Oil prices are up and so is gas, shockingly. I’m sure you’ve read this, and from every angle imaginable. But let’s get off this whole self-detrimental thing we’ve got going on. Look on the bright side: sure your Civic is costing you a few more bucks, but all those eyesores on the road (SUVs) are brutalising their owners’ wallets and purses. Before oil prices skyrocketed, SUVs weren’t so hard on their owners, but they irritated me immensely–so all I have to say is “good, couldn’t happen to better people.”
I am by no means an “environmentalist,” but when people get a vehicle that wastes gas and causes excessive pollution to run errands, get groceries and rush the kids off to soccer practice, it makes me want to believe in karma when gas goes over a dollar. The irony is this seems to be exactly what’s getting all those SUV owners. They drive vehicles that guzzle gas thus increasing demand–and as any first-year economics student can tell you, this drives prices up. I’m sure the flooding in the States is driving it up a little too. Now karma, nature and capitalism are kicking anyone who drives a needless SUV much lower than it is the rest of us–and no one likes a shot in the jewels.
There are some people who need such vehicles for work, this is true, but they are also compensated by work and therefore lose any right to complain. It’s everyone else who has no reason to have an SUV–and as a result have no financial support for it–who cause the problem.
The most disturbing sin committed by this SUV fascination is by far the Porsche Cayenne. Just for those who didn’t know a Carerra was plenty, the Porsche luxury SUV hit the roads in 2004. Personally, I miss the days when Porsches were fast European penis enlargements all millionaires had to have and all teenagers dreamt about. Porsche was once in a class with Ferrari, Lamborghini, Jaguar and Aston Martin; now they’ve joined such speed machines as Ford, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota.
If your vehicle is costing you a few extra bucks, try to cut back. Remember, it could always be worse: the only difference is this time it’s happening to people who deserve it.