Unrelated Photo Post

Okay, this post has little to do with photography, but I thought I would send it anyway. Okay, try to follow me. So, I see a movie trailer for the new documentary about Hunter S. Thompson, a great writer, and one of the most underrated authors of all time in my opinion. Looks to be a great movie.

It reminded me of something he wrote, "War is good business," which always struck me funny, not only due to the idea of this being a reality, but also because it was just HST's way of looking at things and envisioning war in this war was just different.

But, war IS good business. Not for everyone, in fact most people suffer more than prosper, but there is a select group that does profit from war. Equipment makers, arms makers, etc, the usual suspects.

As I drove home from the grocery store and noticed today's gas prices, and I say "today's" because as we all know, the prices are rocketing up EVERY SINGLE DAY, it made me think about the idea of war profiteering.

Look no further than the oil and gas companies. Again, the select few are making RECORD profits at the moment, while the rest of the population suffers.

Now, with having said that, we all need a collective wake up in terms of our energy uses. People, I'm pointing the finger at myself as much as anyone else. Let's just call me an "under construction" human with room for improvement in nearly every aspect of life. Don't think I'm leaving myself out of this discussion.

In my humble opinion, we have had low gas prices my entire life, compared to the rest of the world, and I can still remember, at one point during my high school years, paying $.65 per gallon for gas. Not to shabby. Venezuela prices you might say.

Okay, I'm no economist, or oil expert, but it appears to me we are "allowing" this craziness to happen.

First, we refuse to conserve. It is widely known that the world reached peak oil in roughly 1980, which means we are using more than we are finding, by some estimates at a 3 to 1 ratio.
What do we do? Buy GIANT vehicles that suck gas.

Again, I drove a truck, small one, 4x4 for YEARS, and I love trucks, but it doesn't make sense for me, living where I do now, to continue to drive a vehicle like this. We gotta get smaller, again, just like the rest of the world. We can do it, no big deal, and the small cars of today are super-cool, not like the old days when my mom drove this rear-engine, yellow VW wagon that buzzed like an angry bee. Although for me, I LOVED that car, and wish we still had it. Chrome roof rack by the way. Cool in any country.

Second, the gas companies KNOW we won't conserve, SO they just continue to "speculate" about global supply, which in turn drives the prices through the roof.

THEY WILL KEEP PUSHING UNTIL WE CONSERVE.

Actually, I don't really fault them. They are in business and want to maximize profits. It's simple. Keep raising the price until you hit the limit, and right now, $5 gallon is going to be what we see next.

Now the really sad part, even after this "crisis" passes, if it EVER does. Don't expect the prices to drop that much. It's over kids, the days of cheap esso are gone.

If you think about it, much of our society is based on cheap gas. Take the idea of suburbs. Commuting, etc. All based on cheap and easy gas. If we were paying euro prices for gas, and had been all along, would the SUV been pushed so heavily? Would people commute 30 miles to work? Would urban sprawl ravaged the wilds? Probably not.

Today I read about the death of the SUV and the Hummer being shut down. I choose not to look at this as a bad thing(not to minimize people losing their jobs.) I choose to say, "Okay great, a new direction we all need to collectively take."
Change is great in most cases, and it will only take a short while to get used to things the way they are going to be

Now, the REAL issue. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION. Can you imagine?