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Are we being suckers for the oil companies and the speculators who are continually pushing gas prices higher and higher until they reach the $4 per gallon mark by summer? I think so. It's sad because so much money is being squeezed from the driving public that the economy is in a real danger of backsliding.
A little food for thought. In the summer of 1968, my wife, Jessie, and I decided to take a trip out Texas way to see my brother and his wife. Verner was in the Army and stationed at Fort Hood near Killeen, Texas. We were then going to travel to Wagoner, Okla., to see Jessie's sister and her husband, and then to Carthage, Tenn., to see the rest of Jessie's family.
At the time, gas was about 30 cents per gallon in most places, cheaper at some, higher at others. When we got to Killeen, they were having a gas price war, as they called it, something we will never see again. We were able to buy gas for $0.169 a gallon. That's 10 gallons for $1.69.
I just filled our car today. It took 11.301 gallons of gas and cost me $41. For this same $41, I could have gotten 242.6 gallons of gas in Killeen in 1968.
I think we're letting the fox watch the henhouse for us and we don't have a soul in Washington or anywhere else in government that is the least bit concerned about all the extra money big oil is stripping from our economy by these outragous gas prices.
For the most part, except for going fishing occasionally and driving to Cornelia to babysit two of our great nieces, we don't have to burn much gas, but the folks who drive to work every day are caught in the price gouging.
And there is no law against price gouging unless there is a national emergency. The station owners can all gather around the table and set whatever price they want and nothing legally can be done to stop them.
Don Hill
Clarkesville