The tyranny of high fuel prices

You know it's bad when oil company executives say that with current supply and demand, oil prices ought not to be more than between $50 and $60 a barrel and that at least, if not more, than 50% of current oil prices are being driven by wild speculation. This is what happens when oil companies are put in charge of energy policy making decisions by our current administration, made up largely of oil men. And since nearly everything we consume is made with petrochemicals, in addition to what we put down our gas tanks, the prices of everything have skyrocketed in addition to fueling our cars. It's getting to where I just can't figure out anymore how to make ends meet without taking a second job, which I really can't right now, not with the injuries that I am currently working on healing. So I am left wondering just how on earth I can survive without resorting to living on Ramen noodles and peanut butter. I'm not spending any extra money besides just bills, food, gas and health care. I'm trying to figure out where I can cut further to save more money without depriving myself of those things that give me a quality of life that I want. Sure, I could quit working out with Jason and go someplace else, but it means the world to me to work with someone with whom I have had a long working relationship who knows what physical limitations I have and who can design a workout to get around what I am dealing with at the moment. I've cut back on the number of times per week that I go, which makes me sad, but that's one way that I have made cutbacks in my life. I've also cut back on using my rosacea meds on my face in order to stretch out how long a tube of MetroGel lasts, since it costs $50 a tube. The prescription calls for me to use it twice a day, but I've cut back to once a day to save money on both the MetroGel and face cleanser. I suppose I could cut back on how often I wash my hair as well, but I feel grungy unless I shower frequently. As it is, I'm doing a lot of kitchen sink laundry to save on going to the laundromat. I've cut out all of my periodical subscriptions, memberships to various things and other stuff, but I'm still coming up short each month. I try my best to drive less and walk more in order to save gas, so I am doing what I can do get by, but it's not enough.

My cost of living has skyrocketed and my pay hasn't kept pace. And from all I can tell, there is no relief in sight from all of this. No amount of wailing at pols in Washington can change the current economic climate. This recession is forecasted to be long and deep and even the next President will not be able to change it, from what I am reading. And even though there are calls for additional oil drilling, even if we started tomorrow doing offshore drilling and if the ANWR were opened up for oil exploration and drilling, even if we started tomorrow drilling for more oil, we wouldn't see a drop of it for at least a decade, and in that time, we can pour our resources into alternative and renewable energy sources and get ourselves freed from the tyranny of oil addiction. If we can muster our best and brightest minds to, in less than a decade, get a man to the moon safely and back again, we can certainly figure out a way to create safe, renewable energy sources that would replace oil and would, in the process, create new high paying jobs for the future, but it takes the desire and willpower to do so. I think if enough people call on legislators to do this, to put their minds to strengthening our country by creating a whole new "green collar" economy, it can be done. For now, the only real strategy is to strengthen our mass transit infrastructure by encouraging people to drive less and take mass transit more. We need to dump our oversized SUV's and pick-ups in favor of smaller and more fuel efficient cars. We need to lean on Detroit to wean itself off of its "bigger is better" mentality and to demand higher fuel standards for all of our domestically produced vehicles. Sure, there isn't going to come any immediate relief from the tyranny at the pump, but if we start now with measures to wean ourselves off of oil from countries who don't necessarily have our best interests in mind, then maybe in a few years time, maybe by the time I retire in 2013, things will begin to turn around just a bit.

For now, though, we need to encourage our legislators to crack down on speculators who are driving up energy prices as well as find ways to conserve what we have for the future and campaign for any candidate who stands for a sustainable and renewable future. If we don't demand these things and demand them now, then all we're going to see is the end of the middle class as we once knew it and a two class society, the super rich and the poor and no in between. We're not so far from that now as it stands. And it's only going to get worse before it gets better - if it ever gets better. If not.....well......who knows? All I know is that the pay that once sustained me and kept me solvent isn't doing so anymore. And I don't know where to turn for help. I feel caught between a rock and a hard place with nowhere to turn, and it may just come to having to go to food banks just to get some help being able to get enough food to feed myself without breaking the bank doing so. I never thought it'd come to this in my lifetime, where my pay didn't provide enough to get me through a month. Any hopes of a vacation this summer are pretty well dashed by my struggle just to get through each month and pay bills, eat, and fuel my car. It's terribly disappointing to have to give up something that for years has meant so much to me, but I don't see any way around this. I've tried and tried to figure out ways to afford summer travel, but I just can't seem to make it happen mentally. Nearly every penny I make each month is being consumed by food, gas, health care and bills and there just isn't any more slack in the budget like there used to be in years past. No matter what I do and what I cut from my budget, it's just not enough. My cost of living has doubled in one short year and my pay hasn't, and that's the simple economic reality right now. And for the foreseeable future, nothing is going to change. I'm going to have to make further and deeper cuts to my budget that may just mean needing help from local social service agencies just to survive hard times. Well, if I qualify for help, I'm not too proud to accept it. After all, that's what it's there for.