The mountain west is an area of vast open spaces with sparsely located population centers. Some towns are merely a gas station, a church, a bar and a tack shop (a business that sells things for horses and cattle and those that work on and with them). It is easier to get a bale of hay in parts of New Mexico than ink for your computer printer.Before the Internet you took a trip to the nearest big city once a month or two of supplies. And it was in those cities that the big box stores opened up. They killed a lot of the Mom and Pop businesses in smaller towns in the area. The result was a capitalistic system that was supported by big vehicles and cheap gas and long distance driving.
I live in a resort town where it is easier to buy skis or mountain bike than a pair of jeans and tennis shoes. You cannot buy a shirt that does not have the name of the resort printed or embroidered on it. The local grocery store caters to the Texas tourist trade and not the organic diet locals. Our business depends on people traveling by car to get here. There is no other way. No trains, only a small private jet airport, no buses. And while the tourists travel here we have to travel to Santa Fe or Albuquerque to shop for things not available in our area. Or shop the Internet. And even with that delivery prices are going up.
I am looking for tile for my studio. I have a lumber yard in my town but not a flooring supply store. I traveled two hours to Lowe's to look for tile. The delivery charge to my town will be $135 or 30 cents extra per tile. I cannot haul it it my van because it is one ton of tile in a 1/2 ton base vehicle. I could do it in two trips. Twice the gas. If I had one of those little energy efficient hybrids we would be looking at six trips or more.
I have the feeling that some of those little stores Lowe's and Wal-Mart, and Sam's put out of business will spring back up eventually. But in the mean time we two choices: pay the higher prices for gas or delivery or choose to not buy those items you cannot haul in your car. A lot of us are going with the latter option because we cannot afford the first.
I don't think it would bother me as much that gas prices are causing me to totally alter my choices in life if the gas companies were not making such huge profits and paying their CEO's such huge salaries. Or if the President had a clue about what gas prices were and the impact upon our society and the businesses, especially the small businesses.
If we stopped giving gas companies tax breaks and used that money to build some railroads and make more of our communities accessible by some means other than car and made it easier to get goods into those towns we all might feel a bit less bitter. Everyone is angry at Obama for saying we are bitter. But we are bitter. We see the rich get richer and have absolutely no concept of how pinched the middle and lower classes feel by the economic woes led I think by gas and fuel prices. My life style has changed drastically due to that. I want someone to recognize it. I am angry as hell that the rich fat cats in Washington don't seem to even be aware of what we are going through. McCain said we should all just tighten our belts a little and eat out less often.
This weekend I ate out with a friend for the first time in a couple of months. I used to eat out at least once a week. My friend filled up her gas tank for the first time in a month because she has been staying home to save gas. Yes, we are bitter. And I am frankly thrilled someone running for office realized it.
And that's just the half of it. Consider the airlines. In the past two weeks, three airlines (Aloha, ATA, and Skybus) have gone out of business - closed shop; they exist no longer. Another (Frontier) has filed for bankruptcy protection. A major reason is the high cost of aviation kerosene (Jet-A). American, on which we flew to and from Hawai'i, packs 'em in like sardines. They held our flight out of Dallas for 45 minutes, waiting for other flights to arrive, so they could pack still more passengers onboard. They provided too little food and water for passengers on the 8-1/2-hour flights. It was to the point of cruel deprivation. A stewardess told me they complain to management, who doesn't listen to them. In all fairness, food and water were more plentiful on the return flight, although the cabin was completely filled.
ReplyDeleteAloha is one of the only airlines that island hops isn't it? You were lucky to get an American flight. They have canceled more than a 1000 flights for maintenance. After 9/11 we should have realized we needed a transportation system based on more than airplanes and cars. Instead we threw billions of dollars at the airlines. We could have used the same money to upgrade some rail traffic. Today coming back from Albuquerque I watched them begin the process of laying rail for a train from Albuquerque to Santa Fe which will be used for commuters. We need more such trains. I hope they ultimately continue this one to Taos and beyond.
ReplyDeleteWe have been so myopic just because the gas companies give big bucks to politicians like GW Bush.
Oh Jaquie over here it is the same but we are paying 5.50 per gal bad huh and everything else is going up also I live in the country and you need your ca-besides using the bus or train isn't cheap either.
ReplyDeletethat is me up there HEIDI
ReplyDeleteI hope your faith in Obama is well placed. Unfortunately there is a long history of politicians simply mouthing what they think will capture the maximum number of votes.
ReplyDeleteI am a long time socialist but just as much as I hate the injustices of our current capitalist system I am also aware that my own philosophy would only work if we could rid the world of individual greed.
There is an option that you do not write about and that is to move away from your beloved mountains. This has been the unfortunate reality for many people throughout the ages. I sincerely hope that things don't come to such a pass for you.
I live here for a reason and that is that I am so allergic to petrochemicals which are unavoidable in major cities. Just the exhaust fumes make me sick in prolonged exposure. And I am of the opinion that the infrastructure of the United States, both physical and political, is coming apart at the seams. It is better to live in the near wilderness where I can hunt and fish and garden than to be in the urban jungles.
ReplyDeleteIt is not that I have such faith in Obama but just that I have more belief in him than in the Clinton and McCain machines. He at least sees that a change is necessary if we have any hope of survival as a nation. But I still think the US will break up into four or five nation states. Hopefully we can stay in some federation for our own protection.
Mystery socialist here. Sorry for the anonymous tag but I couldn’t seem to get the right username/password combo. How’s that for security.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your reasons for living where you do it is just that it seems to me in our current societies there is a pecking order with the very rich at the top who do as they wish, the less rich who do what they can afford and the rest who mange as best they can. Choice becomes more limited the further down the socio economic scale that one resides. Those at the very bottom have no choice and for those in the middle a lot of what they think of as choice is in fact illusory and created by those at the top to stop them becoming restless and disturbing their way of life.
As for Obama. I wonder if it is possible in the present day for anyone to run for the office of President without being in the pocket of big business because it is such an expensive process. Time will tell.
Your ideas on the U.S. splitting up seem a bit radical. Are they widely held and would you perhaps finish up with a number of separate nation states all with the current problems but without the resources of a superstate to be able to do much about them. I admit to having no detailed knowledge of your constitution but always thought that the individual states already had quite a degree of autonomy in the federal system.
There is a growing group of people in the middle of the country - especially the mountain west that feel raped and disconnected from both the East and West mega states and the southern religious right. We get all the nuclear waste dumped on us. All our water stolen to provide hydro electric power for Las Vegas and LA. We feel increasingly ignored because we do not have the people to vote what we want. Obama has raised most of his money from small individual donors and not the mega companies. Because of that no doubt the political machines of Clintons will not let him have the nomination even if they have to shoot him to take it. For me that will be the end of any faith I have in the political process here in the US.
ReplyDeleteThat's good news about a rail line between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. If they could then build one from Santa Fe to Lamy, that would be helpful, too. You see, when the ATSF built the line from LA to Chicago, they were unable to excavate the area between Lamy and Santa Fe. So, passengers on the Super Chief (now, Southwest Chief) have to get off in Lamy and take a bus to Santa Fe. It would be delightful if they could take the line on into Santa Fe. But don't wait for Amtrak to foot the bill. LOL
ReplyDeleteOne of my messages didn't post. I'll try and reconstruct it here, although if it shows up later, please delete this one. Anyway...
ReplyDeleteYes, Aloha was an interisland airline. The other, Hawaiian Airlines, has more money and was able to jockey for the best position, most business, etc. It is alive and well.
American is having its trouble, but it is not financial trouble. It is electrical wiring in its MD-80s (stretched DC-9s), which the FAA ordered them to replace. They started replacing it, but the federal inspector didn't like how the work was being done and made them go back and re-do it. They'll make it over the hump in time, but, you're right, we were very fortunate to be able to return on schedule (even though I wasn't ready to come home. LOL).
ATA passengers were told it would be a week before they could get out. Now, I wonder who can afford to stay in Hawai'i for an extra week. You can be sure the bankrupt airline didn't pick up their tabs.