ANOTHER HOSE JOB?

ANOTHER HOSE JOB?

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

Do consumers win when gasoline prices fall at the pump…..I’m not sure, pretty much because of those nasty gas taxes that are tacked onto the price of a gallon of gas. You see the way that I look at taxation is kind of a multi-layered situation. Whether you agree or disagree with the amount of taxes that we pay, or how those tax dollars are spent…..we all benefit to varying degrees on what is offered from our tax dollars.

 

Taxing gasoline per gallon has been going on in the United States since 1919, when Oregon begins a .5 cent per gallon tax. By 1939 every state in the union as well as the District of Columbia had introduced a tax on the gasoline that was sold. Today there are federal, state and local taxes that are generated from the sale of gasoline and diesel fuel. Although the tax is not a panacea as was originally thought, in 2013 the federal tax levy raised almost $30 billion dollars…..the tax was last raised in 1993.

 

At the federal level the fuel tax revenue is used, about 60% for highway and bridge construction, while the remaining 40% goes to earmarked programs. However there is revenue from other taxes that are used for the country’s transportation programs.

 

There are rumblings by some on Capitol Hill that a raise in the fuel tax is necessary to sustain the country’s transportation infrastructure. The National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, (NSTIFC) (government has a committee or commission for everything) issued a detailed report in February of 2009.

 

An increased cost of fuel (per gallon) would also encourage less consumption by U.S. drivers, and of course there is a growing fiscal and national security concern that America’s dependence on foreign oil imports must be blighted. The United States spent nearly $470 billion dollars for foreign oil imports in 2013.

 

WHY GAS PRICES RISE MORE THEN THEY FALL

The quick answer is “because they can,” we as consumers have very little control over how the gasoline pricing structure goes. As consumers we are a fickle bunch, we’ll go by a gas station, see the price is at $3.49.9 a gallon…..down from $3.55.9 the day before and exclaim, “wow, that’s a pretty good price for a gallon of gas.”

 

When the economy is down, when there’s an uptick in unemployment, people tend not to travel as much, they schedule their trips to take advantage of accomplishing several errands during the same trip. When people are flush, when the economy is going great guns, people might take an entire week-end to accomplish those same errands, and make several trips.

 

Gas prices are based on the price of a barrel of crude oil as well as on a daily basis, based off buyers and sellers of physical and futures contracts (actual delivery for a set price). Geopolitical events also play a huge role, as can the weather in the pricing of a gallon of gasoline.

 

Seldom do I write one of these things (blogs) when I don’t discover why it is that as a species, we need to be protected from…..ourselves, and the gasoline situation is no different. I am a firm believer that we don’t see things in the long term, rather when the price of beef might drop by a quarter a pound, we simply buy a 3 pound roast and save .75 cents…..and don’t buy 50 pounds of meat and save $12.50.

 

The sale of gasoline to consumers throughout the world is a very large scam, where billions are made every day. As a people we are running low on reserves of crude oil, of that I am positive, fossil fuel is unrenewable…..so if you got one 55 gallon barrel of it, once the barrels empty it’s gone forever.

 

THERE ACTUALLY IS COMPLICITY BETWEEN THE CRUDE PEOPLE AND ROAD BUILDERS

Did you ever wonder why the U.S. Transportation Department is always approving new and improved roadways while leaving thousands and thousands of miles of ill-repaired roads left for us to travel every day of the week? Well I did…..and have.

 

America’s old, decaying surface roads (inner-city) are in super ill repair…..where some pot holes are big enough to swallow those cute little economy cars whole. The shape of the country’s road system…..(as a whole) is in sorry repair…..and needs to be addressed.

 

Roadways in poor repair in the U.S. are a significant drag on the economy, last year clogged and congested travel cost Americans an estimated $124 billion in lost time, wasted fuel and higher business costs. There are those who feel that a massive public infrastructure investment is the best hope for a slowly recovering economy. Attached to this infrastructure investment would be a jump start the stagnant wage doldrums.

 

Don’t let these gasoline prices fool you, there only going to go so low…..and they’ll never, ever be as low as when I was going to high school. Hell, in 1961 I could take a girl to a movie, then to A&W for a burger on $5 bucks, and still have money left. The price of gasoline in 1961…..31 cents a gallon, a movie, .50 cents a ticket, popcorn .10 cents, and two burgers fries and a coke…..$2. Happy days huh.

 

Sadly those days are gone, and we’ve been adjusting to the world’s new ways for several decades now, I say “several decades,” because just when we kind of settle in on some new dictated ways…..those powers that be slip in a few more changes that we gotta deal with.

 

Watch and wait people, near the end of the crude oil supply, those petroleum people will simply shift gears and present us with some alternative way to power our cars and trucks…..and it’ll only cost half your weekly paycheck.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!