Insidious... Simply Insiduous

A couple of well placed articles, and the panic starts.

Incredulous. Okay. Let's start at the beginning.

Hurricane hits. A number of refineries are devastated. Article comes out and says, gas prices TO spike due to hurricane. Note that it says "TO."

Please also note that Hawaii JUST passed a cap on gasoline, not at the retail level, but at the distribution level.

Note also that Bush is supposedly dipping into the reserves to ease the pain of losing those few refineries.

Result?

People, despite being told by the president that he's coming to the rescue, are panicking and buying up gas in anticipation of the spike, (to save some money) and are creating a shortage.

See what I mean by insiduous. All they did was tell the journalists, Oh gee, we're going to have to raise prices cause of the shortage y'know? So like lemmings, the journalists rush to their computers and write, "Warning! Shortage coming."

People, like lemmings, are running to the gas stations, and yelling "Shortage is coming" (Please feel free to insert "The sky" instead of "Shortage") Other people hear the screams, and think, "Oh no, shortage is coming" and run to join the lines.

And gee, what happens? A shortage happens. Oh yeah. It's cause of those devastated refineries y'know.

No wonder they run everything. All they have to do is suggest it. We do all their work for them, like gotta have that SUV or borrow so much against your property that most of your life is consumed with work because otherwise, there's no roof over your head.

Six fucking dollars a gallon?

I watched the comics business shoot ourselves in the foot, selling more and more of their souls to the powers that be. I watched California shoot itself in the generators with deregulation. I watched America sacrifice its young to have gas and oil. And all this while they're lining up their friggin pocketbook at OUR expense?

HOW MUCH MORE ARE WE GOING TO TAKE UP THE FUCKING ASS????

When are we going to realize these assholes care NOTHING about us, whether we're white, middle class, asian, mexican, gay, straight, bisexual, WHATEVER?

All they care is their fucking golf courses are green, their Cayman Islands accounts are getting bigger, that they run the fucking system and the name is the game is rub the loser's face in shit cause otherwise, how will other pricks respect you?

Yes I'm pissed. I am pissed that the oil and gas and electric companies earned record profits every fucking year. I am pissed that every fucking year, they earn more money and I see more and more of my friends agree to more hours at work, more jobs per person, while they owe more and more. That is what is called a diminished return.

Why is a CEO earning 450% more than the average non-manager. And that 450% is an average my friends. Think about what it takes to get a 450% average. Think about what the CEO of YOUR company makes. Is it 450% of what you make? Or even the person who earns minimum wage? Probably not, unless you work for one of the big ones.

Let me explain those numbers. CEO's are not like a bell curve. It is much more like a triangle. The base will be the largest. In order to get a 450% average, there must be a few at the very top who make over 10,000% over minimum wage. Maybe even more.

If memory serves me correctly, then oil companies like Chevron, Mobbil-Exxon made record profits last year. And the year before that. And fancy that, they made profits during the Clinton years when gas was $1.00 at the pump.

Something tells me, last year's records will only remain records for a year.

And, the gas companies will have taught the American public a lesson. Without the gas companies, you are nothing. Your military and police and hospitals, you need the gas companies. Your businesses, your airports, you need the gas companies. And all they had to do to ensure a panic, was to suggest a possible shortage coming up and then watch us panic with the full knowledge that once again, we will come begging.

What, you think the heads of oil companies right now are sobbing over the devastation of an entire city? I think they're rubbing their hands in glee, then calling up BushCo. and chortling.

P.S. Apparently 9 oil companies were unable to ship to markets. It'll be very interesting to see if any of them make record breaking profits.