Gas price woes: There seems to be a certain futility in protesting costs

Another day and another 10 cents, 5 cents or a penny, it doesn’t matter, keeping track of how much money to budget to operate a motor vehicle these days is a little like throwing a dart.

Every one has his or her own theory about why prices are going up, and how Americans can get them to come back down.

But the bottom line is that nothing seems to be working — not really.

And here we are on the verge of the summer travel season and the time when many Americans head out for summer vacation — with gas edging up again.

Providers say they are merely responding to the market fluctuations and that they are victims, too.

Consumers say they want something — anything — done as soon as possible.

In Washington, the talk is about alternative energy sources and arguments over whether we should or shouldn’t be drilling in Alaska to find our own sources of oil — or at least developing new places to get the petroleum products we need.

But all of that is just talk — and in the meantime, keeping a family budget in the black is becoming extremely difficult.

So now, the question seems to be what’s next? And, how much longer are we going to wait for someone to do something? Hopefully, it will be before gas hits $4 a gallon.

There is no more time to wait to get answers out of our politicians about the need for relief. Maybe if we send them our gas bills, it might put an end to the rhetoric and speed us on the way to a real solution.

Published in Editorials on April 27, 2007 11:47 AM