We brought it on ourselves…

We all (including me) seem to be pointing blame for the high price of gas and the state of our economy. I believe it all came about from our own doing. Our need to find the cheapest of everything has forced this onto us. Follow me on this. We go to the store, usually Wal-Mart but many others also, and shop for a widget. There are 2 widgets on the shelf. Both seem to do the job. One is a bit cheaper looking but we accept that when we see the price tag. One is $2.99 and the other is $5.99. We then rationalize. “Well the one is a bit cheaper looking but I guess that’s why it costs less. They both do what I want them to do…”. So we buy the cheaper one. What we ALL failed to do over the past 2 or 3 years is look at where that product was made. Not in the USA but instead it was made in China. No big deal we think to ourselves (back then). Now multiple those little widget purchases by literally millions of people buying dozens of products each and every week, month after month, year in and year out! The America companies have to go out of business or at best lay off many of its American employees. Now those people are working lower paying jobs or not at all and have to shop for cheaper and cheaper products. China is ready! They open more and more factories, make more and more exports and the cycle continues. American manufacturing diminishes while China’s grows exponentially. We have less money circulating inside our borders and much, much more of it funneling out. PERMANENTLY!! China is not buying American exports to balance this economically. So where does the “price of oil” come in to this scenario you ask? China, due in part ot it’s lack of EPA style regulation and it’s enormous manufacturing industry coupled with it’s ever growing population is now the leading consumer of oil from the middle east. THIS is what drove the price of oil up. The oil industry’s infrastructure has been on pace with the grown and consumption of the planet since the mid 70’s. Supply and demand went hand in hand. Growth around the world went hand in hand with the growth of the oil industry. Until we let China EXPLODE! They have thrown off the balance in the equation and did it faster than the world, especially the middle east, could keep up. We are all paying the price for our own blind need to save $3 on widgets.

NOTE: We should be taxing the crap out of Chinese imported goods just like we did to Japanese cars when American auto manufacturing was dying in the late 70s and early 80’s.