Gas and the American Bloat

Imagine: gas prices over $4.00 a gallon. Four dollars. Wow. Just two years ago, upon my arrival in the Southeast, gas was a "mere" $1.45. Two dollars a gallon was an eyebrow archer. Summer projections of more than $3.00 a gallon, hurricane season around the corner, a radical leader in Iran, Chinese progress, ethanol additives, a never-ending war in Iraq, and let's not forget, the American need for speed, convenience, and super-sized vehicles, yep, $4.00 is around the immediate bend.

Four dollars a gallon. Now, if you have a large SUV that you fill once a week, with let's say, 15 gallons of gas, that will run you $60 every week, $240 every four weeks, $3,120 a year. That is, if the price stays at the new low price of $4.00 a gallon and your driving habits don't change. We won't even discuss car insurance, registration, inspections, emissions, and maintenance. Between the cost of fuel and required accoutrements, one could take out a small loan just to operate these vehicles.

I began to wonder - how many Americans have actually thought about how much they will be spending on fuel, and what they're doing to reduce fuel costs. I admit that I've seen more hybrid vehicles on the road; however, I also know that these vehicles are out of the price range for many Americans - myself included. So, what can we, here in the US, do to reduce fuel consumption? I for one have slowed down and turned off the A/C (a difficult thing to do in Florida). I don't stomp on the gas when lights turn green. I maintain a constant speed and I regularly maintain my car. My little Kia went from around 25 mpg to 31-32 mpg. What do I see around me? I'm passed by motorists driving way over the speed limit - including school zones, wild weaving in and out of traffic, and jackrabbit starts at lights. Perhaps these individuals don't care about the cost of fuel, the ever-dwindling supply of fossil fuels, the increasing toxification of our environment, or the lives devastated by wars fought for the control of energy resources. I ask myself, "Why don't they care and do something about it?" Have they forgotten the gas lines of the 70s? Were they even born yet? Why the complacency? Then a thought strikes me: many people in the 70s paid with cash, not credit. They were in-touch with the amount of cash they had. These people put money aside for gas money, for trips, for the new television set. People, today, particularly individuals from my generation - X, and generation Y, are governed by plastic - the facade of economic success - branded with the names Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express. The true impact of gas prices doesn't seem to cause a ripple in the thought processes of individuals today. Is it because we can always pay for it with plastic? And, then when the statement arrives, we don't need to pay the entire balance. Why should we? The minimum amount will do. There is always tomorrow in our little private plastic utopian towns. All that matters is our external image. I have a big screen TV. I have a big SUV. I have a killer stereo. I am better than you. See how "successful" I am.