Americans and Gas

What is it with Americans and Gas? Even at $2 a gallon and covering 100 miles a day, an average American driving one of those gas-guzzling pieces of shit spends about $300 a month. This is a penny of the paycheck he carries back home, compared to a desi who earns about $2500 a year as against a pardesi who earns about $36000 a year in PPP terms.

Give them these statistics, and they will stare at you in disbelief about how such a difference can exist, and drive an extra hundred miles that day due to depression. Remind them that they are so much better off that the rest of the world coz gas is so cheap here, and they'll dance with joy and drive a hundred miles extra - maybe visit imax or walmart for shopping. Tell them that Iraq will no longer be a problem, and they will jump with exhilaration and drive to the gas station because it is a sign of falling gas prices! Do whatever, DRIVE they will. I mean, what is it with these guys and their vehicles? Is it that they are born with a car attached to their umbilical?!

The economy seems to be built around gas and energy. The towns and cities seem to have been planned around a how-to-spend-more-gas strategy! Here in Dallas, places are so far apart that you can't imagine not owning a car. From my residence, my office is 5 miles away, Wal-Mart is 10 miles away, the airport is 20 miles away, and my only friend's house in Dallas is 10 miles away. That's fine, such distances are acceptable. But what is unnatural is the amount of space that is left unused in between these spots. You should visit Dallas to appreciate what I'm saying. Standing at one point, you have to squint your eyes and crane your neck to see the next bunch of buildings. I mean, what is the sheer necessity of building such large and spread-out cities? Stay close. Stay cozy. No, we have to drive. No one can take away that right-o-birth from us. And for that, the places have to be far apart! This seems to be the mindset.

Adding to the problem is a total absence of mass transportation. That's natural dammit! You build a city (they call it a Metroplex here since it is a bunch of 9 cities) 100 miles long and 100 miles wide, and nothing but plain land between any two points A and B in between, how can you expect to provide mass transport?!

No wonder half the cities in the US suffer from smog. No wonder the ozone is punctured like a bullet-ridden sheet. No wonder there are 1.2 million new cases of skin cancer every year. No wonder Iraq is under attack. No wonder ...