gas prices
A recent comment on one of my posts lamented how governments need to do more to reduce gas prices. Yes, we know that some nations do subsidize the price that their citizens pay at the pump. For example, the Chinese government pays such a substantial portion so that their citizens pay only pennies per gallon (which tends to anger cashiers at gas stations because they can only accept Chinese currency).
A lot of people seem to forget or ignore the idea that “governments” do not have a pot of gold at the end of their taxation rainbow. “Government” is nothing more than a collection of people spending money taken — not earned or asked for — from people in their country.
You and I are held accountable if we don’t live within our budget. But elected officials and dictatorships aren’t held to the same responsibilities. Either, they aren’t reelected or they get asylum in another country (and this is just the options in a democratic country). So it is amazing how noble you can be when spending other people’s money while not having to worry about the consequences. I guess this is what makes political power so attractive. Just promise what you will give without telling what you will take to make your promises possible.
Anyway, it would be nice to think that we’re entitled to any commodity at a penny per gallon. But that is the three-year-old in us doing the thinking. Remember those good old days when the world revolved around only our immature, selfish desires? As adults, we have to deal with many things that are beyond our control. As long as the price of gas and bread aren’t being maliciously manipulated, we will have to deal with nature’s equations of supply and demand. But that isn’t a problem. Being the inventive, ambitiously lazy species that we are, gasoline as a resource will soon become part of our ancient history as we move on to the next chapter of stayin’ alive.
