Sleep, gas, etc

First of all, let me say, I had forgotten (forgotten!) the beauty of a full night's sleep. The clarity I experienced while winding my way to the office this morning was amazing. Of course, there was a moment of "who, what?" when the alarm went off - but, I got over it. Yes, I locked Toad out of the bedroom last night. But, now, I'm contemplating having popcorn for breakfast. All is right with the world.

Secondly, I'm reading "Wicked" which is basically the Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch of the West's perspective. I've just gotten to the point where she is successfully attaching wings on the backs of monkeys. (Recall, one of the motivations to the whole Red Bull/energy drink addiction was the draw of wings.) Then, this morning, while performing my morning "humanizing" rituals (shaving the obvious body hair that isn't entirely human, applying make up to cover the leathery skin, etc) I noticed a feather sprouting from my ear. I removed it -- I doubt I'd blend in with wings sprouting from my ears (not to mention that given center of gravity issues, I doubt wings from the ears would support the body weight so to allow flight).

Lastly, the whole gas price thing needs my comment. I know, the world was waiting with bated breath. Here's what I know, or think I know.

a) gasoline/oil companies make HUGE profits - Huge.
b) many of the old white guys in power make HUGE profits from oil companies.
c) we have known since forever that the oil supply on the planet won't last forever
d) other countries have been paying through the nose for gasoline for a long long time now
e) the price of gas directly effects the cost of all other consumer goods

So, gas prices are soaring. We bee-bopped along for a long time with steadily increasing costs - but much less than what we are experiencing now. Then, Hurricane Katrina hit and the distribution system for domestic oil was interrupted, and supply and demand being the predominate market force around here, prices went up sharply and quickly. (I remember seeing prices go up every few hours at some stations during the immediate aftermath of Katrina.) But, then things calmed down, and prices came down - not entirely to pre-Katrina levels - but down. Now, they are back up to immediately post-Katrina levels with out much of a reason that makes sense.

Here's my theory - the greedy oil companies realized that Americans WOULD pay over $3 bucks a gallon and their profits could soar (notice, the oil companies posted record profits last year - even with the Katrina disaster and having to shut down production and rebuild the rigs in the gulf). I think that the current prices are high now because the oil companies want a much of our money as they can get, consequences be damned!

I understand that the market and politics and consumer behavior are all very complicated and a simplistic explanation is probably naive. And, thanks to Scott Adams, I understand that Occam's Razor isn't always the best way to experience and explain the world around us. But, I think greed plays a big role.

The federal government recently considered two bits of legislation to address the gasoline price crisis. One punished the little guy - one would "punish" the big oil companies. Guess which one passed?

Which brings me to a little issue that has been nagging me since Katrina. During the soaring post Katrina gas prices, a local news station did a bit on what gas station owners are doing to prevent "drive offs" (people who gas up and drive off stealing the gas). They interviewed some owner who said that he loses $50 or more each time someone drives off --woe, woe. Here's what annoys the Super Bongo. The Super Bongo is rather friendly with a young human who works at a gas station to feed their family. This young human tells me that when someone drives off without paying for that full tank, it isn't the owner of the station who is out the money - it's the employee who allowed the thief to gas up without pre-paying. The young human tells me that when they first got the job, they were much less assertive about MAKING people pre-pay --- and thus every paycheck was docked by some amount (usually ranging from $20 to $100). Now, we're talking about someone working minimum wage to feed children paying for thievery -- not business owners who get their money regardless. Young Human told me that over time they learned to be less tolerant of all customer lines and was going long stretches without having money taken from the paycheck.

Another example of the media not getting the real story. The people we should be feeling bad for are the employees who aren't going to be able to buy food for their children not the business owners. Gees, I know I sound like a communist - but, in this case, it's all too true.