A gaseous tale

Once upon a time, in a land beneath our feet, there lived a people addicted to Big Oil, aka gasoline. While there was plenty of the black gold to be had within the borders of this lush land, an overindulgent and highly marketed people soon outgrew their homegrown. You might say demand exceeded supply.

The once idealistic people, you see, had fallen into a form of idolatry (and we all know where that leads). They worship their iron horses, aka automobiles. They wax, shine and caress these machines, creating every gadget their prodigious imaginations could conjure. As we all know, size does indeed matter, and autos grow exponentially, some eventually costing as much as a starter house did before the house bloat.

( A note: auto/oil addiction evidently makes people very thirsty, so cup holders become a most cherished option.)

All this pushes gas prices up and leaves these proud people at the mercy of OPEC, a Mideast Mafia composed of mostly Saudi potentates, in whose kingdom, women are not allowed to drive. (Although between the ibayah and the full face veils, their vision and movements are so impaired, that’s not altogether a bad thing, I suppose.)

Of late, though, events have taken a strange twist. The record high price of gasoline continues to plummet faster than the stock market. Yet supply remains the same. So what’s the deal?

It’s the silver lining in the economic storm cloud. Simply put, we are apparently driving less, therefore demanding less. With a drop in demand, the price drops. Free market 101. Geez, folks, there may be something to this capitalism thang after all, eh?.

This is marvelous. It demonstrates that we are not at the mercy of Saudi princes. WE control the price of oil, not OPEC. Not to mention how this is also a great thing for the environment…less greenhouse gas, less global warming et al.

You think?

Take heart, we can bring that feeling of doom right back. Just listen to some economic “expert” on the tellie. This reduction in driving, tantamount to the American public turning its back on its one true love—its automobiles, is sure evidence of a serious deepening recession—or so they say.

They sure know how to turn tarnish a silver lining,