Now that congress has come up with a gasoline price gouging bill, do you feel any better?

Over the past month we’ve heard the moans of America about the price of gas escalating through the ceiling. We’ve all moaned and groaned as we filled up the tank and it takes another $5 out of our pockets. Last year I paid $2.659 per gallon of gas, and now it’s at $3.399, a 74 cent increase, and in 2004, I paid $1.899. Heck, I have moaned as the price of my favorite coffee has risen to the $8.00 range for that 34.5 oz container, so I now settle for the generic, in store brand, or the weeks’ special. But we can’t economize that way with gas. Where is that generic brand of gas anyway? So, we the people pay up. And, we also continue to moan and groan each time we see the tank below the ¼ mark on the gauge. Then whine again when we pay up.

And the media goes ecstatic finding the hard luck stories to present to you on the “news at 6”. Someone is contemplating canceling the yearly vacation because of the price of gas. Let’s see, a 1500 mile trip at 23 mpg and 74 cents more per gallon would cost less than an additional $50 for the trip. Perhaps it they are running that tight on the budget, they should stay home anyway, but the reporters don’t analyze it for the hard luck moaners they found groaning. Another is searching for a car pool to get to work. Another thinks they may have to go without something else, a gallon of milk for the baby, to keep the car running. And the media assign reporters to search out other options for you and present “specials” on how to economize. And on and on it goes. It’s the price of milk, ground beef, potato chips, a jar of peanut butter that has not been recalled, and a sack of dog food that has escaped the recall list, or the cost of the prescription drugs, or the cost of the spring air-conditioner check up service. Whine, moan and groan. Do you think it’s that way because that’s the way we are?

And the politicians love it. Thus, a bill to prevent price gouging which cannot be defined nor enforced. It makes the politician look like he cares, and citizens feel they are cared for. Would you agree that there are times, when it appears that the political class want us and encourage us to whine and moan? Because, then it’s easy for them to write resolutions and laws that supposedly will fix the problems we the people are groaning and moaning about. They call it solutions. They then say, this bill will fix the problem, you will never have to worry about a peanut butter recall again, your worries about global warming will be solved when you buy those offsets, the groaning on one side of the aisle will stop when the President signs this bill granting amnesty to 12 million criminals, and then all is well. They then tell you that this bill will solve the illegal immigrant crisis, it will just wipe the problem away with the stroke of a pen, but be patient because it will take time to assimilate them all to blend in, but the problem will be solved. And on and on it goes. The government will solve your problems. You will never have to worry about having to cancel your vacation again because of the new tax break, of the new bill guaranteeing every American who wants to vacationize, the right to do so at any time, as even your employer will donate to your plans, or he/she will lose his/her special tax exemption. The government is operating as solvers of a new problem, a new whine, and a new expanded groan. And that’s the way they are.

The media loves it the most of all. It fills a dead spot on the news at 6. It keeps a reporter running around searching for the hard luck stories. The newspaper editors are kept busy choosing which groaned letter to the editor to publish. They write and publish opinions of our moans and how many of us are whining about this or that. The polls are taken and the results show that only 35% of us approve, or the majority of the people (54%) disapprove of this or that, + ot – a margin of error of 3%. But we never see the actual questions of these polls and how they come to those conclusions. Solutions, solutions, we want solutions, build that fence, open the gates, bring home the troops, keep them there, drill for more oil, buy a hybrid, grow your own tomatoes, skip the latte at Starbucks, carpool, ride the bus, move closer to work, let the kids ride the bus, forget the soccer league or the cheerleaders this year as the uniforms are too costly, and on and on. Reporters of a new whine, a new moan and an expanded groan. And that’s the way they are. Reporting to us our own groans and moans. A special 20/20 is in the making.

That’s why I have this blog, so that I can moan and groan about what everyone else is whining, moaning and groaning about. That’s the way I am. I want the gas in the double digits and I like my coffee cheap and want the best without the groaning, but then, what would I have to whine about?

And that’s the way we are. Can the government solve our problems? No. Will the media present just the news? No. Will we the people quit whining? No. And that’s just the way it is. Whiners. But it sure puts a lot of people to work.


And that’s As I See It Now.