Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Time To Change Our Tactics

Big Oil has us over a barrel, we cannot go without gas. The only chance consumer have is to get someone with power to put leverage on the oil companies. A reduction in consumer spending that threatens the economy is the only way to force other industries to put pressure on the oil companies. So ask yourself what things you can do without.
  • Going to the movies
  • Cable TV
  • Fast Food
  • Going out for entertainment
The oil companies want to make record profits so the jack up the price on us, because they know that we will pay it. Now we need to make cutbacks, and the cutbacks we make will make other business suffer. If people organized and made a commitment to do without these luxuries, and voiced that it is for the sake of saving money to cover the increase at the pump, we could see a drop at the pump.

An organized boycott of a single entertainment industry by a lot of people would be the best in my opinion. We can all do without going to the movies and concerts can’t we? It would take a few months, but if the MPAA saw a drastic drop in the number of movie tickets sold and Time Warner and the satellite companies saw a drop in subscriptions as a direct result of higher gas prices, you would see their lobbyists tugging on Congresses ear to do something about gas prices.

The problem is who is willing to do it? I am, no more fast food and I’m going to limit myself to one summer movie, which is 75% reduction for me. What if everybody only bought one movie ticket this summer instead of 4, 5 or 6? What if Pirate of the Caribbean only saw an opening weekend of $25 Million instead of $150 Million?
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1 comment:

Kevin Cooper said...

My concern is that efforts to pressure a single entertainment industry to lobby on our behalf would be completely lost on our government. I hope I'm wrong, though.... I'm all for any idea that stands a chance. I'm strongly considering whether I can negotiate to telecommute a couple days per week, i.e. simply use less gas.

I've already cut out nearly any unnecessary driving, combining trips, etc.... It's difficult to cut back when I already didn't do much leisurely or unnecessary driving.

I'm also a local musician in Cincinnati, and I've got to think this gas price surge is going to spell the end of a lot of working artists around here.

For that matter, won't this effect an increase in unemployment, i.e. people with low-paying jobs spending more to get to work than the job pays, let alone the expenses the job was supposed to pay in the first place? Surely *that* has got to scare the hell out of politicians.

May 23, 2007 at 12:46 PM

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