America, land of the free and home of the soaring gas prices? Yes, it seems that there is a large portion of commuters having to travel for work, school, food, and kids... name the reason and we’ve got it. Is the oil industry taking advantage of our need for this product? I would say yes. I question what is causing this? As a solution, I will list some options on how our national government can help correct it or at least, ease our nation's pocket books.
Within a span of five years, according to gasbuddy.com, our lowest gas price average was 1.43
US $/Gallon. Today, our highest
USA average is 4.08 $/Gallon. Anyone can look at these
charts and see that overall there is a linear trend (dare I say almost exponential) among the
US average gasoline price. Why is the government is not taking a stand to aid lowering these outrageous gas prices? Or at least, begin a government funded research program that will give Americans alternate solutions to this transportation problem.
Furthermore, my personal favorite, is the idea of funding for research within top university’s to work towards producing other fuel dependent sources of transportation. But we all know that the government is stingy with their money and would rather allocate it
towards social security, Medicare, and defense. This would be a huge problem among oil industries because of the loss of business. I do not understand to much complex economics, but I do understand supply and demand. The oil industries are using our demand to their benefit, and there should be no doubt about it.
Especially, in Austin, Texas, not every community has access to buses and most definitely subways. Another solution that comes to mind, is congress could pass legislation for national or state funding bus and subway systems. This would ease pollution and help save American’s money.
Another, proposal commented on by CBS would be a four day work week. This would be great for all of the 9-5 jobs held by the majority of the US. But what about the retail, factory, or other various jobs requiring time consuming business restraints (most of these held by the lower classes)? Overall this would be impractical, and would only be beneficial to the majority of the middle and higher paid citizens of the US. They are the ones that can actually afford owning a car and paying its gas prices.
How is it, that gas prices have surged tremendously over the past 6 to 10 years, whereas other commodities, like food, have not? This is not a problem that the people of the United States can deal with, therefore the government should step in. The American public needs solutions and we need them fast. When will the national government start addressing and correcting this issue?
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