Stop Bellyaching and Do Something

It's time we all stopped bellyaching and begging the government to fix our every minor problems and started taking responsibility for ourselves. Let's take the price of gas as an example. The Congress has managed to hold up the Energy Bill for five years. But now that they finally passed the Energy Bill it will still not solve any of our short term problems, because the Democrats, gutless Republicans, Environmentalist wackos and other extremist groups, managed to eliminate the key provisions of the Bill (drilling in ANWAR, Offshore Florida, California and other national parks and preserves. Building new Refineries, Nuclear etc,) and /or will tie up any meaningful or major provisions of the Bill in the courts for at least another five to ten years; Government is definitely not the answer.

However we, the people, can do something about the cost of energy right NOW!

If each one of us would just lower our thermostats by two (2) degrees (5 would be even better), we would all see a significant reduction in oil prices within a month. Lower our driving speed by 5 miles per hour would also make a tremendous difference in a relatively short period of time. If, at the same time, we would each make a commitment to ourselves to NOT drive our cars one (1) day a week, that alone would represent a 14% drop in the demand for Gas. If you can't manage a whole day any cut back in driving would be acceptable, when combined with what everyone else does, would end up to be significant. You would not believe the tremendous drop in the price oil you would see within that same first month, never mind five years. OPEC would be in a panic calling meetings left right and center, in a vain effort to keep the price of oil from falling below $40/bbl. We can take these measures our selves or wait for the Government to mandate new speed and mileage efficiency standards in 3 years so we can then pay fines on top of high energy costs.

Easier Said Than Done

Not really if each one of us just takes responsibility for ourselves and stops worrying about what other people will or will not do and just do it. Start a contest in your office, with 10 or 20 gallons of gas as the prize, for the best energy saving ideas To name just a few ways. 1) Car Pooling 2) take public transportation 3) Go for a walk in the park instead of a drive. 4) Spend some quality time with your family and have a picnic in your back yard instead of taking that Sunday drive 5) Get to know your neighbors by have a block party, so you can all not use your cars that one day. You would not believe the ideas that you can come up with if you just give it a try. Remember I am not talking about not driving your car every day. One day a week would be enough and it does not have to be the same day every week. Other energy saving Ideas could be something as simple as closing the lights when you leave a room or shutting the TVs when no one is watching. If each person just does their own little bit, the results would be astounding and we would all end up with a lot more money in our pockets, for the more meaningful things in life. That's a lot better than Bitching and Complaining with nothing ever happening. There are a great many things that cannot be solved by Government and lowering the price of gas is just one of them.

It's about time we all got together and stopped ourselves from continuing to be held hostage by OPEC and the rest of the gang of oil thieves.

Aubie Baltin CFA, CTA, CFP, Phd. (retired)
Palm Beach Gardens, FL
[email protected]
561-840-9767

17 August 2005