AN ARTIFICIAL TAIL-PIPE JOB!

AN ARTIFICIAL TAIL-PIPE JOB! (Mother Jones)

Just when I thought it was safe to go for nice summer rides with my wife and dog and enjoy lower gasoline prices at the pump, I read an article about "artificially cheap" gas prices in  Monday's Mother Jones edition. Gas here in Wisconsin, at my favorite "filling station" is less then $3.69 a gallon, and reportedly will continue to fall from a high of $4.09 just 30 days ago.

I'm happy, life is good, and I can start planning all sorts of little "side trips" to Northern Wisconsin and Michigan, until I read the Mother Jones article, and everything changes. I discover that gasoline has hidden per gallon costs. "Wait a ding dong minute," is that legal, I mean how in the world can petroleum companies take away my feelings of bliss, contentment and a sense of adventure, "with regards to my side trips."

The short answer is "of course (they) can," "although everybody referrers to them as (they), I have never fully understood who (they) are." Anyways the "powers that be" can give me another tail-pipe job whenever (they) want. Its now in the form of behind the scenes invisible costs that impact us all and for reasons that I didn't know about, and had never considered.....bummer.

Crude oil this morning, June 20th. 2011 is a little over $91 a barrel, so gas at the pumps should be going down, like it has been for several weeks, right....."well, not necessarily." Some experts argue the "external costs of  lower gasoline prices at the pimps. pumps," compared with other industrialized countries, the U.S. has it cheap. Funny, it doesn't feel that way to me.

I really can't figure out why we need to be compared with other countries, is that supposed to make us, me, feel better, "I don't see how." These "experts" talk about Europeans paying more then $8 for a gallon of gas, "great, I feel better already." Europeans are taking it up the tail-pipe, just like U.S. citizens, albeit harder because they pay more per gallon.

The tail-pipe thing was never meant to be a comparison of the the U.S. and other countries, any other countries. If people in England, Germany and France like getting screwed at the gasoline pumps, that is their business, I for one, in the U.S. don't  like it one little bit.

Now I find out that there are "hidden" costs for gas that I don't even know about.....great, that really makes my day. All sorts of experts site turmoil in the Middle East, explaining disparity in prices across the Atlantic. Politicians on Capital Hill banter back and fourth across the aisle on why, how and the justice of unstable oil prices and their ultimate effect on the average American citizen.

Across the Midwest, during the summer-time, gasoline firms routinely  implement clean air governmental  regulations with costly additives that have, in the past, drove up the price at the pumps. This year however, for whatever reason, gasoline prices are falling, maybe it was that artificially inflated $4.09 cent a gallon price in April.

Other gas prices that are hidden from public view, those that most of us never think about, and some don't even know exist, like treatment for asthma, lost work days, lost school days for kids, old folks illnesses with regards to respiratory decease and premature deaths.

In California, the average cost per person for these related deceases, lost days and deaths adds up to as much as $1600 per person. Across the nation, depending on the area that you live, figures range from $100 to $500.

Food and fiber crops can be effected, as much as 10%,  by carbon pollution through the burning of fossil fuels. Soybeans, wheat,  oats, green beans, peppers and some types of cotton can be effected by the Greenhouse gasses that are produced especially by gasoline and diesel fuels.

The cost of oil spills is also factored into the price of a gallon of gas, and I'm not talking about the Gulf of Mexico either. There are thousands of "mini" oil spills every year that never make headlines, but non-the-less create problems that can be just as toxic as the Gulf spill for small areas.

Over the last 3 decades, the EPA has cleaned up more then 401,000 leaking underground gasoline storage tanks, with another 93,000 more sites awaiting clean-up. The agency spends between $2-3 million dollars every year for clean-ups on tribal land and has set aside $66.2 million dollars for additional clean-up.

All I can say about these artificially cheap gasoline prices is that we'd better all "pucker up butter cup" cause the gas nozzle is just around the corner. 

A DEFLECTIVE ACTION! (Green Bay Press Gazette)

Picture it, "you stop for gas and discover that you have to pre-pay inside, or use a  credit card at the pump. You no longer can pump your gas and go inside to pay for it." Soon it will be the law in Green Bay, and I for one am nervous, if we allow the Green Bay city council to pass such an ordnance.

Let me count the ways that I feel this is wrong:

1. Gas station operators don't need the city council dictating the manner in which payment is received.

2. Business does not need protection from the city of Green Bay.

3. It is a further power grab by government over independent business.

4. Police say that the ordinance is needed city wide because without it, stations will be inconsistent in their usage of the policy, huh!

What's next, clean under ware cops running around giving atomic wedgies, then checking for "hash marks."