Cartoon for June 2
High gas prices hurt me too--but it's sweet to see selfish idiots who bought SUVs finally get a comeuppance.
High gas prices hurt me too--but it's sweet to see selfish idiots who bought SUVs finally get a comeuppance.
posted by Ted Rall at
12:09 AM
18 Comments:
Wonder if John Edwards still has his two SUVs parked outside his 28,000 sq ft house.
good one. Last weeks "left coast" was killer too!
I remember on kfi radio (before it was a party organ), this guy railing against SUVs as we sat in my dads new suburban. Awkward since my dad had attended the rio summit a few years prior. I remember thinking it was so far left to attack gas guzzlers.
pardon my bushism...it's contagious
Very nice! :)
Thanks for distilling my feelings about the current gas prices into one panel.
"Schadenfredue," indeed.
I mostly bike, when I'm not driving my 19 year old Civic CRX, which gets close to 50 mpg.
I want to see all these stupid, vain SUV owners suffer. They're sheep, and they've been led to slaughter--at the pump.
The higher the price of gas, the more I smile!
--D.
My sentiments exactly. There's a silver lining in every cloud.
Has anyone else wondered why everyone has a story about "high gas prices in Europe?" The scam is: they report how the prices have skyrocketed in USD. Of course the Europeans don't pay USD.
In euros, the price is up somewhat -- say, 10% in the last year; even less since 2005, which included Katrina prices. It's hardly the "skyrocket" they're reporting it to be. The real cause of the skyrocketing equivalent in USD is, of course, the dollar's weakness against the euro.
What a scam. It is interesting, though, which news organizations jumped on the story. Fox News is all about The Machine, of course, but WSJ, NYT,
Detroit Free Press -- everybody's in on creating this mis-perception.
Now, below the fold, the NYT article admits: "For instance, the cost of a liter of unleaded gasoline surged 17 percent in the last 12 months in Britain, 15 percent in Austria and 8 percent in France."
"Surged" 8 percent in a year, did they? Whew! I wish my costs had surged that way! Couldn't have said, oh, "Crept up 8 percent in a year," I suppose. And it's even less than that viewed over 4 years.
Now, I'm never surprised to hear 'true but misleading' crap being regurgitated on talk radio, but this scam is getting swallowed whole by a lot of people I'd hoped knew better.
wfar (works_for_a_republican)
I think the humor in this is worth the effort: go to the WSJ's photo essay on
"Fuel Prices Ignite World-Wide Protests" and page through until you see the image captioned "French fishermen used trawlers to block the fishing port in northern France's Boulogne sur mer on May 21."
Now, I think they have some bigger problems than gas prices: First, a lack of solidarity -- count the boats; I make it 9. Second, a lack of planning -- look at the 75 meter opening at the far end of the line. Third, and most troubling, is the fact that 6 of the 9 boats in the protest don't appear to have any equipment for handling nets.
Jeezy-peezy, it's no wonder they're going broke.
Seriously, I wouldn't mind quite so much getting scammed by the WSJ if they'd at least lie convincingly. I hate this offhand, any-old-lie-will -work-with-this-crowd attitude. It shows a lack of professionalism.
wfar (works_for_a_republican)
I fully agree. I don't drive and don't intend to. (Part because I'm too clumsy to risk other people's lives by driving...) I loathe the idea of SUV's, unless you have a very good reason to do so. (People who actually go offroad carrying large loads for business reasons? You qualify. Anyone else? Sorry.)
I'm considering making fake PSA's equating driving with drug use, but I don't have a video camera.
Changed your light bulbs over yet?
Ted,
You and your ilk are enjoying your "schaedenfreude" but are forgetting that a lot of innocent hard working people are suffering because of high gas prices.
You forget that the price of energy is reflected in everthing from food to clothes etc etc ...
Some people might go hungry or cannot afford their rent anymore.!!
and liberals say that republicans are compassionless
The cartoon is not attacking "innocent hard working people." We feel schaedenfreude towards stupid, vain SUV drivers.
INNOCENT hard working people don't drive such criminal contraptions. You'll see them in 15 year old Japanese coups.
I drive the speed limit and acclerate gently to save gas--and I'm nearly run over by all the gas guzzling "hard working people." Fuck them if they have to spend so much on gas that they can't afford to buy new plastic toys.
--D.
Anon 5:38 AM/7:17 AM
Conservatives constantly talk about the value of their strong medicine and tough love.
Choke on it.
I did not say that the cartoon is
attacking honest hard working people but what I said that there are many innocent bystanders who
do not drive SUVs or any other gas
guzzlers who will get hurt severely and deeply by the increase in gas price. It is just reminder that there is other side to the coin.
"It is just reminder that there is other side to the coin."
You are lacking some perspective here. America is a very rich country. Have you ever traveled in the "third world?" Most people on this globe would consider the lifestyle of a "poor" American to be lavish. Example: Most Americans consider air-conditioning to be a "necessity." I want to see ALL Americans downshifting towards a more sustainable, less consumptive lifestyle. If they have less buying power, GOOD.
The really crux of the issue is the inequality of wealth in America. There is more than enough wealth for universal health care, free higher education, sustainable energy programs, shorter workweeks, etc. We should strip the rich of their excesses and make this happen. But, on the whole, almost EVERY AMERICAN needs to consume less oil and consumer goods.
--D.
I want to see a medium, wide angle shot of the guy in the background... slightly angled up at him, with the sign and SUV looming in the background.
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