Op-Ed / Richard Mays: The times they are a-changin’
Published: Thursday, May 1, 2008 4:02 PM CDT
E-mail this story | Print this page
On that fateful September 11 in 2001, if you were watching television when the terrorists drove the airplanes they had highjacked into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, you knew that from that point on, the world would never be the same. Not only would we be changed emotionally and spiritually from watching the events that caused so much loss of life and property, but we knew that the world would be a more dangerous place, and that we would have more restrictions on our travel, our access to public buildings, and our individual liberties.
In a somewhat less traumatic but no less forceful way, the world is now changing forever for many Americans due to a confluence of events in markets in the U.S. and throughout the world. When the price of gasoline shot past $3.00 a gallon, and then settled for a while near $3.50 (that’s for gas; diesel is at $4.00), it brought about the necessity for choices because we depend so heavily on gasoline, but also because the price of gasoline has far outpaced increases in earnings of working Americans.
To make matters worse, the cost of many commodities that we all use on a daily basis have also increased recently. Nationally, over the past year the prices of a gallon of milk and the price of eggs increased 35 percent; bread is up 16 percent; and a pound of hamburger rose by 8 percent. In 2008, America’s food prices are expected to continue to rise by 4 to 5 percent - double the increases of recent years. Food price increases are even greater in other countries, some of whom are experiencing a food crisis that has caused riots and, in one case, the overthrow of a government.
To make matters even more worse, the cost of medical care and medical insurance continue their seemingly endless rise. Medical insurance coverage for a small family cost more than $1,000 per month, and as a result, there are 47 million uninsured Americans. The majority of bankruptcies today are a result of uninsured people having the misfortune to get seriously ill.
Many people simply can’t afford to be insured, eat and drive their automobiles. America used to be a nation where we thought we could have everything. Now, for many, we are a nation in which critical choices have to be made. Many Americans will be forced to change their life styles in order to survive. Adjustment to a lower standard of living will not be easy or enjoyable.
So, what is being done, if anything, about this complex situation, besides praying for divine intervention? Those who look to the Federal government for help are not getting much satisfaction. President Bush is blaming Congress for the high price of gasoline, claiming that if it had authorized oil drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as he has asked, we wouldn’t be having these problems. Why Mr. Bush didn’t get that authorization when the Republicans controlled Congress and Mr. Bush had more credibility than he does now was not mentioned.
As usual, President Bush is wrong, and misses the point. He is wrong because ANWR reserves represent only a small percentage of the oil needed to meet our ever increasing needs, and would take years to bring into production at considerable risk to a very fragile environment. He misses the point because, instead of continuing what Mr. Bush himself has characterized as America’s “addiction to oil,” we desperately need to promote the development of alternative energy sources - which includes other ways to power our vehicles.
At the same time, Mr. Bush rejected suggestions from both Republicans and Democrats that he stop purchasing 67,000 barrels a day of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a huge storage facility in salt domes along the Gulf Coast where one billion barrels of oil are to be stored for emergencies. Stopping those purchases would free up that oil for consumers, and - theoretically - reduce the price of gasoline. Mr. Bush refused to stop the purchases, saying it amounted to only 0.1 percent of world demand for oil (probably the same amount that could be produced from ANWR).
On the issue of rising food prices, Mr. Bush blamed the rising gasoline costs, which is partially true, and “massive, bloated” and “unnecessary subsidies” being paid to “wealthy farmers.” True, some farmers are paid large subsidies that are holdovers from times when they needed assistance from the government to stay in business. However, whether those subsidies are causing significant increases in food prices, as Bush claims, is highly questionable.
Experts agree that rising food prices are related to the diversion of huge amounts of corn and some grains to the production of ethanol for use in gasoline, where farmers can make more money. Virtually all of the increase in corn production in America in the past five years has gone to production of ethanol, and some farmers are switching from growing grains to corn for that reason. All of this reduces the supply of corn and grains for food, and raises the price of the supply that remains.
After blaming farm subsidies for rising food prices, he then called for more production of ethanol, which, according to the experts, would only divert more crops from food into ethanol, and make matters worse. Mr. Bush, like many other politicians, can’t get past the idea of running cars on some form of gasoline and ethanol, instead of alternative energy sources. That lack of vision is the source of our problems today.
The rapidly unfolding events taking place in the world today remind one of a verse in Bob Dylan’s 1964 song, “The Times They Are A’Changin’” which goes: “Come Senators, Congressmen, please heed the call. Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall. For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled. There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’. It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. For the times they are a-changin’.”
Richard Mays is a Heber Springs attorney and environmentalist whose commentary on politics and social issues appears each Friday.
