So, I'm catching up on some things around the house today, and the familiar segments have been airing on Fox News Channel: high gas prices, combined with the Memorial Day Holiday, equal financial disaster for consumers. Sound familiar? I don't like gas prices going up any more than anyone else, but let's put this in perspective a bit.
According to this site, the distance between Phoenix and Sedona (an appropriate Memorial Day get-out-of-Phoenix destination) is 125 miles.
A quick Google search found this site, which gives today's high and low gas prices in Chandler as $3.02 and $3.14 per gallon. Split the difference for an average of $3.08.
Pick your gas-guzzling environment devastator of choice, but for this example we'll use a generic SUV getting 18 MPG.
If my public school math instruction holds true, we find that it will take $21.39 to purchase the gas for a hypothetical Memorial Day jaunt to Sedona (125 miles / 18 MPG = 6.944 gallons required for the trip, times $3.08 per gallon = $21.39 for the total gas price). Now imagine that the price of gas goes up to $3.35 per gallon. Surely that would prevent us from enjoying our holiday weekend, would it not? Suddenly the price of gas for the trip would go from $21.39 all the way up to $23.26! That's shocking! Congressional inquiries are sure to follow. Now imagine that the price of gas goes up to $4.00 per gallon. The rivers will run red and the clocks will turn backward! But, the cost of our holiday excursion will only be $27.78, merely $6.39 more than at the average price of $3.08 per gallon.
Now I know you're thinking, "Amazing Jake, that makes sense on paper, but Al Gore says the planet's going to explode if we don't stop driving so much. What are we to do?"
To that, I offer the following: Just do as Al Gore does. (click on the screen cap of Michelle Malkin).
One final thought. A gallon of Evian water costs $6.40 per gallon. Now I know we don't consume Evian water at the same rate as gas in our cars, but COME ON! It costs money to produce goods and services. Give the unscrupulous windfall profiteering capitalists a break. They give us jobs and an affordable product that makes it possible for our mobile economy to exist.
