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Author Topic: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline  (Read 1791 times)

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Offline franksolich

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caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« on: April 22, 2011, 12:19:26 PM »
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x941257

Oh my.

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Javaman  (1000+ posts)        Fri Apr-22-11 01:03 PM
THE CAFFEINATED PRIMITIVE
Original message

The poor and the price of gas...

So here we are gas topping $4 bucks, by and large, throughout the nation. (It's still under 4 here in Austin for the most part) And in some very few select areas in the nation it just hit 5.

Just like any price rise, it effects the poorest of this nation first and the hardest.

Due to how we have set up suburbia and how most of the choice real estate (closest to the various business/industrial areas) are financially completely out of reach for most people living on a very fixed income, those who do most of the labor in our society are forced to live many miles from their jobs and usually driving older and not always in the best condition vehicles to travel to and from their jobs.

There was a whole section of society that migrated to the "exo-burbs" during the late '90's and early '00's but most of those people moved due to the inability to afford to buy closer to their jobs and as a result had to move out to the nether regions to find something affordable.

As always, they are hit the hardest when ever the price at the pump goes up even a few cents. Me? I drive 12 miles to work. I'm lucky to have public transit nearby. And a recently installed light rail. I have options. But many in our society, do to lack of city or state funding, don't have any options other than their car.

Tax cuts have eaten into infrastructure repair. Tax cuts have stalled various public transportation programs. Tax cuts have cut into social programs that helped those who can't drive.

As we experience the republican crusade to remake our society into a land of indentured servitude, like most things, they may think long term, but that long term is only concerned with their own selfish want. What they fail to realize is something very simple regarding their long term thinking: if the poor in our society are unable to get to work, they have no labor force to keep their buildings clean, pick up their trash, wash their dishes, clean their houses, stock the shelves, pick their vegetables, work the register, etc.

The price of gas, while a heavy strain on the middle class, is in most cases, down right devastating to the poor.

I have written before that when the price of gas hits 5 bucks a gallon nationally, very bad things will happen.

Whole sections of society who travel many miles to work daily, are now finding themselves between a rock and a hard place. They need to keep their jobs, but the cost to drive to work doesn't make it economically feasible.

What happens then?

Many people here on DU offer up various fantastic proposals to solve this problem of some DU members who are beginning to face such a problem as the one I just outlined.

They say, "ride a bike", "move closer to work", "take a bus", "take light rail". As if this will magically happen and they can go on their day without worry.

Many places aren't bike friendly. And frankly, who honestly can afford to up and sell and move in this economy? And suppose you find a house closer to your job (minor miracle, who will buy your old house located many miles away?) Many places never had public transportation. And in most cases, light rail just plain doesn't exist.

All of the above requires funding and the time to actually construct it. We have neither the money nor the time.

Today, we have built entire cities around the car. And those cities have a type of public transit system, but is usually is so poorly designed that it's virtually useless.

But my point isn't about cities, I'm talking about the suburbs. We have built these various suburbs with no concept of public transit in mind.

They might as well be communities in the middle of a virtual desert.

No bus routes, let alone bus stops. No concept of urban planning other than to make a quick buck on quickly assembled poorly built homes. (I know what I speak of. I worked on some of those very same houses. And now work in the architecture industry).

Those houses weren't built with people in mind. If they were, there would be bus routes attached to them.

But alas, I digress.

We are probably facing, civilization wise, one of the greatest challenges in history.

And yet, as we all offer up very lame help and or advice to those who desperately need an answer to help them figure out a way to get to work, we find we have, as a nation, painted ourselves into a transportation corner.

What will happen to those on the outer reaches of society who are unable to afford to get to work? What will happen to the poor of society who can't afford to get to work? When neither group has any available means to get there?

We are facing something epic and we all turn our heads thinking of our own problems. Well, let me clue you into something, we depend on those folks. We will feel the effects.

There are unnamed millions of people in our society that make it run daily. Some work all night long, some get up way before dawn and don't get home until well after dark. They take care of all aspects of functioning of our society. And how many of us take the time to really take notice?

Offering up pithy answers as "solutions" to their very real problems is down right insulting.

Our transportation problem is an enormous concept to wrap ones head around, but it is something, whether we like it or not, we will have to deal with.

The high speed rail funding which vanished in the latest capitulation to the repubican stone walling of the national budget was a bad thing, buy it is nothing as bad as not having inner city or an exo-suburb public transportation.

I would have loved to travel via High Speed Rail to either Dallas or San Antonio, but honestly, how often would I have used it?

However, I do use the public transportation semi-daily. I see the people on there. I have noticed a sharp decrease in the ridership of the poor and handicapped. They can't afford it and a free ride is no longer an option to the handicapped.

It's a very sick thought that those of us in this society that need public transportation the most, either don't have it, or simply can no longer afford to use it.

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dkf  (1000+ posts)        Fri Apr-22-11 01:08 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. Solar and wind energy plus electric cars. 

Too bad we didn't do something earlier huh?

I bought my guzzling car knowing this is how it would be so I have no excuse.

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shanti  (1000+ posts)        Fri Apr-22-11 01:12 PM
Response to Original message
 
2. $5 a gallon gas will affect way more than just commuters. it will affect family stability too. and the price of everything will go up.

I thought the Big Zero was going to take care of all this.

The primitives promised us he would.
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Offline Rebel

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Re: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2011, 12:24:58 PM »
How does it affect a lot of people that sit at home and collect welfare? I'm not poor, but middle class, and these prices are pissing me the hell off. My solution? F'n DRILL damnit! You idiot DUmpmonkies solution? A Damn windmill powered f'n golf cart that costs more than my '09 Chevrolet Z-71 Extended Cab 4WD with about 7500 Lb towing capacity.

IOW, QUITCHURBITCHIN' DUmbasses. YOU got us here.
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Offline Doc Savage

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Re: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2011, 12:48:24 PM »
I live up hill from where I am going.
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Offline jukin

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Re: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2011, 02:11:57 PM »
In the words of the smartest presiden...nay.. ma..no.. being in the history of the universe, "Maybe the poor should think about a trade in."
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Offline DumbAss Tanker

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Re: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2011, 05:19:42 PM »
Quote from: Rebel on April 22, 2011, 12:24:58 PM
How does it affect a lot of people that sit at home and collect welfare?

Hey, it's a long way to the nearest organic holistic free-range grass-fed beef custom butcher shop where they can use those valuable food stamp debit cards.
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Offline I_B_Perky

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Re: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2011, 05:48:36 PM »
Quote from: jukin on April 22, 2011, 02:11:57 PM
In the words of the smartest presiden...nay.. ma..no.. being in the history of the universe, "Maybe the poor should think about a trade in."

H5!!!

Not only that, they should have their vehicle tuned up and the tires inflated. It must be so... Obozo said it!!!
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Offline JohnnyReb

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Re: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« Reply #6 on: April 22, 2011, 06:14:05 PM »
Quote from: I_B_Perky on April 22, 2011, 05:48:36 PM
H5!!!

Not only that, they should have their vehicle tuned up and the tires inflated. It must be so... Obozo said it!!!

But the sparkplugs and air compressor are made in China by cheap labor working for the evil capitalist corporations.
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Offline LC EFA

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Re: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« Reply #7 on: April 22, 2011, 06:17:38 PM »
Only in the western world would the price of gas be an issue for the "poor".

Real "poor" people don't have cars or any number of the luxuries that the western "poor" take for granted.
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Offline franksolich

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Re: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« Reply #8 on: April 22, 2011, 07:11:09 PM »
Quote from: LC EFA on April 22, 2011, 06:17:38 PM
Only in the western world would the price of gas be an issue for the "poor".

Real "poor" people don't have cars or any number of the luxuries that the western "poor" take for granted.


Uh huh.

Absolutely.

The primitives don't know shit about what "being poor" is.
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Offline Freeper

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Re: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« Reply #9 on: April 22, 2011, 07:20:31 PM »
All the poor have to do, is get tune ups, inflate their tires, and trade in the gas guzzlers for a Chevy Volt.

Remember Obama once said energy prices will necessarily skyrocket, maybe you goons thought he meant just for the rich.

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Offline GOBUCKS

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Re: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« Reply #10 on: April 22, 2011, 08:12:13 PM »
In most of the world, DUmmy bobbolink would be middle class, as she luxuriates in the back seat of her Buick, scrolling through the App Store on her iPhone (3GS, not the newer iPhone4. Incidentally, if you're eligible for an upgrade, you can now get an iPhone 3GS refurb "blem" for free, a regular 3GS refurb for $20, and a brand-new 3GS for $50. Bobes must be furious that the State of Colorado hasn't sent her a voucher for an iPhone4.) Those neighborhoods where tens of thousands of people live in cardboard and tarpaper, with stolen electricity and no running water, would love that big V-8 with an air conditioner and a powerful heater.
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Offline Evil_Conservative

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Re: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« Reply #11 on: April 22, 2011, 08:19:59 PM »
Why did people have to buy farther away from work?  Can't you rent an apartment closer to your place of employment?  Yes, renting sucks most of the time, but nobody is forcing anyone to buy a house 30 miles (or whatever...) from your job.  My husband is about 6-7 miles from his job and our apartment.  My training office is just a few blocks away.  Yeah, we could buy a house way out in BFE and drive 30 miles into town... but why?
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Offline Evil_Conservative

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Re: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« Reply #12 on: April 22, 2011, 08:22:41 PM »
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And suppose you find a house closer to your job (minor miracle, who will buy your old house located many miles away?)

My husband & I are looking at "old" houses.  Built in the late 70s-early 90s.  Do these DUmmies think everyone buys a brand new house?  What happened to the starter home?
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Offline JohnnyReb

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Re: caffeinated primitive talks about the poor and the price of gasoline
« Reply #13 on: April 22, 2011, 08:37:18 PM »
Quote from: Evil_Conservative on April 22, 2011, 08:22:41 PM
My husband & I are looking at "old" houses.  Built in the late 70s-early 90s.  Do these DUmmies think everyone buys a brand new house?  What happened to the starter home?

It's in the government subsidized slum now.
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"America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within."  Stalin
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