Can’t Afford Gas for Your Car? The Well-Meaning Idiots Say Ride a Bike to Work!

The know-it-alls of the world have a new suggestion for the rest of us. If you can’t afford gas, ride a bike to work!

Gasoline prices are bad here in Ohio, over $4.00/gallon and climbing almost every day. With the minimum wage being only $9.30/hour, it takes working 30 min. just to be able to afford 1 gallon of gasoline.

From The Atlantic:

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden announced that the United States will ban Russian oil imports.

Why is that such a big deal, when the U.S. produces more oil than any other country in the world? Robinson Meyer explains: “Although America may be ‘energy independent’ on paper, American consumers have won no benefits from this independence, and American officials cannot assert this independence in any meaningful way. Market dynamics, not overzealous regulations, have imprisoned the industry.”

So of course with this problem, the “experts” come out of the woodwork:

“Ride a bike! Better for the environment!” (Um, the environment is f-d already. Heard of the climate crisis?)

“Don’t they have buses where you live?” (No, I live in a 1 horse town. Actually I don’t think we even have 1 horse.)

“Carpool with your neighbors!” (said during a pandemic)

“Uber!” (This is very expensive. And not practical.)

For most of my life, I have taken public transportation. Buses, the Metro, subway, Amtrak. Public transportation is fairly intuitive for me. So when I moved to Ohio and then a country town, public transportation disappeared. We have no city bus here, very few taxis, no subway or train obviously.

You have to have a car here. Walking is not an option, especially in the climate I live in, where it is cold half the year.