Trickle Down Economics in action

With the prices of gas as high as they are many people, including me, are changing our behaviors. For example, I don't go out to lunch any more. I brown bag it. The restaurants are losing my business. I'm also not taking a vacation away from home this year. So the kennel where we board our dogs is losing our business, as are the airlines, the hotels, and the restaurants and tourist destinations where we would likely go.

We don't go out to movies. Gas is too expensive for such trivial entertainment so we get our movies from Netflix. The local movie theaters, bowling alleys, malls, etc will just have to do without our money.

The sales of SUVs and large pickups have virtually dried up. People simply can't afford gas for them. The American auto manufacturers are in serious trouble. Foreign manufacturers such as Toyota are in a much happier position since they don't depend on gas guzzlers to keep their sales going.

Now, multiply these examples by the tens of thousands of people who are cutting back on discretionary spending such as movies and lunch at the local eatery. We have let the oil companies, most of whom have recorded record profits (over a 50% increase in profits for Phillips Petroleum, for example) to have a negative effect on virtually every sector of our economy. Every sector, that is, except for one- the petroleum industry.

And what is the GOP doing about it? Absolutely nothing. The oil companies and the oil men who run our government have us over a barrel.

I hope that in 2006 and 2008 people begin to wise up to the fact that trickle down economics doesn't work. The only trickle is the money from our pockets into the profits of the oil companies.

:thumbsup: