(no subject)

[electricland]

So I gather there's some asinine Don't Buy Gas Tomorrow campaign going around. Puhlease.

Break the Chain explores why these things don't work. (Via gristmill_rss, who alerted me to this in the first place. (Oh, and Snopes also has something to say.)

Gas prices aren't going anywhere until the market says so. Deal. Want to save money on gas? Carpool, drive less, take public transit, walk, bike, make sure your car's tuned up and its tires are properly inflated, don't speed, go easy on the braking and accelerating, and if you're buying a new car, make sure it's really fuel-efficient. Yes, some of these are only realistic if you live in a city, but a lot of them are available to anyone.

Drivers, I feel your pain. I do. But I'm also somewhat gleeful: we drive far too much in North America, and anything that'll help cut down on that is fine by me. Also my lungs.

Comments

[bryghtboy.livejournal.com]

I hazard a guess that it will accomplish pretty close to not a blessed thing. Except the outside possibility of fostering some sort of coherent thought on the part of consumers... which I know is like asking lemurs to do long division.

I hadn't really thought about the GM-Chrysler sales bonanza thing as anything other than a sign of their being in dire economic position. The gas-guzzling mostrousity of their fleet didn't even enter into my head, now that you mention it I feel like a knob for not noticing and pondering before though :S

I'm pretty sure that the price at the pumps is a true reflection of economic reality of producing, shipping and securing the product. However, I think that since the system is an oligarchy every now and then they keep the price inflated artifically slightly longer and coast down the price ladder as it were slower since there are only about 10-15 (maybe?) major gas companies in the world and nobody is likely to cut prices even a half a second earlier than strictly necessary. Especially with politics involved, whole countries economies are involved.