Blog 2: Pumping Pain

Posted on April 26, 2008 by Carl Hardin

It’s the thought that’s on everyone’s mind.  Well, almost everyone.  When the price of gas went past two bucks a gallon a year ago, it bothered us, but we didn’t sweat it.  Now that it’s past three bucks, and on it’s way to four, OUCH!  It’s really become a pain.  It’s a pain for us on the paying end, anyway.  Folks on the receiving end aren’t complaining.

 

Exxon recently announced it earned a record $40.6 billion in 2007.  I’m guessing the folks at Exxon aren’t complaining a bit about gas prices.  To put this in perspective, the single year profit record for General Motors was $5.7 billion in 1999.  A lot of money, right?  Exxon’s earnings were more than 8 times better than GM’s best year.   

 

 

So how painful is this to most of us?  Well, I put about 15 gallons of gas a week in my cruiser.  When gas was around $1.80 a gallon, about a year or two ago, my fill up was costing me about $27.  Now that gas is twice as high, I’m paying about $54 a week on gas. 

 

That hurts.  That hurts my family life.  That hurts my social life.  That’s hurts my love life.  That’s $27 a week I don’t have to spend.  That’s five happy meals I can’t buy for the kids, or 4 drinks with the fellas that I have to pass up, or 2 fewer trips to the movies with my wife, unless I take her to the dollar show, then it’s 10 fewer trips to the movies every week.  Ouch!

 

The head of Exxon earned more than $16 million this past year.  I bet he isn’t passing up any drinks.