FILL 'ER UP!

As I filled my 20 gallon tank I was ecstatic with the amount of money I had saved since the recent plummet in oil prices.

The cheerleaders on CNBC, Bloomberg, and the rest of the mainstream media were pontificating about the impact on retail sales and the economy in general that lower gasoline prices would bring.

Then I began to think!

Why, I asked myself, had the Saudi Arabians become such bad businessmen? For decades the Saudi’s have been OPEC’s swing producer. If there was overproduction the royals would reduce their barrels to keep prices from plummeting. If the other members couldn’t keep up with demand the Saudi’s would increase production to keep prices from running away. Yes, the Saudi’s were shrewd, smart oil producers. They kept a Goldilocks production which always seemed to be just right.

Now they seem to be ignoring what every child in Econ 101 has learned, that over supply and under demand creates falling prices.

I continued to think!

Why would the Royal Family deliberately overproduce and force the prices to levels that, in the long run, could be harmful to themselves, and their fellow OPEC members and most certainly American shale oil producers.

Then it came to me – THE DEAL!

As long as we, the United States, keep bombing Syria, under the pretense of ISIS and occasionally take a shot at Assad, the production will stay full steam ahead. The thinking goes that our economy will be improved and eventually Syria will be under the Saudi’s control. The Russian pipeline through Syria will be replaced by a Qatar/Saudi pipeline and the West will have seized the day once again.

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Unfortunately, our bombing seems to have more and more collateral damage. Yes, they kill the occasional ISIS leader but seem to kill more and more surrounding women and children.

After 24 years of constant warfare you would have thought that the US military would get their bombing patterns more accurate. Maybe they have?

You would also think that the money I saved at the pump would allow me to have a better feeling. Unfortunately very few, me included, consider the price that is paid for $2.00 gasoline.

Then I really thought!

Each time I go to the service center I wonder how many lives have been lost? I need the gas but don’t believe my dollar benefit is worth the human toll.

I shrug, and of course, being a typical American, continue to say “FILL 'ER UP”