Living a Super Sized Life

No one can avoid hearing about or reading about the current high cost of oil in the US. It is difficult to believe that the US economy can be so strong that Americans can absorb paying $3.05 for one gallon of gas. I doubt many Americans have down-sized their super-sized vehicles for more energy efficient models, so I presume that gas can cost anywhere from approximately $46.00 on up for one tank full of gas (based on a 15 gallon tank).

Since living here, I have downsized my house, my car, and even myself. It is not out of choice, except for the weight loss, of course, but conforming to the society in which we live. Our home is much smaller than our last home in the US. Our two cars are much smaller than the three cars we owned in the US - and looking back, why, we ask ourselves, did we need three cars? We were just part of the American society that more is better and bigger is definitely better.

Yes, the US is more spacious, the ratio of human population to land mass is quite different than that in Egypt.

There are many things Americans can do right now to stop the price of oil from rising even higher.

First of all, the American media ought not blame OPEC and "the Middle East" for the cost of oil. I read today that ExxonMobil reported a record profit of $8.4 billion in the first quarter of this year alone. There are Republican Congressmen/women who want to let each State determine how to cut the cost of gasoline, and the Democrats want the Federal government to stop charging gasoline taxes for a 60 or 90 day period. These ideas are just band-aids for the larger problem of having oil corporations rake in record profits.

Weren't Americans told that when the US went into Iraq and Saddam was ousted from power that oil prices would fall dramatically because the US would have control of the oil fields? I don't recall anyone talking recently about the oil fields in Iraq. All I can recall is that the oil pipelines were sabotaged by "insurgents" in Iraq and the story ended.

Being a child of the 1970's, remembering the gas lines and only being able to get gas on odd or even days, I fear that those days could be repeated. Yes, there is a strategic reserve, but with one more Act of God such as Hurricane Katrina, there is no avoiding the inevitable.

Ma'salaam,

~Marian