While I lived in Argentina I always found it fascinating that some blowhard yo-yo head could get himself/herself into the papers and onto television and call the public to action for really anything, I remember a few nationwide boycotts of chicken, telephone service and yes even gasoline. The way it would come about was pretty much this: Step 1. Blowhard gets on television and makes papers the same day. Step 2. While on T.V. and in papers makes a threat that the entire country will grind to a halt if "whatever" weren't lowered on or before "plug in date here". Step 3. Sometimes government would make feeble attempt to pacify the 'angry masses' represented by a blowhard yo-yo head. Step 4. On the predetermined date if an acceptable solution were not offered up the blowhard would tell everyone to go home and not return to work until the prices went down! Guess what? They went home and had several days of unpaid vacation time. The entire country would grind to a halt and the 'whatever prices' would come back down. Maybe it worked because Argentines are overworked and needed a good vacation anyway, maybe they were lazy and would take any excuse to take a few days off. The bottom line is that it would work so who cares why!
Let's face it the Dems want high gas prices cause they're in bed with the tree huggers, the Reps are in the pockets of the oil companies, so who's looking out for us?
So I pose the question, If we tried a nationwide strike in the U.S. to get the oil companies attention would it work?
The answer is no and the reasons are few. They are #1 We are too greedy. #2 We are too busy. #3 We are too stupid to realize that it would probably work. #4 We would have to work together and someone would have to take the credit for organizing it and Heaven forbid we pull together in this country for a common goal! #5 We would probably need a permit to throw a strike, and where the crap do we get one?
The bad news for us, we will be paying $4.00 per gallon before Memorial Day. (Where I live we are already at 3.43) The worse news, we will bend over and take it. There is absolutely no justification for the gas prices being so high. I have positively had it with the "a mosquito bit a rig worker on the ear in Saudi Arabia and that caused a tidal wave on a small island in the Philippines and two barrels of crude oil were washed to sea, so that means an 11 cent per gallon increase at the pump crappolla story."
Seriously, am I the only one in the country that has caught on to the 8 up 2 down game we've been getting hit with for the last 10-15 years. In case you haven't noticed it goes like this: Every year before Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend it is announced that something has happened in the middle east and we will probably see an increase at the gas pump for the holiday weekend! We see an immediate 8-10 cent jump the thursday afternoon before the weekend. The next wednesday gas prices drop back down 2-4 cents a gallon and we all breath easier thinking we are going to be fine. Just exactly how stupid do they think we are? I can answer that as well, pretty darn stupid! We have taken this and will continue to take this without saying, Screw you!! We aren't doing it anymore!! Have some respect and just come out and say, "listen we want to make more money and quite frankly you guys don't seem to react when we raise prices, so bend over here comes another hike!"
Until we are willing to collectively go on strike and do it all together this will continue! Gasoline is a necessary evil and until we find something affordable that is better it is all we have. I just wish we could "temporarily import" a couple million Argentines cause they know how to get stuff done!