Gasoline is cause for a trip!
May 13th, 2008We are all feeling the pressure, whether you drive or not the rising cost of gasoline and crude oil is effecting us all. It is causing more and more people to drive less, use alternate transportation, spend less of what use to be disposable income for entertainment, and have to think twice about driving to Mom’s house for weekly family gatherings.
All this, when the oil companies are reporting profits in the billions and companies are having to charge more for services that require the movement of product or people. Unfortunately Aelatis Technology is experiencing a squeeze here too.
But I tell you what we are doing to help with the sticker shock on gasoline. We are trying to drive less and find ways to better manage our customers. If your computer is able to get on the Internet, we can even assist you remotely. This is not only more green for the environment but it also can help your bottom line too. This service is not as expensive for us to offer, so it will become the primary tool that we use to fix an ailing computer or to answer your computer questions.
We are also sharing in the burden of the cost of the gasoline for our service calls. If there is no way around sending an engineer onsite, then we are covering some of the cost, but unfortunately we have had to pass on some of the costs to the customer. Being an international provider of computer, telecom and engineering services this means that our costs are dynamic from coast to coast.
So what kind of action can we do as a country with representation in Washington D.C.? I normally don’t try to start a grassroots movement but we need to do something. We have jobs being outsourced to other countries (and if you call our competitors for computer support you know what I mean) and gas prices are going up. People simply cannot afford to live the American dream. We are stuck at home not because we choose to, but because we cannot afford to enjoy what this country has to offer. So we need to start contacting our congress men and women and put our foot down that we will not tolerate the oil companies abusing the world this way. They understand that they have the biggest impact on the local and global economies, yet, typical American greed sets in with these companies. Even while oil is the hottest investment these days no one can afford to invest because their 401k plan and stock market money is sitting in liquid form in their driveway. What are the oil companies doing to help the economy? They do not contribute to the needy, they do not contribute to the schools or education (which by the way is also on the rise across the country), and I am willing to also bet that the employee’s of these oil companies are still getting the same Just-Over-Broke salary. We need to put our foot down. I laugh when politicians think they can solve the problem by reducing taxes at the pump. We need to put the pressure on the oil companies now, tomorrow and till the end of time until they scream that they can no longer survive in their business. When their profits go from billions to low millions then I can see the grip loosening.
Perhaps we need to examine government involvement. At one time, the government regulated the phone companies, they regulated the air transportation industry - what happened when they did this? The cost for the service became affordable. The government went after Microsoft for unfair business tactics - and it was debated about Microsoft getting split up into different companies. Let’s apply this concept to the oil companies. It is monkey see, monkey do! What one oil company does the others are going to do. Driving down the street when one gas station raises their price per gallon so does the one next door. When one drops the price (a rare event these days) the other does. When gasoline does go down it only goes down 2-5 cents per gallon but it rises exponentially of what it drops. To me, that is price gouging and the industry as a whole should go before congress and the supreme court judges and lets cut down the noose that is going to hang everyone.
I encourage everyone to contact your elected represented official: locally, at the state level, and at the federal level — especially if they are due for election — force them to discuss the issue. Force those discussions to action and let’s get gasoline and everything that depends on oil and gas back under control so that we can all get back to a civilized life versus having to make the choice of the sustenance of life or gasoline in the gas tank.
And please, Exxon, BP, Shell and every other Oil Pirate - Give us a break!
– A Concerned, Frustrated American
