How Much Patience Does America Have?

I paid $5.299 cents a gallon the other day; cost me $72 to fill up the tank.  Oregon doesn't have  a Sales Tax but gasoline has multiple taxes, I was told at the station. Good thing I don't have a life, so I don't drive too much.  When I was in college during the OPEC oil embargo of 1973 (gas was about 50 cents a gallon), an instructor asked the class how many would pay...$1.00 a gallon; everyone's hand went up.  $1.50?  Less.  $2.00? Fewer.  He kept going until mine was the only hand up at $4.00 a gallon.  My explanation:

"I'm not a walker."

I know my limitations, and so I'm not going to fret over gas prices, whether Ukraine's burning or not.  What kills me are the number of people who state unequivocally they'll gladly pay more for gas if it'll help the Ukrainian people.  Let's see how long THAT lasts; remember the heralding of Essential Workers as HEROES...in the beginning?

There's no reason for gas prices to spike to immediately following recent events, don't give me Supply and Demand.  Why aren't we going after Oil Executives like we do with athletes, politicians and celebreties?  What makes them any different from Russian Oligarchs?

BC's precription food went from $36 a bag to $42 within a month; her cytopoint shot from $82 to $102; grooming up 10 bucks.  $5 a box for Girl Scout Cookies; and the Mother made the sale while the Scout played with her phone?!  What, no Thin Mints? "There's a cookie shortage." We all hear the same words at the register, "Everything's going up," which we accept; so I settled for Somoas, but next year I'm eyeing the Scout table carefully from a distance before I donate; and if she's got Thin Mints I'll buy 2.

What's wrong with people's memories?  Who doesn't remember Trump and Putin after their infamous meeting, with Putin hop-skipping up on the dais?  And William Barr is more afraid of any Democrat than that?  Trump may not have started Russia's gradual annexation of Ukraine, but he certainly tossed fuel on to the fire by treating Putin like a buddy and Zelensky like a lackey.

Did you see how many people support a No-Fly Zone; but that figure drops significantly when they're reminded it'll start WWIII?  You know many of these people, no wonder everything's being taken over by foreign investors.  If the Chinese tie-up with Russia, will we sanction them by taking back the Empire State Building?  I'm for that.

Everyone says I should put a high price on my 1992 motorhome because prices are going through the roof and I'll get it, used cars being an example.   I was going to ask $5,000 but started reconsidering to $9500, for no other reason than 'everyone's doing it,' and greed.

"If they say No, there's plenty of others willing to say Yes."  My uncle agrees, "It's a jungle out there."

While I've worked to fix up my RV to be habitable for someone else, I realize how much still needs repair because I could never afford to fix it, or learned to live without it.  Anyone truly interested in buying it is either going to fix-and-flip it, or is desperate, like I've been plenty of times.  Even though it can no longer get up and over the Siskiyou Mountains, my sweet little 21-footer can still comfortably house a single monther, a Veteran with a dog or a young couple currently living in a tent on the Greenway.  What about as a little Guest House on someone's property to house someone in need, like a Ukranian family? 

What're my choices: ask a fair, honest price (like a fool, you say) or begin a journey towards total selfishness, like the Oil Execs I just reamed? SCREW UNTO OTHERS AS OTHERS HAVE SCREWED UNTO YOU or something like that?  Have I learned nothing after all these years working with the homeless?  Hmmm...I'm a Libran so I'll likely list it somewhere in the middle, and then lower the price even more when someone in REAL need finds me like I've found my own Helping Hands. Oh, DO unto others...

"Your Supply doesn't come from (this-or-that)," Mom would remind me, "it comes from God."  I've found a nice RV for a good price, the owner didn't have to come down but he did.  And I've found an extremely economical place to be a Workamper, so I can gradually pay off my bills and refill my coffers.  I know what I'm comfortable being and doing:  taking a small stand for WHAT's RIGHT.  I've already gone through Bankruptcy (it's not so bad) and there's no Debtor's Prison.  Money ebbs and flows throughout life, haven't you noticed?

So please join me in standing up for what's right and help us all by REDUCING, not raising, prices by lowering your profit margins.  This entire thing in Eastern Europe is a cluster-you-know-what but none of us will be blameless for what's to come if you don't do your part not only for those overseas but here at home.  People are going to become more and more exasperated by inflation, et al, and will vote someone like Trump or DeSantis in to the White House, God help us all.  We'll be portrayed in historical documents as guiltily as the German citizenss who claimed,  "We didn't know there was a Concentration Camp outside of town."

Extreme, sure, but it sure seems things are quickly becoming extreme.  Beware the Ides of March.