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Eventually I HAD to post a video from the wild “Mrs. Betty Bowers, America’s Best Christian.” Finally, one that doesn’t make fun of religion! Caution: naughty word at the end. From her intro/explanation when she e-mailed it to me:
Have you seen the cozy little ads on TV by The American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying arm of Big Oil? They feature a Meredith Vieira wannabe, who strolls about a canyon of enormous, misleading slogans. She purrs fun petro-facts, all in an attempt to make Americans feel almost downright lucky to be financially raped by, say, ExxonMobil, a company that squeaked through the gas crisis by making $4,635,845.00/hour in profit last year!
Well, in the interest of honesty — and never overlooking an opportunity to be snide, — I re-edited those ads to make them a bit more candid. Watching it, you will have a taste for what it would be like to live in a world where businesses — and politicians — told the truth once in a while . . .
THAT was funny…
Except we as consumers are kind of pathetic. We have the ability to bring these companies to their knees by riding our bikes, taking the bus, walking, carpooling and consequently minimizing their profits. If we organized, and minimized the demand, supply would respond commensurately and result in more meaningful competition and lower prices.
Cuba did very well for itself in responding to the embargoes. In fact, the health of the Cuban population improved noticably when they stopped relying so much on oil and got off their backsides and found other ways to get to their destinations.
Our presidential candidates talk about sacrifice. We could send a HUGE message if we were willing to sacrifice JUST A LITTLE and stay out of our cars. Not only would we be empowered with better health, but we would be the beneficiaries of more competetive gasoline prices once the industry realized we didn’t need them like crack or methamphetamines…