, moan, whinging is pronounced win-jing.

- and here's one example I found just now at KnoxVegan. (BTW, I'm always wondering if that should be Knox-VAY-gan, as in someone who lives in KnoxVegas, or Knox-VEE-gan as in someone who doesn't eat meat or any other animal products like dairy and eggs. I'm guessing it's the former, but my brain always reads the latter).

2 comments:

St. Caffeine said...

On U.S. gas prices, ... All I can say is, Amen! I've tried to get that point across to my classes, but ... Changing market conditions dictate changing prices.

Even worse than calls to remove state gas taxes (something AL Gov. Riley has, surprisingly, resisted)is the posturing by various pols calling for the government to cap gas prices -- as if that would magically solve the problem. Grrr!

Oh, as for KnoxVegan ... I too read that as Knox Veegan, though I realize, now that you pointed it out, that the other option is more likely.

melusina said...

I agree. I don't know exactly how much we pay for gas here in Greece, but I know it comes out to a lot more than 3 euros a gallon. Gas prices have been like that here since I moved here three years ago.

Just imagine how Americans would be if they had to buy petrol for heating, like most Greeks do.