Quit Your Bitchin'!

Posted by Joshua White on 05.17.2006

From people complaining about 411politics being too left leaning to people moaning about gas prices I'm sick of it all. Quit your bitching...please!!!

Recently, 411politics was sent an email. In that email was a one-lined statement claiming that 411 is a biased site. Apparently, we are just a bunch of hippy libs that can not offer another side of the story. Well, I have a few things to say about that. First off: BOO HOO!!! Look, if you want a more conservative-sided site, please, feel free to visit rushlimbaugh.com, hannity.com, or michaelsavage.com (if you're one of those crazy types). But there is a certain demographic that is composed of wrestling fans who like politics and the news, and these types tend to lean left. Does that make 411 a deliberately left-leaning? Yes...if you don't understand the fact that certain groups tend to lean a certain way (for those of you who don't understand sarcasm, that means "no"). For example, my dear right leaners, if I were to walk into a NRA meeting, how many Deaniacs do you think I would find? And if I were to read the NRA website, and suppose they had a blog...do you think that it would be left or right leaning? And why do think that would be? BECAUSE CERTAIN GROUPS LEAN A CERTAIN WAY!!!! And if you don't like that, I urge you (and I'm not sure if I'm supported by the 411 staff here) to find other opinion writers. But the fact is, here on 411 there ARE certain of us that have tendencies to lean towards those of the red states. Joe Rivett, for example, doesn't always agree with the Democrats. He has in the past agreed with the granola-eaters, but there are many times when he has sided with the right for various reasons. And I, in my first column, argued (as one possibility) for the killing of the illegal aliens. How exactly does that sound like a Kennedy-lover? Yet, there are those that will never be happy until there is a 50-50 split between raging loony libs, and super-crazy conservatives. I say get over it. I say, read what 411 has to offer. If you think that it is biased then figure out for yourself why it is so. Why is the columnist wrong? The more that you understand why others are wrong, the more you understand why you are right (assuming you are so). I advise you to write these people. Tell them exactly why they are wrong. Change their minds. This could conservatize (oh yeah, that is a word) them a touch. But please, I BEG you to quit the bitching...stop the complaining and DO something!!!

Now, does this have anything to do with my column? Kinda. Personally, while I'm not convinced of the inherent liberal bias of 411politics, I am kinda tired of the constant columns on Bush. Enough already. There ARE other topics out there. And here is mine.

The following column is an attempt to get your whiners to stop whining about the gas prices. Now I realize that it is a touch overdue...but forgive me, I'm new here. Some of my arguments have been said before, but when I wrote this (as my sample for my position here) it was all brand new. Even if you have heard these arguments before it is good to here them again.

Read. Learn. Love.

Unless you're some sort of hippy living on a commune or one of those revolutionary mavericks who uses recycled grease from McDonald's to fuel your car you have noticed that gas prices are at close to an all time high. I live in Houston, TX and I'm paying about $2.90 for a gallon of gas. Two dollars and ninety CENTS! That means to fill up my crappy, two-door Chevy Cavalier 4-cylinder (you know how I roll!) costs over $40. Not only has filling up my car gone up by about 12 bucks a fill-up but everything else is more expensive because everybody else in the world is feeling the "pinch at the pump" (thank you media for these gems).

And I have to be honest...as an adjunct professor at a community college making $1500 per course a semester, I'm none too pleased about this situation. Not only does it cost me more to drive places, but everything else in the world costs more too. This is apparently not only pissing me off. The rest of the country is getting annoyed too. And in rare form, President Bush actually listened to the public's cry of displeasure and called for an investigation to be held. This little inquiry is supposed to look into possible price gouging and collusion attempts made by the major oil companies as well as other ways to lower gas prices. From what I can tell everyone is behind this investigation, even if the two parties are so for different reasons. The democrats blame the big oil companies, and the republicans blame hippy libs for not letting them drill in ANWAR (among other places). Hell, Dick Durbin said, "I think the prices at the pump reflect the oil companies' addiction to greed."

Everyone hates the oil companies right now. Why? People like Dick think that they're "greedy." Tons of people think that they're fixing oil prices. And then when we see them making record profits we get pissed. How can these jerks make so much money when the rest of America is suffering? And then we hear about the former chairman of Exxon gets $400 million in a retirement package. Four hundred million!!! The oil companies are just slapping it in our faces.

My question is: Is this anger really justified? We are mad at the oil companies, but should we be?

My answer, in a quasi-tribute to the rattlesnake, Stone Cold Steven Austin..."HELL NO!"

But why Josh? These big jerks are out there making tons of money at our expense! They are living the high life while we're skimping in life because of their prices. My wonderful readers, there are many reasons why we should cut the oil companies some slack.

First off, we live in America. And here in the USA we believe in capitalism, the free market, and supply and demand. (Or we say this. When push comes to shove, it seems that we might not really think this way.) Fellow Americans, gasoline is a commodity!! It is a luxury. You don't need it. It is nice to have. It makes life easier, but you don't have to have it to live. Shouldn't we just let the market decide how much it costs? As long as nothing illegal is happening why should we be mad at the oil companies? And look, if you don't like the fact that the gas companies are charging so much there is a solution. Stop buying it! Don't buy any gasoline. I realize that you need it to get to work, school, etc. But there are alternatives. You could car pool. You could take mass transit. You could (God forbid) ride a bike. So when we get angry at the oil companies let's remember that they aren't forcing us to buy their product. It is up to us. So if you're angry...blame yourself.

You know who else you should be mad at? The Chinese (and to a lesser extent India). Be mad at them! Why? Because if it weren't for their rapidly growing economy there would be millions of barrels of oil that could be sold to other people (like us). But they are growing so quickly that they want all the oil that they can get their hands on. They are making deals with Canada (a small time producer) and Iran (a big time producer) among other countries. As the Chinese grow richer and buy more cars they are going to want more oil. This means that unless more refineries are built and quickly more oil will be sent to China. Well, what do we know about supply and demand? If we have the same amount of supply and more demand, then the price goes up.

So if you want gas prices to go down then pray for the downfall of their economy. That or you could stop being such cheap shmucks and not aid their economy by buying from Wal-mart. Considering that a huge portion of Wal-mart's products are made by China, if we all were to stop buying Chinese products, their economy would sink. This could help our own gas prices. But then again, with gas prices as they are how can we afford not to shop at Wal-mart?

Finally, we shouldn't be mad at the prices of gas because for the most part the oil companies are not in control of them. Barrels of oil are now costing about $70 each. That is how much everyone in the world is paying. The oil companies cannot change that. Obviously, gas prices are going to be higher now then when barrels of oil were selling for $50. Now let's run some quick numbers. For each gallon of gas 47-50% of the cost comes from crude oil (which can't be changed), 27% from refining, and 8% in marketing. While I haven't yet gotten to 100% let's see what happens with just these numbers.

Working with a gas price of $2.90 we get the following: Crude oil costs about $1.36-1.45. Refining is another $.78.

With just these two costs gas must cost at least $2.00 a gallon. Gas is over two bucks with no taxes. But the government can't let that happen. They need to get their hand in the cookie jar. So they take on average another 21 cents of state tax, and then about 18 cents of federal taxes. Now the prices of the gas, sans profit, is $2.39. Considering that the average gas price is $2.55 that means that the big, bad, evil oil companies make sixteen cents off of every gallon. Sixteen cents on a $2.55 purchase. That is not a lot of profit. The average profit for these big, mean companies is 8.2%. How can a company that makes this little profit be that evil? There are several industries such as banking, food and tobacco that make more profit that this and I don't hear anyone complaining about these. This leads me back to the belief that I mentioned earlier. We like capitalism when it is easy for us.

So suck it up America. We will never again see gas prices under $2.50. This is certainly a pain in the butt. Nobody really likes it. But it isn't the oil companies fault. Be mad at China. Be mad at the number of oil producing sites. But be nice to the oil companies. And for the love of God...quit your bitchin'.