Job Hunts, Economy and Gas! Oh My!
June 8, 2009
I graduated a month ago from college, and started my job hunt soon after. I have not had bad luck, but it has not been good either. With my newfound adulthood, I have gained a fledgling insight. I know I’ve spent nearly two hundred dollars in gas and other expenses driving two hours to this town or thirty minutes to that interview. On these little forays into Mississippi, I have asked questions to myself, how will I afford rent if I have to move to this place? How will I be able to pay for gas? I know that I would be paid by my job, but would that, once the economy settles, get better so that I can afford to pay my meager bills.
Now on a different note, as the economy falters and gas crawls steadily up, I kind of wonder, why?
As a general consensus, the American people blamed George W. Bush for the gas crisis last summer when it went up to nearly $4 a gallon here in Mississippi. Now gas is at a steady crawl up again, and who do we have to blame? It’s not just our governments or blaming ourselves. Starting at a local level, it is illegal to price gouge, but gas station owners do it anyways until they get caught. For example, in Batesville, now I do not know if this is price gouge or not, but two gas stations off of the North Batesville exit charge $2.59 respectively. Now in town, the price ranges anywhere, the last time I got gas, from $2.28 to $2.49. Why would two gas stations charge ten cents more then their competition in town?
To a more national level, according to the Bloomberg Report published today, the price on crude oil per barrel was $68. Now using some simple math, $68 divided by 50 gallons per barrel equals out to $1.36. According to AAA, the national gas price is $2.61. Why would gas prices be hiked up $1.25 more than the proposed price per gallon from the barrel?
