Boycotts Won't Do Much

I keep seeing posts for people wanting to boycott Exxon Mobil, but it seems nearly impossible for me -- not everyone would follow through, and some people would have to buy from Exxon Mobil because they don't live around any alternative fuel places. (I know I have a very small selection of gas stations to choose from here.) With that being said, I thought I would share a column that I wrote for my school newspaper's most recent issue on that topic no one can stop talking about: gas prices.

“I knew I should have filled up days ago,” I thought to myself when gas prices suddenly rose to more than $3.50 a gallon without warning. Then, I swore not to fill up my car until I had seen the prices go down… no such luck. They remained steadily around $3.50.

It wasn’t until my fuel gauge was close to “E” that I decided it was time to fill up – and, sadly, I was excited to find that gas was only $3.21 a gallon at the local Speedway.

I’m sure I feel the same things that many students feel when it comes to gas prices. We all have so much more to worry about but, yet, we’re forced to wonder if we have enough money to pay for just enough gas in our cars to get us home to school to work and back again.

As American consumers, we have been bombarded with news of rising crude oil prices, resulting in higher gas prices, thus leaving us with little money left for ourselves. The outlook looks bad, too.

Take May 2007, less than a year ago today. GasBuddy.com, a website whose goal is to provide information on the cheapest gas around the nation, says that since that year, the average gas price around the nation has climbed by about 50 cents, a ridiculous amount for a meager gallon, wouldn’t you think? Four years earlier, gas prices were about a dollar and 20 cents less than that.

Imagine the $3.21 I just paid and take away a few years; can you fathom paying $1.51 for a gallon of gas today?

Many of us can remember the good old days when gas was about $1.50 a gallon, and even when it was less. When I was little, I remember thinking to myself, when gas would go up from (for example) $1.15 a gallon to $1.25, “Oh my gosh, look at that price! I can’t imagine paying that much for gas!”

Unfortunately, I can. My wallet feels the heavy burden of shelling out the money every time I go to fill up – and I don’t even know what a full tank looks like anymore, but I would bet on a full tank that those guys at Exxon Mobil do.

Exxon Mobil is one of the biggest crude oil players in the game, having made their biggest profit ever in 2007: more than $40 billion. Meanwhile, consumers are paying more for their gas, and what can we do? Absolutely nothing. We need gas, we depend on it, and the gas companies depend on our consumption.

Now here’s what I don’t understand: the cost of gas is rising, but there’s currently a surplus of what’s out there. Once upon a time ago, I took an economics class with the talented Mr. Smith and I know that when demand is low and supply is high, prices should be down; it’s the opposite when demand is high and supply is low. Still, we’re paying more for gas now than ever in our history, despite having more gas in supply.

But perhaps I’m not putting this into perspective. Maybe I just need to take a second look at my economics class. Maybe this can be blamed on inflation or, maybe, the gas companies are just looking out to make as much money as they possibly can – and that means gouging us consumers.

I’m going to propose a solution: buy less gas. It seems obvious enough, right? We can walk, carpool, or ride a bike. We would be saving money and showing the gas companies that we don’t really need them as much as they think we do. Try it; chances are, your wallet won’t be screaming at you the next time you pull it out of your pocket.