I don’t have a car and I usually walk or take the bus to work, so I don’t check the price of gas very often even though there is a BP station around the corner from where I live in Durham. And even though my wife has a car, we rarely discuss gas prices over dinner.
I thus have little reason to know whether and how the price of gas has changed. But when my previous post on gas prices all of a sudden becomes very popular again, I know the price of gas must have gone up, and people must be wondering again whether gas strikes work.
They don’t. From my previous post on the topic:
“Whatever gas you don’t buy today, you will have to buy tomorrow. Deciding not to buy gas today is not like forgoing a meal at McDonald’s: if you don’t eat at McDonald’s today, you’re unlikely to make up for it tomorrow. But if you don’t buy gas today and still drive to work, you’re going to have to make up for the gas you used today sooner or later.
Instead of acting on their emotions, people should think about this rationally. You want to stick it to gas companies? Cool. Why not take the bus or carpool to work? Better yet, why not bike to work or telecommute? If enough people chose one of these options instead of blindly following others into a “gas strike,” gas companies might actually be stuck with an excess supply of gas and may have to lower their prices as a consequence. In the long run, why not buy a hybrid vehicle or simply move closer to work?
Sadly, I’m afraid few people are going to adopt any of the options I’ve just enumerated, because those actually require a real commitment to changing things instead of just talking, and heaven forbid US consumers should give anything up, right?”
Gas Prices Are High, But Gas Strikes Still Won’t Work
I don’t have a car and I usually walk or take the bus to work, so I don’t check the price of gas very often even though there is a BP station around the corner from where I live in Durham. And even though my wife has a car, we rarely discuss gas prices over dinner.
I thus have little reason to know whether and how the price of gas has changed. But when my previous post on gas prices all of a sudden becomes very popular again, I know the price of gas must have gone up, and people must be wondering again whether gas strikes work.
They don’t. From my previous post on the topic:
“Whatever gas you don’t buy today, you will have to buy tomorrow. Deciding not to buy gas today is not like forgoing a meal at McDonald’s: if you don’t eat at McDonald’s today, you’re unlikely to make up for it tomorrow. But if you don’t buy gas today and still drive to work, you’re going to have to make up for the gas you used today sooner or later.
Instead of acting on their emotions, people should think about this rationally. You want to stick it to gas companies? Cool. Why not take the bus or carpool to work? Better yet, why not bike to work or telecommute? If enough people chose one of these options instead of blindly following others into a “gas strike,” gas companies might actually be stuck with an excess supply of gas and may have to lower their prices as a consequence. In the long run, why not buy a hybrid vehicle or simply move closer to work?
Sadly, I’m afraid few people are going to adopt any of the options I’ve just enumerated, because those actually require a real commitment to changing things instead of just talking, and heaven forbid US consumers should give anything up, right?”
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Published in Commentary and Economics