News & Views You Can Use
Jun 2, 2004
City Pages
News & Views You Can Use
Gas Attack
Price Has An Effect
Memorial Day weekend has come and passed, which means that summer has begun and gasoline prices nationwide are once again at a stiff high. This year, however, they are rough – extremely rough – and the trio of numbers that greet running-on-fumes commuters at fill-up stations increase by the pennies and dimes almost daily. The United States Department of Energy calculates the national average at $2.07, a 58 percent increase from a year ago.
Gasoline is one of the biggest expenses of businesses whose work relies on transportation. Movers, taxis, airlines, etc. meet changes in cost with changes in service. They cut back, cut off or charge more. The advent of transportation brought with it incredible gains, but also the crippling reliance on a nonrenewable resource that is anything but reliable.
Mike Holcomb, a sturdy man in the floor covering business, fills up his 1990 GMC van at the Apex Chevron on North Avenue and is visibly frustrated. He pumps gas twice a week, and at $40 a tank, is paying $5 to $6 more than several months ago. The vehicle gets him and his supplies from job to job, and the increase in gasoline has forced him to increase the cost of his services by five percent. Holcomb says it has affected everyone in his industry and the gamut of industries associated with it, which include manufacturers and material providers.
The gas stations are not to blame, Holcomb believes. "Their hands are tied," he says, noting the fact that stations are middlemen (when asked for comment on their prices, each station said they had no comment or control and referred questions to their corporate offices, which did not return phone calls). Nor does he blame the government. He believes the culpability falls on the shoulders of the gas companies themselves.
He is partly right. According to the DOE, crude oil (provided primarily by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the United States and oil companies like Shell, BP, ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil) comprises 45 percent of what the consumer pays for in a gallon of gas. Taxes – a factor over which oil companies have little control except in the Beltway handshakes of lobbyists – make up 23 percent. (Distribution and marketing and refining costs and profits make up the remaining 32 percent.)
Taxis, however, depend on gasoline. Without it, they are a business in name alone, unable to perform, compete or survive.
Several taxi companies said that they have raised fares or will have to raise fares if prices continue to climb. Pete Vargas, a dispatcher for United Taxi Cab, says that whereas a driver could earn $100 on $20 of gas before the hike, now only earns $60 from $40 of gas. Maxina Malcom, a driver and dispatcher for Winder Barrow Taxi, is frustrated by the prices and feels that the government is hoarding oil in its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the United States' emergency oil supply of 645 million barrels in underground salt caverns along the Gulf of Mexico.
Jack Benton, owner of Your Cab Taxi, says that it is unlikely he will change his fares, something he has not done in three years. He says that when a business' single largest expense changes – "As a company, we probably spend $150,000 a year on gasoline" – it will obviously hurt. He feels, however, that it is a cycle that needs to be waited out for the benefit of many.
"There are a number of people in Athens who depend on cab service; they need it to get to the drugstore, the babysitter, or work. It's unfair to those people to raise rates overnight," he says.
Unlike unleaded gasoline, diesel fuel has not been dealt quite as hard a blow (the national average is at $1.76, according to the DOE). Rodney Hicks, a delivery driver for Greater Georgia Printers, fills up his truck "just about every time" he goes out, and suggested to his boss that they add a surcharge. For now, however, Greater Georgia Printers is absorbing the cost.
So is local government. Butch McDuffie, director of Athens Transit, says his budget has seen a 25 percent increase in fuel costs in the past year (his department receives fuel at a special rate because it is purchased in bulk). According to his calculations, 630 people an hour use the bus system, and he feels that the recent gas prices are an excellent example of why people should utilize public transportation.
"For a dollar a ride, you can't get a better deal in town," he says. Although fares have not been raised since 1997, he says that if prices stay the same or continue to rise, he will eventually have to suggest that the gears of government begin turning and look into a fare increase.
But all this – the price increases, the hubbub, the foot tapping - has all happened before, every year as a matter of fact, although not as severely since the early 1970s. Economic improvement in the United States, India and China has raised the demand for oil. Refineries are attempting to meet environmental deadlines by early June. Memorial Day weekend is one of the busiest on the nation's roads. Hence, all the radar guns and "click it or ticket" commercials.
Urban areas - where competition is fierce, distribution is more accessible and regular demand is high because of more traffic - pay the least for gasoline. And while politicians sling mud – Republicans saying that the liberal crackdown on refineries (a new one has not been built since 1981) contributes, while the Democrats chant a Reaganesque "Mr. Bush, open up that reserve" – free enterprise goes about its business. And by this time tomorrow, Americans will have consumed 19.5 million more barrels of oil.
For links to thorough and informative sources on gasoline – why its prices fluctuate, how much it costs, alternative fuels and grassroots price-monitoring sites see: www.tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp
http://money.howstuffworks.com/gas-price.htm
http://www.energy.gov/engine/content.do
www.georgiagasprices.com
www.gasbuddy.com
www.gaspricewatch.com
Thomas Wheatley
Thomas Wheatley is a local freelance writer.
We're #1
The Skinny On Athens
Finally, that time of the month has arrived. The new issue of Men's Journal has again found its way to my mailbox. And this month, like every month, I quickly opened its crispy pages and began rubbing my wrists along its fragrant advertisements. This once was a frugal means of getting cosmetics: a free dose of various sophisticated male perfumes, fused into one virile love potion. Now, however, it has become a habit, a ritual.
Even the woman these intoxicating aromas helped me win approves of my persistence in wafting with fecundity.
Yet this month, as I happened to actually look down at one of the articles, I was struck by a new report.
As noted recently by local media, Men's Journal has ranked Athens first among "The Best Singles Towns in America." That's right: our quaint little Classic City's the place to make that match.
Okay, settle down. Put that away. I know what you're thinking. You want to grab your top hat and ceremonial cane, and leap out the door, whistling down the sidewalk in search of the Eve to your Adam, the Peg Bundy to your Al. I know, the desire hurts; so I shan't keep you much longer. Just allow me to briefly fill you in on the details of our welcomed new status.
This wonderful Men's Journal (you mean you don't subscribe?) righteously informs us that, "Even if you're not single, it's nice to be in a place with some eye candy." Hear, hear!
As a spoken-for man myself, I will drink to that! It's good to know that even distinguished periodicals like Men's Journal will employ such pithy precepts, which hitherto were reserved for less subtle publications such as Maxim and Objectify Her Monthly.
There are four criteria by which Men's Journal (only 71 cents an issue!) rated cities, one of which is keenly important.
A vital factor for a hussie-rich hamlet, the magazine informs us, is its "average female body mass index," also known as the "how-fat-you-are index." Despite the cruel social pressures women face to "slim down," perhaps being a wafer-thin city is a good thing in these United States of Fatmerica. So Athens, applaud yourself.
Despite recent studies from other hard-hitting news outlets whose studies have not included Athens among the best towns for dating, I think I'll stick with the Men's Journal (on newsstands now!) report. It seems professional, and it smells like cologne. I've even started sleeping with it under my pillow. Pretty soon, I'm sure, I'll be single again. And pretty soon the paper-cuts on my cheeks will heal.
Tanner Brown
Tanner Brown is a local writer and magazine critic.
Bush, Kids?
Kerry Ignores Youth
"Sure, I'll vote for Kerry," says my friend, a staffer for many notable Democratic campaigns. "But I sure won't work for him." Another pal, a former operative in the Clinton White House, confides: "The liberal base, especially the kids, find this guy horrifyingly boring. [Kerry is] better than Bush - who wouldn't be? - but their attitude is, 'I'm not gonna send him money, I'm not busting my ass.'"
Voters under 30, the constituency that single-handedly gave victory to Bill Clinton in 1992, don't care for Kerry.
Young people tend to skew left, but they vote in low numbers. Clinton persuaded a record 38.5 percent to drag themselves to the polls, and won; the 2000 youth turnout was down to 32 percent. Youth apathy doomed Al Gore. If history repeats, Kerry's inability to energize the young will cost him dearly. An April 22, 2004 Newsweek poll showed Kerry in a statistical tie with Bush - 45 to 42 percent. And Kerry's support is shaky, says the magazine: "Thirty percent of 18-to-29 year-olds pledged to Kerry say they could change their mind before the November election, while only 13 percent of young Bush voters said they might switch their vote."
A visit to John Kerry's website helps explain why going on MTV and hiring the lead singer of Blink 182 haven't done him much good. JohnKerry.com lists links to the candidate's stances on 27 topics from agriculture and AIDS to veterans and women's issues. There's only one platform plank targeted to the 18-to-30 set, and - unlike his litany of giveaways to senior citizens, who are America's wealthiest people - it's more of a threat than a promise. (Kerry's national service plan would force college kids to sacrifice two years of indentured servitude to the government to continue receiving financial aid.)
Young voters, writes Anya Kamenetz in The Village Voice, "are like any other demographic. They want to hear how issues affect them personally and what a candidate is going to do about them." Kamenetz calls Kerry "tone deaf" at campus appearances. At a recent appearance at the City College of New York, Kerry talked to an audience of students about, of all things, "tax-code reform, outsourcing, Social Security and Medicare." There was nothing for or about them.
If you're young, remember being young or know someone who is, you know what young people are most concerned about: paying the bills. A real estate bubble fueled by low interest rates has deprived the vast majority of Americans under 30 of even the hope of buying their first home. Student loan debt has never been higher, and both Bush and Kerry want to eliminate interest rate consolidation, the only tool that college grads can use to reduce their debt burden. Meanwhile, ever since the dot-coms crashed in 2000, most entry-level jobs have been low-paying, if you can even find one.
Young men worry about Iraq. The generals say they're running out of National Guardsmen and reserves. With the U.S. losing the war and the Selective Service setting up hundreds of new draft boards for activation beginning in spring 2005, guys under 26 are Mapquesting the nearest Canadian border crossing.
Neither Kerry nor Bush has presented a credible plan to generate good jobs, stop the war or address any other of the perennial problems relevant to younger voters. The costs of healthcare, college tuition and housing are out of control and off the agenda.
"The next generation is starting their economic race 50 yards behind the starting line," says Elizabeth Warren, author of The Two-Income Trap. "It's staggering to me that this is not a part of our national debate right now."
Think about this the next time you hear Bush and Kerry argue over prescription drugs for seniors, gay marriage and which ribbons and medals went over the fence back in '71.
Kerry is throwing away the youth vote all by himself; the Republicans aren't even trying to steal it away. "While some young voters may be moving away from Kerry," writes Newsweek, "they're not moving toward Bush. Even as Kerry dropped 11 points... from February to April, Bush only managed to increase his 41 percent showing of two months ago by one percentage point."
In February, of course, Howard Dean was still luring young adults from all over the United States to sleep on floors for the privilege of canvassing Iowa and New Hampshire. Unless Kerry acts fast to appeal to those kids, they'll sleep right through Election Day.
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is the author of Wake Up, You're Liberal!: How We Can Take America Back From the Right.
Animal Control
This Week's Scorecard
Athens-Clarke County Animal Control responded to 73 calls.
6 complaints of animal cruelty
5 bite cases
2 complaints of barking dogs
12 citations for ordinance violations
42 animal impounded
37 dogs
3 cats
1 black rat snake
1 garter snake
31 dogs placed
10 adopted
6 reclaimed
15 turned over to other agencies
ACC Animal Control press release for the week of May 20 to May 26.
Price Has An Effect
Memorial Day weekend has come and passed, which means that summer has begun and gasoline prices nationwide are once again at a stiff high. This year, however, they are rough – extremely rough – and the trio of numbers that greet running-on-fumes commuters at fill-up stations increase by the pennies and dimes almost daily. The United States Department of Energy calculates the national average at $2.07, a 58 percent increase from a year ago.
Gasoline is one of the biggest expenses of businesses whose work relies on transportation. Movers, taxis, airlines, etc. meet changes in cost with changes in service. They cut back, cut off or charge more. The advent of transportation brought with it incredible gains, but also the crippling reliance on a nonrenewable resource that is anything but reliable.
Mike Holcomb, a sturdy man in the floor covering business, fills up his 1990 GMC van at the Apex Chevron on North Avenue and is visibly frustrated. He pumps gas twice a week, and at $40 a tank, is paying $5 to $6 more than several months ago. The vehicle gets him and his supplies from job to job, and the increase in gasoline has forced him to increase the cost of his services by five percent. Holcomb says it has affected everyone in his industry and the gamut of industries associated with it, which include manufacturers and material providers.
The gas stations are not to blame, Holcomb believes. "Their hands are tied," he says, noting the fact that stations are middlemen (when asked for comment on their prices, each station said they had no comment or control and referred questions to their corporate offices, which did not return phone calls). Nor does he blame the government. He believes the culpability falls on the shoulders of the gas companies themselves.
He is partly right. According to the DOE, crude oil (provided primarily by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the United States and oil companies like Shell, BP, ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil) comprises 45 percent of what the consumer pays for in a gallon of gas. Taxes – a factor over which oil companies have little control except in the Beltway handshakes of lobbyists – make up 23 percent. (Distribution and marketing and refining costs and profits make up the remaining 32 percent.)
Taxis, however, depend on gasoline. Without it, they are a business in name alone, unable to perform, compete or survive.
Several taxi companies said that they have raised fares or will have to raise fares if prices continue to climb. Pete Vargas, a dispatcher for United Taxi Cab, says that whereas a driver could earn $100 on $20 of gas before the hike, now only earns $60 from $40 of gas. Maxina Malcom, a driver and dispatcher for Winder Barrow Taxi, is frustrated by the prices and feels that the government is hoarding oil in its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the United States' emergency oil supply of 645 million barrels in underground salt caverns along the Gulf of Mexico.
Jack Benton, owner of Your Cab Taxi, says that it is unlikely he will change his fares, something he has not done in three years. He says that when a business' single largest expense changes – "As a company, we probably spend $150,000 a year on gasoline" – it will obviously hurt. He feels, however, that it is a cycle that needs to be waited out for the benefit of many.
"There are a number of people in Athens who depend on cab service; they need it to get to the drugstore, the babysitter, or work. It's unfair to those people to raise rates overnight," he says.
Unlike unleaded gasoline, diesel fuel has not been dealt quite as hard a blow (the national average is at $1.76, according to the DOE). Rodney Hicks, a delivery driver for Greater Georgia Printers, fills up his truck "just about every time" he goes out, and suggested to his boss that they add a surcharge. For now, however, Greater Georgia Printers is absorbing the cost.
So is local government. Butch McDuffie, director of Athens Transit, says his budget has seen a 25 percent increase in fuel costs in the past year (his department receives fuel at a special rate because it is purchased in bulk). According to his calculations, 630 people an hour use the bus system, and he feels that the recent gas prices are an excellent example of why people should utilize public transportation.
"For a dollar a ride, you can't get a better deal in town," he says. Although fares have not been raised since 1997, he says that if prices stay the same or continue to rise, he will eventually have to suggest that the gears of government begin turning and look into a fare increase.
But all this – the price increases, the hubbub, the foot tapping - has all happened before, every year as a matter of fact, although not as severely since the early 1970s. Economic improvement in the United States, India and China has raised the demand for oil. Refineries are attempting to meet environmental deadlines by early June. Memorial Day weekend is one of the busiest on the nation's roads. Hence, all the radar guns and "click it or ticket" commercials.
Urban areas - where competition is fierce, distribution is more accessible and regular demand is high because of more traffic - pay the least for gasoline. And while politicians sling mud – Republicans saying that the liberal crackdown on refineries (a new one has not been built since 1981) contributes, while the Democrats chant a Reaganesque "Mr. Bush, open up that reserve" – free enterprise goes about its business. And by this time tomorrow, Americans will have consumed 19.5 million more barrels of oil.
For links to thorough and informative sources on gasoline – why its prices fluctuate, how much it costs, alternative fuels and grassroots price-monitoring sites see: www.tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp
http://money.howstuffworks.com/gas-price.htm
http://www.energy.gov/engine/content.do
www.georgiagasprices.com
www.gasbuddy.com
www.gaspricewatch.com
Thomas Wheatley
Thomas Wheatley is a local freelance writer.
We're #1
The Skinny On Athens
Finally, that time of the month has arrived. The new issue of Men's Journal has again found its way to my mailbox. And this month, like every month, I quickly opened its crispy pages and began rubbing my wrists along its fragrant advertisements. This once was a frugal means of getting cosmetics: a free dose of various sophisticated male perfumes, fused into one virile love potion. Now, however, it has become a habit, a ritual.
Even the woman these intoxicating aromas helped me win approves of my persistence in wafting with fecundity.
Yet this month, as I happened to actually look down at one of the articles, I was struck by a new report.
As noted recently by local media, Men's Journal has ranked Athens first among "The Best Singles Towns in America." That's right: our quaint little Classic City's the place to make that match.
Okay, settle down. Put that away. I know what you're thinking. You want to grab your top hat and ceremonial cane, and leap out the door, whistling down the sidewalk in search of the Eve to your Adam, the Peg Bundy to your Al. I know, the desire hurts; so I shan't keep you much longer. Just allow me to briefly fill you in on the details of our welcomed new status.
This wonderful Men's Journal (you mean you don't subscribe?) righteously informs us that, "Even if you're not single, it's nice to be in a place with some eye candy." Hear, hear!
As a spoken-for man myself, I will drink to that! It's good to know that even distinguished periodicals like Men's Journal will employ such pithy precepts, which hitherto were reserved for less subtle publications such as Maxim and Objectify Her Monthly.
There are four criteria by which Men's Journal (only 71 cents an issue!) rated cities, one of which is keenly important.
A vital factor for a hussie-rich hamlet, the magazine informs us, is its "average female body mass index," also known as the "how-fat-you-are index." Despite the cruel social pressures women face to "slim down," perhaps being a wafer-thin city is a good thing in these United States of Fatmerica. So Athens, applaud yourself.
Despite recent studies from other hard-hitting news outlets whose studies have not included Athens among the best towns for dating, I think I'll stick with the Men's Journal (on newsstands now!) report. It seems professional, and it smells like cologne. I've even started sleeping with it under my pillow. Pretty soon, I'm sure, I'll be single again. And pretty soon the paper-cuts on my cheeks will heal.
Tanner Brown
Tanner Brown is a local writer and magazine critic.
Bush, Kids?
Kerry Ignores Youth
"Sure, I'll vote for Kerry," says my friend, a staffer for many notable Democratic campaigns. "But I sure won't work for him." Another pal, a former operative in the Clinton White House, confides: "The liberal base, especially the kids, find this guy horrifyingly boring. [Kerry is] better than Bush - who wouldn't be? - but their attitude is, 'I'm not gonna send him money, I'm not busting my ass.'"
Voters under 30, the constituency that single-handedly gave victory to Bill Clinton in 1992, don't care for Kerry.
Young people tend to skew left, but they vote in low numbers. Clinton persuaded a record 38.5 percent to drag themselves to the polls, and won; the 2000 youth turnout was down to 32 percent. Youth apathy doomed Al Gore. If history repeats, Kerry's inability to energize the young will cost him dearly. An April 22, 2004 Newsweek poll showed Kerry in a statistical tie with Bush - 45 to 42 percent. And Kerry's support is shaky, says the magazine: "Thirty percent of 18-to-29 year-olds pledged to Kerry say they could change their mind before the November election, while only 13 percent of young Bush voters said they might switch their vote."
A visit to John Kerry's website helps explain why going on MTV and hiring the lead singer of Blink 182 haven't done him much good. JohnKerry.com lists links to the candidate's stances on 27 topics from agriculture and AIDS to veterans and women's issues. There's only one platform plank targeted to the 18-to-30 set, and - unlike his litany of giveaways to senior citizens, who are America's wealthiest people - it's more of a threat than a promise. (Kerry's national service plan would force college kids to sacrifice two years of indentured servitude to the government to continue receiving financial aid.)
Young voters, writes Anya Kamenetz in The Village Voice, "are like any other demographic. They want to hear how issues affect them personally and what a candidate is going to do about them." Kamenetz calls Kerry "tone deaf" at campus appearances. At a recent appearance at the City College of New York, Kerry talked to an audience of students about, of all things, "tax-code reform, outsourcing, Social Security and Medicare." There was nothing for or about them.
If you're young, remember being young or know someone who is, you know what young people are most concerned about: paying the bills. A real estate bubble fueled by low interest rates has deprived the vast majority of Americans under 30 of even the hope of buying their first home. Student loan debt has never been higher, and both Bush and Kerry want to eliminate interest rate consolidation, the only tool that college grads can use to reduce their debt burden. Meanwhile, ever since the dot-coms crashed in 2000, most entry-level jobs have been low-paying, if you can even find one.
Young men worry about Iraq. The generals say they're running out of National Guardsmen and reserves. With the U.S. losing the war and the Selective Service setting up hundreds of new draft boards for activation beginning in spring 2005, guys under 26 are Mapquesting the nearest Canadian border crossing.
Neither Kerry nor Bush has presented a credible plan to generate good jobs, stop the war or address any other of the perennial problems relevant to younger voters. The costs of healthcare, college tuition and housing are out of control and off the agenda.
"The next generation is starting their economic race 50 yards behind the starting line," says Elizabeth Warren, author of The Two-Income Trap. "It's staggering to me that this is not a part of our national debate right now."
Think about this the next time you hear Bush and Kerry argue over prescription drugs for seniors, gay marriage and which ribbons and medals went over the fence back in '71.
Kerry is throwing away the youth vote all by himself; the Republicans aren't even trying to steal it away. "While some young voters may be moving away from Kerry," writes Newsweek, "they're not moving toward Bush. Even as Kerry dropped 11 points... from February to April, Bush only managed to increase his 41 percent showing of two months ago by one percentage point."
In February, of course, Howard Dean was still luring young adults from all over the United States to sleep on floors for the privilege of canvassing Iowa and New Hampshire. Unless Kerry acts fast to appeal to those kids, they'll sleep right through Election Day.
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is the author of Wake Up, You're Liberal!: How We Can Take America Back From the Right.
Animal Control
This Week's Scorecard
Athens-Clarke County Animal Control responded to 73 calls.
6 complaints of animal cruelty
5 bite cases
2 complaints of barking dogs
12 citations for ordinance violations
42 animal impounded
37 dogs
3 cats
1 black rat snake
1 garter snake
31 dogs placed
10 adopted
6 reclaimed
15 turned over to other agencies
ACC Animal Control press release for the week of May 20 to May 26.
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