Just saw $4 at a Shell station tonight, and just across the street at Arco it was $3.80. No idea why anyone buys fuel at Shell.
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Originally Posted by jamesqf
So why are so many Americans still paying such a large fraction of their incomes for gas? Surely anyone but the terminally ignorant has seen this coming for years - decades if you go back to the Arab oil embargo of the '70s. Is it just that they refuse to deal with reality? And if so, why should I sympathize?
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People are not entirely rational beings, and Americans in particular have certain weaknesses, chief among them being vanity. We are all about image. A Hummer thundering down the road projects a certain image of wealth and power (it projects a different image to those of us in the know).
When have people ever been forward thinking? We tend to live for the moment- tomorrow be damned. We have children before establishing a solid relationship, we buy on credit and fail to understand how wicked compounding interest is, we see home values rising at 8% per year and expect that to continue forever... the list of absurdities goes on. Heck, I just stayed out until 2am last Thursday knowing Friday would be hell, but I did it anyhow.
It's a miracle people as foolish as ourselves can live such extravagant lives. As for why you should sympathize- I would simply because I too have failed to live an entirely rational life and would hope people are mature enough to pity the foolish decisions I have made.