Now that I've got your undivided attention, and have you all riled up (probably angry), I want to turn your attention to something that you may have otherwise ignored had I not used this cheap tactic to draw you in:
Gas Prices.
Yes, everyone knows how much gas prices suck nowadays. $3.00, $3.05, $3.10, $3.15... and they keep going up and up. And most of us feel powerless against these oil companies, don't we? We need to buy the gas to get to work, but we don't make enough at work to buy said gas. As a consumer, you're truly done for. Or are you?
When most people hear "boycott," they say "hmm, well it's good that someone is doing that, but enough of them are doing it... they don't need my help." Others amongst you say "Eh, it won't solve anything, oil executives won't care." If you said either of these things, you were wrong.
People tend to claim a lot of different reasons why the gas prices are skyrocketing. "It's a global market," or "there's war in the Middle East," or "we consume too much." All three of these are true, but are they causing gas prices to go up? No. The executives who sit on big stacks of YOUR hard-earned money, and the greed that pushes them? If that's what you guessed, you were dead-on right
Did you know that the average BASE salary of an oil executive is around
$50 million (according to CBS news)? And this is BEFORE all of the incentives and perks they recieve... a million dollars here and there for supporting this and that. That's more money than most of us would ever see in our lifetimes! Now here's the sad-but-true fact:
as long as we keep paying, they'll keep increasing the price. The idea is that if we are willing to pay $4.00 per gallon, then that's what they'll charge, and over time we'll just forget about it. How many of you can fondly recall when gas was about $1.50? Now go ask your parents how much gas cost when
they where your age. A small amount of that increase is due to inflation, but
most of that comes from oil executives jacking up their prices to suit their own wants (note that I didn't say "needs" there).
So what's the solution? Surely, we can't boycott petrol in general. We do, afterall, need to get to work. But what if we all ganged up on one company? What if we picked out the most powerful fuel company in the world (Exxon) and boycotted
them?
Dominoes. One falls, they all fall. I'm not suggesting that we put Exxon out of business... but if we boycott them long enough to make them realize that gas prices are too high for average consumers, then they'll decrease their prices, and when the biggest company does it, all of the others will do it as well. It HAS worked in the past SEVERAL TIMES, and unless you're all willing to be robbed at the pumps every time you try to buy gas, then now is the ONLY time to act.
Okay. Now you're wondering "well, when should we start? When does this boycott begin?"
RIGHT NOW. Today. 5 minutes ago. I'm already boycotting Exxon, as are all of my friends and family. So should you. And you should tell everyone you know to do the same, AND ask them to tell everyone that
they know. You may not think you can play a major role in something of this scale, but you aren't going to know until you try.
I'm asking... PLEADING with all of you, friends and foes, to PLEASE consider what I'm saying here today. I'm not talking about a debate between conservatives or liberals, or big business versus small. This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed, and CAN be addressed by US, you and me, the consumers in the global fuel economy. If we boycott them long enough and stick to our guns then we might have a fighting chance at seeing gas prices drop down to or below $2.00.
Again, sorry for the cheap draw tactic. I knew it would get people's attention since those are the three things everyone always hates me talking about. But I'm hoping that now that you've read this, you might consider what I've said seriously. Maybe we can do something good if we all work together toward a common goal
- Matt
"In an interstellar burst, I'm back to save the universe"
