Re: MI [Fwd: Gas Out - April 7,8,9] = more B.S.

[Stephen Baig]

At 11:35 PM 02-03-00 -0400, you wrote:
>This isn't exactly related to the list but I figure that if we all band
>together maybe we can afford that new MapInfo version coming around the
>bend this year instead of spending the money on gas.
>
>Stan Johnston


...or enuf for a simple course in economics at a GOOD Canadian university. Or, perhaps, enuf to pay for the generation of the electricity it's taking to promulgate this piece of garbage around the world---again.



Here's the response from Urban Legends:


Pain in the Gas



   Claim:   Your participating in a 'gas out' will help bring the retail price of gasoline down.

   Status:   False.

   Example:   [Collected on the Internet, 2000]

       Last year on April 30,1999, a gas out was staged across Canada and the U.S. to bring the
       price of gas down, and it worked. It's time to do something about it again.

       Only this time lets make it for three days instead of just one. The so-called oil cartel decided
       to slow production to drive up gasoline prices. Lets see how many Canadian\American people
       we can get to ban together for a three day period in April, NOT TO BUY ANY GASOLINE,during
       those three days.

       LET'S HAVE A GAS OUT. Do not buy any gasoline from APRIL 7, 2000, THROUGH APRIL 9,
       2000. Buy what you need before the dates listed above, or after, but try not to buy any
       during the GAS OUT.

       If you want to help, just send this to everyone you know and ask them to do the same. We
       brought the prices down once before, and we can do it again.

       Come on North America lets stand together. WE CAN MAKE A
       DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

       Even if you receive this 100 times keep passing it around, this way you know everyone is
       being informed and no one will forget!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   Origins:   Just when we thought we had safely consigned this one to the dustbin of ephemera, it rears its ugly head
   again. It was a silly idea last year, and it's just as silly this year -- even more so, in fact, since the failure of last year's
   "gas out" effort should have been sufficient to convince any remaining doubters of its futility.

   Never mind that gasoline -- whatever its price today -- is still cheaper in adjusted dollars than it has been at any time
   in the last century or so. Never mind that gasoline is still far less expensive in the USA than in almost any other
   country not awash in oil. Never mind that gasoline prices are subject to the same effects of supply and demand as
   any other product. Nah, if gasoline prices go up ten cents a gallon for reasons that aren't readily apparent to the
   average driver (who probably knows little about the workings of his automobile, much less the oil industry), it's purely
   the result of unscrupulous price fixing by that greedy "oil cartel" (whoever that may be), and it's time for us to get
   hopping mad and do something about it. The "something" in this case is, once again, an ineffectual "protest" that
   involves no sacrifice whatsoever on the part of the consumer.

   Last year's "gas out" didn't make gasoline prices go down, either in the the short term or the long term -- gasoline
   prices went up immediately after last year's "gas out," and gasoline is more expensive now than it was this time last
   year. Exactly how last year's "gas out" can be said to have "worked" therefore remains a mystery. Perhaps the
   answer lies in a popular definition of "insanity": repeating the same actions but expecting different results.

   As we said last year, simply shifting the day on which people buy gasoline one week of the year has absolutely zero
   economic effect on oil companies because they're still selling the same amount of product at the same prices, so a
   "gas out" isn't going to bring a corporate giant like Exxon to its knees (or even make them pay attention). An event
   like this can sometimes do some good by calling attention to a cause and sending a message, but not in this case --
   the only message being sent to oil companies is: "We consumers are so desperate for gasoline that we can't even do
   without it one week out of the year in order to protest its price." What oil company is going to respond to a message
   like that by lowering its prices?

   The whole "gas out" scheme is so absurd that we can't help but wonder if it isn't promulgated by the oil companies themselves in order to distract consumers from really doing something about the price of gasoline, like buying smaller cars, using alternative sources of energy, or even . . . driving less.

   Last updated:   29 February 2000




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