What Can We Do About Gas Prices? The Answer Might Shock You

Do you know what we can do about gas prices? Although we'd like to think that a little citizen action could bring us back to the days of cheap gas in a hurry, the truth is a little uglier. There isn't all that much you can do influence gas prices--which leaves you with one alternative. Let's look at what we should be doing.

I can remember filling up my first car, a big ugly Buick, and paying less than a buck per gallon. No, I'm not an old geezer. I'm not quite forty years old. There was a period during my high school days when gas dipped under a dollar. I can also remember when it went over a buck--to something like .25 per gallon and I heard all of these older people griping about the price of fuel.

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"I'm never going to act like that," I told myself. "You won't catch me complaining about gas prices". I felt like that kind of talk was just an excuse for old folks to whine.

Well, the price of gas has nearly quadrupled since then. Quadrupled. Wow. Fuel costs keep escalating and there's no end in sight. So, here I am complaining.

The worst part is that all of the moaning in the world won't bring back one-dollar gas. People keep asking how to lower gas prices, but the sad truth of the matter is that we can't do much about it. Tax holiday? That only amounts to a few cents per gallon. Windfall profit taxes on Big Oil? Don't you think they'll stick it back to the consumer to recover those losses? Conservation? Hey, we live in a car culture. I can't walk 30 miles to work, you know.

Sorry, but we can't do a great deal to lower gas prices. Does that sound defeatist to you? I hope not, because I'm definitely not a defeatist.

We do have an alternative and it's really a rather simple one. If you can't decrease prices, you have to increase income. It's that simple. You are going to keep buying gas. The prices are going to remain high. Those are facts. The only thing left to consider is how you're going to handle those facts. What will you do to keep your financial ship afloat when you recognize that what we can do about gas prices is so incredibly limited?

What Can We Do About Gas Prices? The Answer Might Shock You

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