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We are all paying “way too much” for fuel these days. Anyone who’s paying attention knows the price of a barrel of oil is steadily going up.
Those who bought oil-company stock years ago are proud to see all this happen, of course. But it’s funny: I can’t say I’ve heard anyone bragging about their oil stock in several years. The day is soon coming where that kind of bragging will get a man hurt.
There are many excuses given for the price of oil.
A quick reading of history points to a particular type of man who makes lots of money on the rising costs of something his neighbors need.
All of us gamble from time to time. Some people gamble for a living. This respectable profession is quaintly called speculating.
Speculators are what make this country strong and great, in one sense. They are the guys who bring companies out of the dirt, and sometimes these are the guys who lose their shirt when a company falls.
But in between they take a wild ride where numbers ticking by mean money in the bank. And in the case of oil, they have the perfect cover, because everyone thinks the Government should do something about it. But nobody really wants the Government to regulate capitalism, unless the thing they want regulated costs too much. If oil was cheap, you’d never hear anyone saying “the President should do something about it.”
The greedy feeling driving this insanity train filters on down to everyone in the country. People are instinctively becoming afraid, and people who are afraid do strange things. “What will things be like next year?” A little math will provide some idea of what things will cost. The question, though, isn’t what things will cost, but rather how one will pay for these things.
And when the “things” one is considering the cost of turn out to be beans and rice and bread, and when one discovers one can no longer afford these luxuries, times will get interesting indeed.
What we’ve grown accustomed to hearing about as “offensive” will change. Self-esteem won’t be the main topic on everyone’s mind, because growling bellies don’t give a rip about self-esteem. The flimsy bubble of false-front prosperity will bust, and the bustin’ is gonna be messy.
A man I know is buying gold. Another I know is buying ammunition.
I say it’s a good thing to buy these things if one can afford them, but for myself, I’m buying dried beans and rice. I say to spend a little time each day learning about how things grow, and making a little spot to grow things in.
I might be wrong, and I hope to God I am. But I’ve got a bad, bad feeling that it won’t be too terribly long before folks start getting hungry.
If you think the price of oil is bad, just consider how you’ll feel when you and your kids haven’t eaten in three days.
(Editor’s Note: Write David Clark at P.O. Box 148, Cochran, GA 31014, or dclark@outofthesky.com.)
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