It was not enough that the payroll tax cut for “working people” reduced the amount of money going into the Social Security Trust Fund; now our whopping $40.00 bonuses will be gobbled up by the oil companies as they raise the price at the pump. They have been wanting to get to $5.00 per gallon for some time now; well, looks like that will happen sooner than later. It’s not enough that the unemployment rate for Black folks in this country is the highest among all groups, and if you don’t have a job payroll tax cuts mean absolutely nothing; now those who are looking for work, if they have a car, will have to pay even more to find a job.
Seems nothing is enough for us; we have no line that we refuse to cross; we seem to be willing to take anything that comes at us no matter how much it hurts. I know there have been many proposals to solve the problem, but we have yet to make an impact on the price gouging that occurs in the oil industry. They can spill it on our beaches, but a good P.R. campaign will fix that. They can raise the price on gasoline that’s already bought and paid for, but we continue to support their gas stations.
It is amazing how robotic we are as consumers; it is sad they we are little more than helpless when it comes to how we are treated and mistreated in the marketplace. But are we really helpless? No, we just act like we are.
The Congress finally agreed to pass the payroll tax cut and pompously beat its chest about how they care about “the people” and how that $40.00 will help us so much. Now we see how much help it will provide. We can’t even buy a full tank of gas with our $40.00 windfall. What a joke! But the joke’s on us, folks.
What used to be “Forty Acres and a Mule” has been reduced to “Forty Dollars and Some Fuel,” and we have bought into it lock stock and barrel (Pardon the pun). Most of us know enough about basic economics to know that when the demand for a product goes down so too does the price, right? Wrong! In the case of high gasoline prices the current gouging defies economic logic. The demand for gasoline is at a seven-year low, yet the price has risen and continues to rise to a level that will use our $40.00 payroll tax cut and then some to make up for it.
Rather than discussions on solutions, all I have heard is the blame game. Black folks are so concerned about President Obama being blamed for the gouging, and we ain’t having that. But we have quickly forgotten how we lambasted George W. when the gouging took place under his watch. As for me, it really doesn’t matter; blame whoever you want. We can talk about blame and politics until the cows come home, it still won’t save our $40.00. We had better find ways to decrease our dependence on gasoline.
Okay, okay, what’s the solution? Well, as I have said for many years in this column, it’s all about collective activity and leverage. On the day I wrote this article, gasoline was $3.45 – $3.50 per gallon all over town where I live. On that same day I filled up for $3.15 per gallon as a member of an affinity purchasing group, which is nothing more than a collective of consumers that uses its leverage to obtain reasonable prices.
Black folks – and others – can use that same model to gain reasonable prices for gasoline and other goods and services if we simply had the will to work together and make a few sacrifices. If we would organize massive groups of consumers who pledge to support only certain outlets in exchange for lower prices and other benefits, we would achieve what many of us only talk about: reciprocity in the marketplace.
Go to www.collectiveempowerment.org and see how it’s done. We may only get a .20 per gallon discount at the pump, but we can also get other discounts at other businesses, which would supplement our $40.00 and the fuel we need to make it in this country. If we fail to act, we may be forced to go back to the “Forty Acres and a Mule” days, because the new “Forty Dollars’ Worth of Fuel” days just ain’t gonna get it, y’all.
