The Midnight Angries
I've got the midnight angries tonight. It's this morning actually. As I write these words it is 1:49 am. I don't know what time it'll be when it's posted, because I don't know when I'll finish writing it. Even then, I'm not sure when, or if, I'm going back to bed.
So, what's got me so jacked up? It started when a man sent me an email decrying the high cost of gasoline and suggesting that if we Americans boycott Exxon-Mobil, we can bring oil prices down by 50% within a week or two.
Why would that make me angry? Good question. For one thing, I consider the price of gasoline in America a trivial concern. Compared to most of the world, we're not just rich, we're filthy rich. No other nation on the face of the earth is richer than we are. I'm a middle-class white guy in America. Almost everyone I know is middle class and white in America. We've got it made in the shade, and we're complaining about gasoline going up to $3.00 a gallon. What's $3 a gallon gasoline to a middle class white American? It's nothing.
I remember when I was in Vietnam, there was a program for sending Vietnamese officers to the States for training, and the Vietnamese were clamoring to get into that program because they got paid $400 a month while they were in the States. They saw that as the height of riches; that's how poor they were. I know because that's roughly what Uncle Sam was paying me to be in Vietnam at that time, and I was having trouble making ends meet back in the States.
But I wasn't poor like the Vietnamese were poor. I took running water and indoor plumbing as a matter of course. Believe it or not, in most of the world, it is not. Nor is electricity. We get all bent out of shape if the power goes off in a storm. Well in a lot of the world, there is no power to go off. Take a look at that pretty picture NASA did of the Earth at night, and you can see where the developed world is and where the "third world" is by the lights. Most of those dark areas are inhabited, but they're too poor to have electricity, except for the very rich who make their own.
And we blame the poor for being poor. And we complain about how hard our lives are, we white middle class Americans. Fetched any water lately? Fetched any water and been in mortal fear for your life? Have you done anything in your life lately that put you in mortal danger? Probably not. For all the bitchin' and moanin' we do about crime in America, we're a very safe country to live in. I can get in one of my cars right now (right away you know I ain't poor; I've got more than one working, road worthy vehicle) and head out in any direction from where I live here in the heartland of America and not have to fear robbers or bandits or highwaymen. Oh, I could be robbed or beaten or killed, but the odds, frankly, are against it.
Want to try that in Central or South America? How about Africa? Asia? Frankly, I wouldn't want to try it in any of those places. And most of the world's population lives there, not here.
People here are complaining about the price of gas, while forgetting (because it really doesn't touch them directly) that we're in a war. We're in two wars, actually: one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. For convenience sake we call it a war on terror. Now war calls for sacrifice, doesn't it? That's why war should not be entered into lightly. So, what's the sacrifice, my fellow citizens? Gasoline is three dollars a gallon. That's such a small sacrifice when you think about what our parents (or grandparents) had to put up with in World War II. They had gasoline rationing, and price controls, and rationing on a whole host of items, including food.
Now let's take another look at that price of gasoline. What was the price of gas in 1970? That was before the oil crisis of the mid-seventies. I don't think we were paying fifty cents a gallon; it was probably more like 35 cents. To be on the safe side, let's use 40 cents a gallon as the price at the pump in 1970. And let's imagine that in the past 36 years (1970 to 2006) prices and wages have gone up, on average, 6% a year. Again, I don't have precise numbers in front of me, but I remember the double digit inflation of the 1970s and 80s, and I know inflation has been a lot lower in the last 15 or so years. So let's assume a six percent inflation for the past 36 years. Watch what happens to that 40 cent a gallon gas at 6% compounded over 36 years. (That means, by the way, that the price doubles every 12 years).
1970 $0.40
1982 $0.80
1994 $1.60
2006 $3.20
Guess what? That 40 cent a gallon gasoline that I was buying in 1970 should cost over $3 a gallon today!
Look, folks, the real deal is that we don't have any reason to be complaining. Especially if you're a middle class white guy like me. We've got it made compared to the rest of the world. Speaking for myself, I've got a nice house, two nice, running automobiles, two color televisions with cable, one digital video recorder, three Internet ready computers, hot and cold running water, 24/7 electricity (and water). I have heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer, and I've got plenty of cheap food that I can get in safety 24 hours a day. What, pray tell, do I or any other white middle class American really have to complain about?
Frankly, it just seems selfish of me to complain about a little budgetary inconvenience when people are dying to get into this country to work at terrible jobs for terribly low pay and awful working and living conditions BECAUSE IT'S BETTER THAN ANYTHING THEY HAVE IN THEIR NATIVE COUNTRY. Am I so mean and selfish and greedy that all I care about is my own inconvenience?
And you know what? I could lose my job tomorrow, and I could lose my house and my cars and all the other stuff, and I would STILL be better off than most of the rest of the world. I'd rather be poor in America than anywhere else in the world.
You know, I love my country, and I love my fellow citizens. Americans are invariably first on the scene when there's a natural disaster in the world. We sent our Navy to the tsunami stricken areas of the world when no one else could get there, and we send people all over the world to help others in need. It is a source of justifiable pride in this country that we do so much for others when they're in need.
The shame is that we could do so much more if we weren't so selfish and self-centered. And I do not exclude myself from that. Readers of this blog can't help but notice how self-centered I am. I'm constantly focusing on my health and complaining about anyone and anything that interferes with my personal pursuit of happiness.
Yes, I live in a glass house, and I throw stones from time to time. But I don't hear anyone else telling people like me to count my blessings and do more for the less fortunate. I got no room to complain, and I don't think most middle class white Americans do either.
So, what's got me so jacked up? It started when a man sent me an email decrying the high cost of gasoline and suggesting that if we Americans boycott Exxon-Mobil, we can bring oil prices down by 50% within a week or two.
Why would that make me angry? Good question. For one thing, I consider the price of gasoline in America a trivial concern. Compared to most of the world, we're not just rich, we're filthy rich. No other nation on the face of the earth is richer than we are. I'm a middle-class white guy in America. Almost everyone I know is middle class and white in America. We've got it made in the shade, and we're complaining about gasoline going up to $3.00 a gallon. What's $3 a gallon gasoline to a middle class white American? It's nothing.
I remember when I was in Vietnam, there was a program for sending Vietnamese officers to the States for training, and the Vietnamese were clamoring to get into that program because they got paid $400 a month while they were in the States. They saw that as the height of riches; that's how poor they were. I know because that's roughly what Uncle Sam was paying me to be in Vietnam at that time, and I was having trouble making ends meet back in the States.
But I wasn't poor like the Vietnamese were poor. I took running water and indoor plumbing as a matter of course. Believe it or not, in most of the world, it is not. Nor is electricity. We get all bent out of shape if the power goes off in a storm. Well in a lot of the world, there is no power to go off. Take a look at that pretty picture NASA did of the Earth at night, and you can see where the developed world is and where the "third world" is by the lights. Most of those dark areas are inhabited, but they're too poor to have electricity, except for the very rich who make their own.
And we blame the poor for being poor. And we complain about how hard our lives are, we white middle class Americans. Fetched any water lately? Fetched any water and been in mortal fear for your life? Have you done anything in your life lately that put you in mortal danger? Probably not. For all the bitchin' and moanin' we do about crime in America, we're a very safe country to live in. I can get in one of my cars right now (right away you know I ain't poor; I've got more than one working, road worthy vehicle) and head out in any direction from where I live here in the heartland of America and not have to fear robbers or bandits or highwaymen. Oh, I could be robbed or beaten or killed, but the odds, frankly, are against it.
Want to try that in Central or South America? How about Africa? Asia? Frankly, I wouldn't want to try it in any of those places. And most of the world's population lives there, not here.
People here are complaining about the price of gas, while forgetting (because it really doesn't touch them directly) that we're in a war. We're in two wars, actually: one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. For convenience sake we call it a war on terror. Now war calls for sacrifice, doesn't it? That's why war should not be entered into lightly. So, what's the sacrifice, my fellow citizens? Gasoline is three dollars a gallon. That's such a small sacrifice when you think about what our parents (or grandparents) had to put up with in World War II. They had gasoline rationing, and price controls, and rationing on a whole host of items, including food.
Now let's take another look at that price of gasoline. What was the price of gas in 1970? That was before the oil crisis of the mid-seventies. I don't think we were paying fifty cents a gallon; it was probably more like 35 cents. To be on the safe side, let's use 40 cents a gallon as the price at the pump in 1970. And let's imagine that in the past 36 years (1970 to 2006) prices and wages have gone up, on average, 6% a year. Again, I don't have precise numbers in front of me, but I remember the double digit inflation of the 1970s and 80s, and I know inflation has been a lot lower in the last 15 or so years. So let's assume a six percent inflation for the past 36 years. Watch what happens to that 40 cent a gallon gas at 6% compounded over 36 years. (That means, by the way, that the price doubles every 12 years).
1970 $0.40
1982 $0.80
1994 $1.60
2006 $3.20
Guess what? That 40 cent a gallon gasoline that I was buying in 1970 should cost over $3 a gallon today!
Look, folks, the real deal is that we don't have any reason to be complaining. Especially if you're a middle class white guy like me. We've got it made compared to the rest of the world. Speaking for myself, I've got a nice house, two nice, running automobiles, two color televisions with cable, one digital video recorder, three Internet ready computers, hot and cold running water, 24/7 electricity (and water). I have heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer, and I've got plenty of cheap food that I can get in safety 24 hours a day. What, pray tell, do I or any other white middle class American really have to complain about?
Frankly, it just seems selfish of me to complain about a little budgetary inconvenience when people are dying to get into this country to work at terrible jobs for terribly low pay and awful working and living conditions BECAUSE IT'S BETTER THAN ANYTHING THEY HAVE IN THEIR NATIVE COUNTRY. Am I so mean and selfish and greedy that all I care about is my own inconvenience?
And you know what? I could lose my job tomorrow, and I could lose my house and my cars and all the other stuff, and I would STILL be better off than most of the rest of the world. I'd rather be poor in America than anywhere else in the world.
You know, I love my country, and I love my fellow citizens. Americans are invariably first on the scene when there's a natural disaster in the world. We sent our Navy to the tsunami stricken areas of the world when no one else could get there, and we send people all over the world to help others in need. It is a source of justifiable pride in this country that we do so much for others when they're in need.
The shame is that we could do so much more if we weren't so selfish and self-centered. And I do not exclude myself from that. Readers of this blog can't help but notice how self-centered I am. I'm constantly focusing on my health and complaining about anyone and anything that interferes with my personal pursuit of happiness.
Yes, I live in a glass house, and I throw stones from time to time. But I don't hear anyone else telling people like me to count my blessings and do more for the less fortunate. I got no room to complain, and I don't think most middle class white Americans do either.
posted by Tom | 1:49 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home