Fuel Prices and Its Fallout

Everyone is aware of the absolutely wonderful gas prices today. Diesel is up there as well (Actually, considerably higher than gasoline). The fallout from that is obvious, as well as not so obvious. On the obvious side, we are becoming more careful about how we are using our vehicles: Combining trips, cancelling trips and vacations to stay close to home, using alternative modes of transportation, and even riding with friends and "co-shopping". It means that overall fuel consumption is decreasing. More on this in a moment.

On the not-so-obvious side is the financial fallout in other ways. Grocery prices are increasing (some is fairly evident, others more subtle), truckers are beginning to refuse to haul since they aren't making enough to even cover their fuel costs, and one that is noticed by the EMS community: It is costing us A LOT MORE to move our diesel ambulances. In April alone, for 2 ambulances (yeah, two), we paid out over $1,000 in diesel costs to cover events we were scheduled for. A year ago, it would have been half that. Scary? Your local EMS providers, especially the municipal fire departments, are struggling to find the money to pay for this fuel. Who will pay? You! Your taxes will have to increase to pay for the greed of others. Or you will pay directly by getting a bill for the ambulance trip you may take. Those who use these services as glorified taxicabs (Those on public assistance tend to abuse the system more than others, but this is by no means limited to them) will end up pushing the bill off onto you, again through increased taxation.

Now, back to the decreased fuel consumption. Our roads are supposed to be maintained in part by the taxes we pay on gasoline and diesel fuel for road use (Farmers don't pay it, by the way). Less fuel consumption results in less taxes collected. This results in less money for the roads (or other programs if the money is siphoned over to it from the funding). Crappier roads will be the result. Fun, huh? And another interesting side note: With less fuel consumption, allowing for the laws of demand and consumption, shouldn't the price of gas be dropping, not increasing? Are the gas companies playing the market, and manufacturing less to keep the demand high? Or are they just being overtly greedy and not lowering prices when there is less demand? Food (er, fuel) for thought...