Learn About Yourself From Rising Gas Prices
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Gas prices are going up. Again. So what?
Here’s the thing about rising gas prices - we still pay them. I still pay them, in some form. And truthfully, I’m done talking about rising gas prices, because I’m comfortable with my gas consumption and the costs associated with it. But I also don’t drive a car much these days, and people who drive a lot seem to be more upset about rising gas prices than anyone else.
What do rising gas prices have to do with personal development? Plenty. Because if you react negatively to rising gas prices that might give you insight to how you react in other situations too.
Do You Complain?
We don’t need as much gas as we consume to survive. Water definitely, food comes second, shelter is pretty nice too. But gas? Not so much.
We already know this, right? So what gets to me is people who complain about the prices of gas and then line up at the pump to pay them. Doesn’t make sense, when there are alternatives to driving your car everywhere, the least utilized of which are attached to the lower half of your body. For other cheap alternatives, try biking, skateboarding, roller blading, carpools, scooters, buses, trains, and planes. Some may still use gas, but the cost is lower or split.
And really, we complain because we think it’s justified. In all aspects of life, not just rising gas prices. But if we were justified in our complaints then we would have good reason to stop buying gas. Since we keep buying it, rising gas prices isn’t a good enough reason yet. Maybe when it hits $10 a gallon?
Do You Blame?
Who is responsible for rising gas prices? The government? Bush? The war on Iraq? SUV owners? Greedy gas companies?
I’m no economist, but I don’t think any of them are truly to blame for gas prices. We love to point fingers at others when things go wrong, but sometimes the problem is ourselves. So maybe the person to blame for rising gas prices is you. And him, and her, and me. Because each of us has the power to lower gas prices; we just lower our demand for it. For anyone who has studied even basic microeconomics, lower demand = higher supply = lower prices.
So shift the curves, not the blame. The beauty of free markets is the power lies with the people.
Do You Make Excuses?
Every time I talk about commuting or public transportation, I get people telling me reasons about why they can’t make the switch. Like their town doesn’t have public transportation, or their job/home is not on a public transportation route.
Here’s my response to those excuses: Move. Or change jobs. Because frankly, we each have our priorities, and excuses are for people who want to pretend something is a priority for them when it really isn’t. And if commuting costs are truly a priority, people have factored that into their work/life choices already, right?
So if using less gas is not a priority for you, that’s okay. Just admit it yourself. And stop worrying so much about what other people think. Be honest with yourself and others about why you chose whatever else you did over using less gas, because that something is probably important to you, and part of growing is knowing where your priorities lie.
Want lower gas prices? Do something about it. It may just help you succeed in other areas of your life too, like if you get stuck on an escalator.
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Monica O'Brien is the founder of Twenty Set, a website about personal and professional growth and development for the Millennial generation. She has been a blogger since 1998 when blogging was still in its “Dear Diary” form and in May 2007 began blogging for personal branding and profit.
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It’s not so much that the gas prices are affecting the way that I am driving, its more about the effects it has on the entire consumer world. When you go to Hollister to get that new Hoodie, a plane and truck were involved in shipping. If the gas to fuel the delivery goes up, so does that shirt. Same for food at restaurants. What about stamps? FedEx? Airplanes.
If you think that you are the only one being affected by rising gas prices, you are crazy! (not directed at you Monica, just in general)
Yea $4 for gas sucks, but the dollar menu at McDonald’s jumping to $3-4 dollars will suck worse. As will a $50 t-shirt.
We rely on gas for more than just the commute to work.
Great post. I find that I don’t complain about gas prices themselves very much anymore. I now complain about the price of oil continuously going up. I’m baffled how the price keeps going up and up without any strong push on the price. Yes there are wars and reasons why the price might move higher but it’s climbed a couple hundred % in the past few years and global consumption cannot be matching it. There is an imbalance somewhere.
That aside the price of gas is merely something that we all need to deal with. If you drive a gas guzzling SUV be ready to shell out at the pump and don’t be shocked by it.
My pet peeve: people who say “it’s all Bush’s fault”. Come on, he’s a man not some supernatural troublemaker.
Yeah, I’m one to avoid complaining as much as possible and just adapt.
Monica, I liked your post so much, I wrote one in response.
Greg and Matt, I understand your points. Gas and oil are commodities, which is why we will continue paying until we literally can’t afford to anymore. In other words, demand is inelastic.
But I still feel we can each do a lot to make gas less of a commodity, and I hope to raise some awareness with the post. It would be very idealistic to think we can change what’s happening with gas on a macroeconomic level, but making people think harder is a good first step.
And Matt, I think the reason oil prices can skyrocket is exactly because its a commodity, which means competition is essential to keep prices down. And it’s hard to find competitors.
Michael, I agree, that’s a pet peeve of mine too. I am not perfect, but whenever I find myself complaining a lot I try to step back. Once I do that, I almost always realize that I share a lot of the blame for the situation I’m complaining about. It’s really a much more productive way to think about things, because in most cases what you can change fastest is you.
Milena, I really enjoyed your article. Thanks for liking mine and adding your own smarts and wit. I’ve enjoyed watching your blog flourish over the last couple months to a “must-read.”
Demand is inelastic but not perfectly inelastic. At some price (we don’t know where), the world will just shut down. In the short run, high gas prices will just make us poorer. In the long run, people tend to change habits: change jobs, telecommute, move, switch public transportation. In the long long run, you’ll actually see the basic design and formation of communities change. Cities will be more dense and sprawl will decrease.
I think your post is going in the right direction. I think we have to embrace high gas prices as a catalyst for investments in alternative energy, public transportation, and the design of our cities.
In my site, I did a back of the envelop analysis of the Toyota Prius. Until gas prices reach $7.50, it still doesn’t make economical sense to switch from gas to hybrid technology. That’s $3.50 more to go before we start seeing a mass exodus to hybrids and other modes of transportation.
Yes, nothing is perfectly inelastic in the real world. I think your envelope analysis is interesting because it maybe shows that gas prices are not actually set at the right price. In fact, they can go as high as $7.50 per gallon and people will still pay them rather than switch.
Also, I don’t think we are that far off from reaching $7.50 gas prices. Other countries are paying more for gas than us, and gas prices are increasing at an astronomical rate in the US. I remember just yesterday when gas was $3 a gallon. And literally, it was maybe 3 or 4 months ago! Those were the good ‘ol days compared to the $4.25 a gallon it is in Chicago now.
Thank goodness for telecommuting!
Monica,
Love the post. My husband and I can afford to fill up our SUV and car with no problem but we are doing our best to use the SUV less because we would like money for other fun things, like something fun for our new house, ect… Carpooling is working for us because our public transportation is horrible in our city.
I think it’s time for America to get out of this materialistic society and learn from our mistakes…
Erin, that’s a good attitude to have I think. My husband and I definitely still need our car, even though we have a ton of public transportation near us. But we try to use our car only for things like groceries, and we’ve so far avoided purchasing another car so we could each have one. It’s a little less convenient to share a car, but that’s part of the reason we wanted to live in Chicago, so the one-car situation was at least possible.
Right now we fill up about once a month. It’s not fun to pay higher prices, but we feel a lot more comfortable with rising gas prices knowing that we aren’t completely dependent on our car.
I loved the subject here and the perspective. My own perspective waivers on a fence. On one hand I live in a town where public transportation is nonexistent. Therefore I have a necessary, albeit short, commute to work and to see friends and family. The added cents on each gallon of gas puts a bit of strain on my small households’ limited income. The other point I try to keep in front of my own face, however, is that our environment so desperately needs an in-your-face eye-opener to the public that I’m willing to put out my extra few bucks to give it that fighting chance. By making gas so ridiculously expensive, maybe the thought will turn from “oy, $60 to fill my Honda,” to “I’m taking the bike to work today.” Instead of bemoaning the lightness of my pocket book, I think of how much gas I’m really using and how I can avoid this. If we are to be a sustainable people we need sustainable energy.