Letter to the editor:

Lower gas prices, not our standard of living

Ron Moers, Henderson

Saturday, May 31, 2008 | 2:03 a.m.

Let me get this right — gas stations claim they make only 5 cents per gallon of gas pumped. OK, that’s fair. The oil companies claim they make only 8 percent profit (so why do I keep reading those pesky reports that say they make 1,100 percent every quarter?). And according to an article by the Associated Press, refining costs are 27 cents per gallon. That leaves transportation, OPEC, taxes and speculators to divvy up the remaining $3.

Hmm, let me think. When this all is put into perspective, it seems as if everyone is making a pretty good buck off the public when we consider the number of gallons required to run this nation. So to lower prices at the pump, the only solution is to drive less, right? That means we Americans don’t shop, don’t go to work, don’t take our kids to Little League and, for the most part, don’t do anything but stay home.

Sorry, but our economy is predicated on driving. While the “green” people think we can all live like the Amish, the only reason the greens and the Amish are allowed to practice their own brand of living is because America has evolved into a nation where they can do that. If we refuse to stand up and take charge of our lives, we will soon be trading places with India and China. They will be the world powers and we will be the Third World.

Let’s drill for oil in our own country. Let’s reduce gas taxes. Let’s charge all the oil-producing nations for the blood and treasure we sacrifice to keep them under our freedom umbrella. If our politicians continue with their same lackluster performance and don’t start doing something about this looming disaster, the gas crisis of 1973 will pale by comparison.

Discussion: 2 comments so far…

By jblvmoll

5/31/08 at 9:06 a.m.

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Thank you Mr. Moers, for adding more logic to the argument for domestic production of oil/gasoline via domestic exploration, drilling and refining. When times are good, people are employed and spending their dollars, keeping the engine that powers our economy running strongly. Each dollar spent, generates the spending of additional dollars. Conversely, in difficult times as we have now, each dollar NOT SPENT truly does result in additional dollars NOT BEING SPENT. Economists and the media have failed miserably in reminding the public (hmmm, environmentalists, too), and our so-called leaders that an economy that truly sinks into recession or depression is very very difficult to revive. It is known that we did not recover from The Great Depression UNTIL the economic benfits of the Second World War were reaped by the US economy. We are already in a war. Thus, what tools can Washington bean counters use NOW to get consumers to open their wallets?????
By NVMakz

5/31/08 at 10:04 a.m.

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Thank you, Mr. Moers, for a succinct sharp LTE.

The economy is of little concern to the eco-fascist. Social communists want all of us poor, sad and broken.