Trey Hughey
ENG 101-003
11 September 2008
Oil Prices at Peak
Have you ever cringed at the “total” on the gas pump while filling up? I think for many Americans this is a much too often occurrence. Oil prices are through the roof, it is not only affecting cars, trucks, boats and airplanes it goes much further than that. Oil prices are affecting so much beyond the fuel pump; they are affecting the pockets of every single American not due to the cost of fuel but the cost of the living. Today it just costs more to live.
Yea everybody hurts at the gas pump which is terrible today we need cars, we need trucks, and we need boats. The providers of our country’s oil are making it impossible for us to live without thinking about how much money we will have to drop on our next tank of fuel. In Dubai, United Arab Emirates they have huge lavish hotels and a manmade island all paid for with the high cost of oil in the United States today. None of these luxury cities were heard of before the outrageous cost of fuel went up. Just because the United States is the greatest country in the world we should not be punished for using the oil we need.
The cost of fuel is affecting the price of food as well as infringing on peoples driving habits. I do not live with my parents and having to buy groceries has been a real eye opener. It costs my roommate 50 dollars to live for one week. Eight years ago groceries did not cost that much. Why are they so expensive, because it costs so much more for the groceries to be delivered to the stores. It also cost the farmer more to run his tractor to plow his fields and drive his truck to the store to get the necessities he needs to be successful. This is a circle if it costs more for one person that person will charge more and it cost more for them so they charge more and it keeps going finally ending with us, the consumer who ultimately feels the hurt of the expense the most.
Every business that utilizes a vehicle on an everyday basis is now charging more for each time that vehicle leaves the lot. I used to work at a landscaping company and the prices for the mulch, dirt, and sand we used every day went up dramatically after the fuel prices went up. You can forget deliveries, they are now costing so much, and some of us can no longer afford them. Many truckers are feeling the pain as well, so many of their companies have shut down because of the rising fuel costs. It’s a lot to spend when most fleet vehicles are trucks or eighteen wheelers that only get ten miles to the gallon so the fuel charges constantly rise. The high fuel costs are even making some companies go to a four day work week to let their employees save some on the cost of fuel.
The high fuel prices effect people with recreation because if you have to spend one hundred dollars on fuel to get to where you’re going then that is one hundred dollars you can’t spend having fun. I was at the Carolina game this weekend and there were not as many people as there was this time last year because of the fuel prices. I remember when people would drive anywhere just to have fun and now they still drive but when they get there they can’t do what they want. It all comes down to the cost of fuel. My family always goes to Edisto Beach for a week and takes the boat and we go fishing. But this year we still went but we couldn’t take our boat and truck that gets fourteen miles to the gallon.
Over the weekend hurricane Ike hit Texas and just because of that everywhere raised their prices. If there is any reason what so ever for the prices to be raised they will be. Our country has enough fuel to last for two weeks until the refineries are opened if everyone just bought gas normally. People went crazy and stocked up on fuel and now there is a scarcity so the prices go up.
High fuel prices affect so much more than just the initial cost at the pump. They affect the way people live, they way people play, and the way people work. People don’t spend as much money on frivolous things; they can’t because the cost of fuel is taking up so much of everyone’s income. The high fuel costs have been responsible for way too many changes in the lives of Americans today.