And so it begins....(part 1)

$4.15. FOUR DOLLARS AND FIFTEEN CENTS! That’s right! That was the price of gas when I drove into work this morning. A bit scary, isn’t it?

I'm not one for political commentary because I don't have all the facts, I just know my thoughts (that's what this post is MY thoughts).

For the past few days I’ve been thinking…a lot…about the rising costs of everything. It doesn’t matter what it is, I can guarantee that the price of it has or will go up. There are several very unfortunate realities that come with this: 1) Fuel prices will continue to drive everything up, 2) People are going to become more desperate for things due to lack of money, and 3) There will never be another American revolution: despite how badly one is needed. I will discuss each of these in individually posts.

Part 1
1) It’s inevitable that the continual increases in fuel that things go up. The sad part, and the part most people don’t realize, is that they won’t come back down. The powers that be know that we will continue to pay, because in all honesty…we have to. Most of us don’t have the option to use public transport or carpool, and there are those of us who will continue to pay for convenience. If the market will bear the increase, then why drop the prices? Smart business.

The unfortunate reality is the effect that the continual fuel increases will have on the lower-middle and middle class people, the truckers, and the people who are self-employed: In essence, the people who have the least amount of flexible income.

My parents own their own business; that business is food; food gets delivered via trucks; which run on diesel. Right now my parents are paying $4.69 a gallon, in a truck that gets about 8 miles to the gallon, on a route that drives almost 1500 miles a week: $879.38!

You may be saying: “add a fuel surcharge”, “increase your prices”, or any other good ideas. You know what the vendors that they sell to say “take your stuff out of my cooler; I’ll get someone else in here.” You know who is sitting in the wings just waiting to jump at that customer: US Foodservice, Sysco, Maines, any of the humongous corporate food distributors: The ones who sell you an inferior product at the same price. That’s how they’re able to not “charge” a fuel surcharge. The vendor thinks they’re getting a deal.

The reality is they're not, and you're out of a stop, and ultimately out the 20% profit (which after your fuel, your labor [employees, not you], your truck, your business expenses, your cost of the product amounts to maybe 2% in your pocket, maybe: When the average gas-station deli is only $400, that’s not much money, but it’s money.

This is happening to anyone who relies on a vehicle to do their job. Currently the truckers in this country are being really hurt. Many independent truck companies have already gone under. There are many drivers who are working out of 2 log books (one their’s and the other a spouse’s) and driving 100+ hours a week, just so that they can barely make ends meet. They’ve gone on strike before; they may just do it again.

For the past few years, my parents have been swallowing the rising costs of fuel, increasing prices where they can. You know what their take home is a week? $250 each, for a 50-60 hour week (that works out to $4.50 an hour). It’s easy to say, “Maybe it’s time to close the business”, “maybe they should get regular jobs” or any other legitimate suggestion.

You ask the average small business owner if they want to close something that they’ve put a lot of work, time and money into. You ask them whether they want to go work for someone else. You ask them if they want to give up on something that was most likely a dream to them