Energy Costs, the Mideast and Illegals Are Americans' Biggest Concerns
A recent poll on NBC's Meet the Press showed Americans are primarily concerned about the price of gas, Iran, illegal immigrants and Iraq. All four concerns are interconnected.
by Melvin Rhodes
Gasoline has been gradually increasing in price for some months now, reaching almost $3 a gallon by the end of April, an increase of over 50 cents in two months. That's still less than 80 U.S. cents a liter. In the United Kingdom, the same gas was selling for just over one British pound per liter, roughly the equivalent of $2 -- or two and a half times the American price.
But Americans are more dependent on gas than other nations are. This is because the United States is so spread out. The local grocery store in England is often within walking distance, while in America it is more likely to be miles away. The same goes for the workplace, school, medical facilities and places of entertainment -- everything is miles away, an impossible distance to walk or even to cycle. Public transport is very limited and nonexistent in some areas.
Not only are the American people dependent on gas, they are dependent on cheap gas! Any increase in the cost of gas will inevitably have a greater effect on the U.S. economy than a similar increase would have elsewhere. In fact, since World War II a recession has followed every significant increase in the U.S. price of gas.
So it's understandable that the price of gas is the number one concern of most Americans.
What I found particularly interesting in this survey is that all four major concerns are interconnected, but none of the panel on Meet the Press mentioned this. It's as if the price of gas is somehow not connected to events in the real world.
As if to emphasize this, a letter to our local newspaper a few days later said that Washington should simply order suppliers to sell gas at $1 a gallon and then enforce the price! Clearly, not everybody is aware of the law of supply and demand.
