Gas Prices Don't Matter

[Hobbit]

Ok, so I keep hearing all of this griping and whining about gas prices, and it seems to be all people care about, but you know what? It doesn't matter, and politicians who want to take all of your money love seeing you not only distracted by this, but wanting them to do something about it. Let's do some math here.

In 2004, the average gas milage of a brand new car was 24.7 mpg. In 1980, it was 23.1 mpg. Those aren't very even numbers, so I'm rounding it to 20. According to the AAA, one year ago the price of regular was $2.929. Today that price is $3.114. That's a difference of 18.5 cents/gallon over the last year, but once again, let's just round that up to 20 cents. Now, let's suppose you drive your family 1400 to Disney World and back. At 20 mpg, that's 70 gallons of gas...a whole $14 difference from last year. HOLY SH*T! How the hell are you going to cram that extra $14 into your budget?! It'll RUIN you!

Okay, let's set aside the sarcasm for a minute and move on to the daily commute. Stop and go traffic reduces gas milage, so we'll change our gas milage to a measly 15 mpg. The average commute is 16 miles, or 32 miles for the round trip. That's a little over 2 gallons. At 18.5 cents more per gallon over last year, that comes out to about $2.00 per week. Assuming two weeks for vacation, that's a grand total of $100 per year. You probably spend 10 times that much on coffee. Skip one latte a week and substitute a mug from the office pot and voila! You've covered the gas increase.

Now, let's look at something nobody seems to be worried about, Social Security. The only reason this escapes notice is because money for Social Security is taken away from you before you ever see it. So anyway, every week, the government takes, by force, about 14% of your paycheck and contributes it to a socialized retirement program. That program is failing and is in for an inevitable implosion within the next couple of decades, meaning it is highly unlikely that you will ever see a dime, and if you die too early, you have no say in where that money goes. Somebody else gets it. Now, the average yearly household income is around $66,000 per year. For the sake of argument, I'm going to assume this is pre-tax income rather than take-home pay. It currently costs such a household $9240/year, 92 times the gas increase for the daily commute, to float a federal income redistribution program that was never intended to be permanent and is doomed for total collapse. And that's just SS. I could go on for hours over how twice that much is confiscated to be spend on bridges to nowhere, farm subsidies, and the failed War on Drugs.

So quit bitching about gas prices and try solving some real problems.

[darin]

A smart congressperson should say "For relief of Higher Gas prices, we'll suspend collecting Social Security - or cut it in half - for 10 years."

[Samantha]

A smart congressperson should say "For relief of Higher Gas prices, we'll suspend collecting Social Security - or cut it in half - for 10 years."

There's a good idea, fuck the old people, let 'em rot.

[darin]

There's a good idea, fuck the old people, let 'em rot.

OR - get this - we simply "Let people be accountable for their OWN retirement!"

Gasp! OH MY!! Too much FREEDOM and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY is BAD For society, right? That what you think? Do you think?

[Samantha]

OR - get this - we simply "Let people be accountable for their OWN retirement!"

Gasp! OH MY!! Too much FREEDOM and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY is BAD For society, right? That what you think? Do you think?

They took care of the old folks in their day, you want us to be the ungrateful generation? Our parents generation paid into social security all their lives and you would steal that money away from them? Americans today are the most self centered, selfish people. Our parents paid for our grandparents social security, now selfish Americans like you want to cut our parents off. Unbelievable.

[Hobbit]

There's a good idea, fuck the old people, let 'em rot.

Which would you rather have, a flaccid, socialized retirement system that does practically nothing and is going to implode in, at most, 15 years anyway, or would you rather work to make the system actually work or *gasp* go back to the old days when actions had consequences?

I just really hate <s>old</s> people.

[darin]

They took care of the old folks in their day, you want us to be the ungrateful generation? Our parents generation paid into social security all their lives and you would steal that money away from them? Americans today are the most self centered, selfish people. Our parents paid for our grandparents social security, now selfish Americans like you want to cut our parents off. Unbelievable.

No - I want to cut ME off the gov't tit. I want the Govt to stop blowing money on NEA and other wastes, and pay-back those who have paid into Soc. Security.

[TheStripey1]

OR - get this - we simply "Let people be accountable for their OWN retirement!"

Gasp! OH MY!! Too much FREEDOM and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY is BAD For society, right? That what you think? Do you think?

Let's throw your granny off the rolls first...

[TheStripey1]

Ok, so I keep hearing all of this griping and whining about gas prices, and it seems to be all people care about, but you know what? It doesn't matter, and politicians who want to take all of your money love seeing you not only distracted by this, but wanting them to do something about it. Let's do some math here.

In 2004, the average gas milage of a brand new car was 24.7 mpg. In 1980, it was 23.1 mpg. Those aren't very even numbers, so I'm rounding it to 20. According to the AAA, one year ago the price of regular was $2.929. Today that price is $3.114. That's a difference of 18.5 cents/gallon over the last year, but once again, let's just round that up to 20 cents. Now, let's suppose you drive your family 1400 to Disney World and back. At 20 mpg, that's 70 gallons of gas...a whole $14 difference from last year. HOLY SH*T! How the hell are you going to cram that extra $14 into your budget?! It'll RUIN you!

Okay, let's set aside the sarcasm for a minute and move on to the daily commute. Stop and go traffic reduces gas milage, so we'll change our gas milage to a measly 15 mpg. The average commute is 16 miles, or 32 miles for the round trip. That's a little over 2 gallons. At 18.5 cents more per gallon over last year, that comes out to about $2.00 per week. Assuming two weeks for vacation, that's a grand total of $100 per year. You probably spend 10 times that much on coffee. Skip one latte a week and substitute a mug from the office pot and voila! You've covered the gas increase.

Now, let's look at something nobody seems to be worried about, Social Security. The only reason this escapes notice is because money for Social Security is taken away from you before you ever see it. So anyway, every week, the government takes, by force, about 14% of your paycheck and contributes it to a socialized retirement program. That program is failing and is in for an inevitable implosion within the next couple of decades, meaning it is highly unlikely that you will ever see a dime, and if you die too early, you have no say in where that money goes. Somebody else gets it. Now, the average yearly household income is around $66,000 per year. For the sake of argument, I'm going to assume this is pre-tax income rather than take-home pay. It currently costs such a household $9240/year, 92 times the gas increase for the daily commute, to float a federal income redistribution program that was never intended to be permanent and is doomed for total collapse. And that's just SS. I could go on for hours over how twice that much is confiscated to be spend on bridges to nowhere, farm subsidies, and the failed War on Drugs.

So quit bitching about gas prices and try solving some real problems.

You'll pay... you'll pay everytime that the goods on the shelves of any store had to be shipped from somewhere else... in other words... all the stores and all the products. it's all gonna cost more because the people selling it are going to pass their costs on to us, the consumer...

some people can afford higher prices for everything, some people can't...

[TheStripey1]

They took care of the old folks in their day, you want us to be the ungrateful generation? Our parents generation paid into social security all their lives and you would steal that money away from them? Americans today are the most self centered, selfish people. Our parents paid for our grandparents social security, now selfish Americans like you want to cut our parents off. Unbelievable.

don't waste your breath, sam...

[theHawk]

For as much money that is taken out of our checks each week (thats those of us who work Gabby), we could easily invest that and get a much better return than what SS will ever give us. And why can't people help take care of the elderly? Why do we need the government for that? And btw, why is it immoral to give Americans the OPTION to not participate in Social Security? If we don't ever want anything out of it why should we have to pay into it?

[TheStripey1]

Which would you rather have, a flaccid, socialized retirement system that does practically nothing and is going to implode in, at most, 15 years anyway, or would you rather work to make the system actually work or *gasp* go back to the old days when actions had consequences?

I just really hate <s>old</s> people.

Is hate really one of those republican family values we hear so much about?

Plan on dying young, hob?

[TheStripey1]

For as much money that is taken out of our checks each week (thats those of us who work Gabby), we could easily invest that and get a much better return than what SS will ever give us. And why can't people help take care of the elderly? Why do we need the government for that?

Maybe because they paid into it for their entire lives.

Why do you republicans always want to renegue on agreements made in good faith? Corporations are ending their pension plans that have been in place for decades, what are those workers supposed to do now? it would matter to you if it was your dad's pension being cut...

why do you hate old americans?

[Hobbit]

You'll pay... you'll pay everytime that the goods on the shelves of any store had to be shipped from somewhere else... in other words... all the stores and all the products. it's all gonna cost more because the people selling it are going to pass their costs on to us, the consumer...

some people can afford higher prices for everything, some people can't...

They'd sure be able to afford it with 9000 extra dollars in their pocket every year rather than being forced to pay into a really crappy retirement plan that has a worse rate of return than stuffing the money in your mattress.

Is hate really one of those republican family values we hear so much about?

Plan on dying young, hob?

The last comment was intended as a *gasp* joke. I thought the strikeout on the world 'old' would give that away.

[gabosaurus]

They'd sure be able to afford it with 9000 extra dollars in their pocket every year rather than being forced to pay into a really crappy retirement plan that has a worse rate of return than stuffing the money in your mattress.

Hobbit, do you still believe in the Easter Bunny?