Gas & Stupid People

So May 15th came and went. Thank fucking god. I'm referring to the National Do Not Buy Gas Day and more importantly to the annoying emails and text messages I got all weekend. You know the one I'm talking about.

“Do not buy gas on May 15, 2007. In April 1997, there was a ‘gas out’ conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight… There are 73,000,000-plus Americans currently on the internet network, and the average car takes about $30 to $50 to fill up. If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000 out of the rich oil company’s pockets for just one day. So please do not go to the gas station on May 15, and let’s try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day.”

First and foremost ... "Internet network?" Uh... that's like saying Yankees fans are a nuisance irritation. The Internet is the network fuck nuts.

Second... 73,000,000 American on this internet network? With a recent Pew research study stating that 77% of 18-29 year olds, 75% of 30-49 year olds, 58% of 50-64 year olds, and 22% of 65-death year olds are on the net. My guess is any kid old enough to play Nintendo is on the net, coupled with a population of over 300,000,000 people, the number should be around 150,000,000 or more for people on the "internet network."

Third, let's assume 73,000,000 Americans are on the net and we get all of them to not buy gas on May 15th, it's not going to cost them $2.292 billion. Why? Ok, so who reading this blog actually fills up their tank every day of the week? Um... not me. I have a normal commute, a midsize sedan, and I fill up about once a week. Let's put that me as the average. So, I drive about 15,000 miles a year and I average between the city and highway about 24 mpg (about 20 in the city, and 31 on the highway). Doing simple math, I use 625 gallons of gas a year. My tank holds 16.4 gallons but I typically fill up with about 1.5 gallons left so lets say I refill every 15 gallons. That means I refill 41.67 times year or every 8.75 days. For sake of an argument I'll round down to 8 days. So using this math, only one in eight people will fill up per day. So 73,000,000 people just became 9,125,000 and $2,292,000,000 just became $365,000,000 -- A big vast difference.

And now here's comes the biggest flaw of logic. The oil companies are not actually losing $365,000,000. Why? Because you'll end up just refilling the day before or day after this "boycott." The monthly average will still be the same and the oil companies are just laughing at you. And I say "boycott" in quotations on purpose. A real boycott requires actual sacrifice. Re-arranging the day you buy gas is not sacrifice. Sacrifice is moving closer to work, riding your bike more, buying a more fuel efficient vehicle. "Boycotting" for one day may make you feel better but it doesn't actually do a damn thing.

And to people who say "but lets just boycott Exxon-Mobil," you're foolish as well. You see gas prices are at $3 a gallon because of the laws of Supply & Demand. Gas prices increase because the cost of a barrel of oil increases. That is because the demand for the product has increased. Exxon-Mobil and other companies do not control the cost of oil. And to others who say they make too much. Yes they made about $36 billion last year on a total revenue of $328 billion. $36 billion sounds like a lot but that's simply only 11%. Most companies like to have a profit of 10-12%. That's normal for a good, stable company. 11% is not ridiculous. In contrast, Citigroup profits were 20.5% (24.64/120.24 billion), Altria posts profits of 15% (10.41/68.92 billion) and yet people don't complain about corporate profits when buying Kraft Mac & Cheese.

And more importantly adjusted for inflation, the increase in the cost of gas has risen steadily since before the time of Jesus. I believe adjusted gas was most expensive in 1981, not now. So stop complaining. Here's a chart of the last 35 years adjusted for inflation:



(Ignore the red circles. I made this chart for another article about GM's stock price in relation to gas prices. You can find that here)

Sure there's a steep climb since 2003 but hmm... haven't we been fighting a war in the area we get our oil from since 2003? Hmm... maybe that's it and not the oil companies fault. That's like blaming Hershey's when they raise prices because the price of Cacao from South America skyrockets. Or let's of course ignore the fact that this decade has seen an enormous middle class surge in India, China, and other third world countries. Take a look at the auto industry. Everyone is investing in China (where GM (mainly Buick) is #1 and VW is a close second) and India many times more than in any other part of the country. A growing middle class has meant another enormous surge in the demand for oil. Get a clue you idiots.

Furthermore, "boycotting" the figure head company in a market doesn't do shit. Let's say we all boycott Exxon-Mobil and nobody buys their gas. Sure the demand for their gas will drop, supply will go up and their prices will fall. But nobody is buying their gas so it won't matter. But here's the kicker, with Exxon-Mobil not selling any gas, every other company will be selling more. These companies will have the same supply but have an increased demand and thus they will raise prices. This problem will escalate until people realize the problem and start buying gas at Exxon Mobil again and the market will settle back down. Point of the story, you'll end up paying more during the boycott for no gain.

The root of the gas problem is demand. Demand is going up every year. The only way to decrease demand is to lower your usage but people don't want to do that. Therefore I suggest that we bomb China, India, Canada, Northeast Jersey (just because), Sicily (because I'm sick of people telling me how cool they are because they're Sicilian -- guess what... I don't care) and Ohio (who really lives there anyway?). Eliminating these areas and others will decrease demand, increase supply, and lower the price of a barrel of oil on the open market. Or we could reduce our consumption... but then again that's not exactly the American way.

Either way though, stop stuffing my inbox with stupid boycotts that have absolutely no chance of doing a goddamn thing.

Oh, and I bought gas on May 15th just in spite of all you dumb fucks.

Stupid people make me lose faith in humanity.