May 19 Gas Boycott is Vaporware
I got this in an email forward today:
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 10:23 PM
Subject: Fw: Don't buy gas on May 19th!It has been calculated that if everyone in the United States did not purchase a drop of gasoline for one day and all at the same time, the oil companies would choke on their stockpiles.
At the same time it would hit the entire industry with a net loss of over 4.6 BILLION dollars which affects the bottom lines of the oil companies.
Therefore May 19th has been formally declared Stick It Up Their Behind Day and the people of this nation should not buy a single drop of gasoline that day.
The only way this can be done is if you forward this e-mail to as many people as you can and as quickly as you can to get the word out.
Waiting on this administration to step in and control the prices is not going to happen. What happened to the reduction and control in prices that the Arab nations promised two weeks ago?
Remember one thing, not only is the price of gasoline going up but at the same time airlines are forced to raise their prices, trucking companies are forced to raise their prices which effects prices on everything that is shipped. Things like food, clothing, building materials, medical supplies etc. Who pays in the end? We do!
We can make a difference. If they don't get the message after one day, we will do it again and again.So do your part and spread the word. Forward this email to everyone you know. Mark your calendars and make May 19th a day that the citizens of the United States say "enough is enough"!
Oh please. This has been done before. Think about the macroeconomics involved: Oil companies are not affected by the day on which you buy gasoline from a convenience store, because they sell gas to the store, not to you. The price of oil will not change at all, and gas stations will not go into a crisis. They will just be slow one day, and busier the day before and the day after. The boycott is vaporware - lots of promises, but nothing will come of it.
Why? Because we're all still going to buy the same amount of gas. Your car still requires X number of gallons to get you to work each week. This mini-boycott may give gas station clerks an easy day on the 19th, but it won't change anything. There would be no "net loss of 4.6 billion dollars" unless people actually stopped using gas and never made it up in purchases on other days. (This number is also bogus, because it assumes that every single American, including children, spends over $16 on gas every single day - divide $4.6 billion by 275 million, the population of the US, to see for yourself). I'd be interested to see a "use no gas for a week" campaign and see how well that worked. If everyone took mass transit, that could make a difference. I wouldn't recommend everyone doing it the same day, though =).
