Running on empty until pay day

* This column was published in May 2006 in The Blue and Gold, a community-based newspaper for Centralia College



You've heard the grumble over gas prices--from the mouths of friends and family to the rhetoric of politicians and oil company representatives.

Everyone has opinions, speculations, theories.

But not everyone feels the crunch.

Economists are saying that the sudden 40-cent surge of gas prices will mostly affect the wallets of small businesses and low-income workers. One the other side of the continuum, large corporations and those with higher salaries will hardly feel the increase on their finances.

What the increase in gas prices does most is expose the gross inequality between those who have and those who have not in this country.

Over recent years, the lower middle class and the working poor have endured radical upturns in housing and health care costs. Out-of-control cost of living expenses have actually pushed working-class families downward on the economic scale.

Now, working-class families are under fire at the fuel pump, powerless and defenseless. Despite the efforts of lawmakers, gas prices are not expected to drop. And those in power will not allow the minimum wage to rise. Thus, the poor can only get poorer.

The last time inequality bubbled to the surface was during the crises of Hurricane Katrina.

The tragedy played out like a parable, a story about rich and poor, black and white.

Public officials forewarned the citizens of New Orleans to leave the city immediately. They assumed everyone could just pack up their vehicles and drive far away from the impending doom.

But the public officials did not take into account that many of the city's poor did not own vehicles. Or that the poor had no money to fill their gas tanks with, or emergency resources for shelter and food.

The poor were just plain stuck.

Like the sinking of the titanic, the financially secure were less likely to drown in the sinking waters--they had lifeboats to cling to, a means for escape. Buy the most vulnerable to the whims of our ever-changing marketplace were equally defenseless against the spilling of the oceans into the soup bowl of the city.

Our county will forever remember the images. Poor, black Americans weeping and screaming, stranded and desperate in the wreckage.

Fast-climbing gas prices may not be as detrimental as a natural disaster, but for millions, it's a crises to daily life.

Consider the was in which the working class has adapted to changes in the housing market and how that affects their dependency on fuel.

In search for affordable housing, people flocked from the suburbs to the exurbs. Yet, they still commute day-in and day-out to get to work. Greenbelts and country-sides may be serene places to live, but its the helter-skelter city centers that have all the good jobs.

With gas prices skyrocketing at lightning speeds, I doubt these commuters are still saving money by living on the outskirts of the suburbs. Housing and gas prices have created a Catch-22 for hardworking, yet financially strapped families.

But what about America's wealthy? How do they live?

Here, I offer a portrait of startling over-indulgence.

The Seattle times published an article on April 24 under the headline "Wealthy baby boomers increasingly drawn to luxury RV lifestyle."

The article reported on the recent trend of people purchasing 26-foot, million-dollar RVs. These colossal homes-on-wheels, that appear like Ritz Carlton Hotel suites, get only 6.5 miles a gallon. And fill-ups rack up to $300.

After guzzling gas mile after mile down the highway, these wealthy baby-boomers park their monster RVs at exclusive A-list parks with amenities such as golf courses and spas.

Clearly, for them, gas prices are not an issue.

Perhaps these wealthy Americans are deserving of their fortunes and should enjoy them.

But, how long can our system survive under this model of inequality? When, if ever, will the rich wake from their self-serving oblivion and choose to share the wealth in sake of all?

In search of the American Dream, the rich and poor are driving down two separate highways, divided by a high blockade.

The road the poor travel has always been full of potholes. They stumble along the way, but they grow strong when they rise and move on.

But they're running out of gas. They wonder how far on fumes they can go.

Until payday, they live in perpetual risk of breaking down, out of sight from those who have the resources to help.