The rising oil price that we hear about every day is truly having an effect on our lives in more ways than just oil. Sure, the rising oil prices affect the cost of gasoline and heating our homes, but what other things do these rising prices effect and why?
Rising oil prices that make the cost of gas go up on a daily basis is the key cause of the high rate of inflation today. The cost of food has gone up 23% over the past year. The reason the price of food goes up with rising oil price is because the high cost of gasoline forces the truckers to raise the price of transporting the food. The higher cost of transportation causes the farmers and manufacturers of food products to raise their wholesale prices to retailers. The retailers then pass their higher costs on to us, the consumers.
The same scenario can be used for any other kind of product that we buy at the store. The cost of wholesale products used by service providers and restaurants has gone up, too. These costs are passed along to the consumer as well in the form of higher prices at the drive through or when we call the plumber.
Who is to blame for the rising oil price? Can we blame our President? Sure we can blame him for the wars we are involved in over in the Middle East where the majority of our oil comes from. But let’s also blame the Middle East for not producing enough oil to make up for their losses when their refineries are blown to bits. How about American oil producers who have stockpiles of oil reserve, or the politicians who won’t allow offshore drilling in American waters. There are a lot of people to blame, but is it not reasonable to place some of the blame on ourselves for rising oil prices, too?
Consumers can take some of the responsibility for the rising oil price because we use it up as fast as we can get it. When we buy an automobile, find one with good gas mileage, or better yet a hybrid model that uses even less gasoline. The gas guzzlers like Hummers and other large SUVs are still quite popular because these consumers seem to be indifferent to the fact that they are part of the cause of the rising rate of inflation. When we purchase new appliances for our homes, look for appliances that are energy savers. You will make up for the extra cost of the appliance within months by lowering your energy bills, and therefore cutting down on the overall demand for energy.
As long as we are demanding it in abundance, the rising oil price is not going to level off or come down. Getting control on the rising oil price is ultimately up to us, the consumers and the voters.
