Gas prices are at an all-time high

By Thom Jennings
STAFF COLUMNIST

Thursday, April 10, police were called to a gas station in Wilmington North Carolina to control a crowd that was waiting in line for gasoline. It seems that at 9 a.m. one of the gas station employees inadvertently set the price of gas to 35 cents per gallon instead of $3.35. By 6 p.m., the employees figured out that something was terribly wrong and after only nine hours, they fixed their mistake.

There are some valuable lessons we can learn from the gas-price goof-up in North Carolina, the first being that people in the south are pretty sharp, and they know how to find cheap gas. Maybe we northerners have been terribly wrong about people from the south. Another lesson is that people who work at gas stations are not that bright, just as many of us have suspected all along.

I suppose most people would get suspicious if cars were lined up a mile down the road and that when people were pumping gas, they were only getting $10 worth.

“Hey, Gomer, why do ya suppose there is so many people getting gas here?”

“Not sure, Goober, maybe there is a drag race on this road or they is runnin’ moonshine.”

“Moonshine! Maybe we could call the police and tell ’em that we got some moonshine runners here.”

“I wouldn’t do that, Goob. If it weren’t fer moonshine runners then there would be no NASCAR.”

The employees were upset that people had been buying the cheap gas all day and nobody alerted the clerks to that they were only paying 35 cents per gallon. As much as I would like to think I would be honest given the same set of circumstances, with the price of gas pushing $4 per gallon, I would be willing to drive down to North Carolina to fill up if I had heard gas was 35 cents per gallon. Heck, we pay more than 35 cents per gallon in taxes in this state!

The other reason the gas station employees were upset is that the price of gas was finally less than their hourly wage after taxes, and they did not have the opportunity to buy any of it.
It really does not matter what the price of gas is, we will wind up paying it. The gas station employees probably sit back and laugh when they see people pulling up to the pump in their SUVs and blowing $50 or $60 with every fill up.

Of course, many people are irritated that gas prices are soaring while gas company’s profits are at their highest levels ever. Unfortunately, state and local governments are making tons of money in the form of sales taxes on gas. When the price goes up they make more money. If they are making money, why should we assume that anything will be done to lower the price of gas? At least they won’t do anything until nobody can afford to drive to work to pay their income tax.

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