Gas Lines and Toilet Paper During The Gas Panic of 2008

Seeing everyone waiting in line for gasoline reminds of the jokes I used to hear (and tell) about the Soviet Union, the one where if Russians saw someone standing in line, they got in it because that meant that store had something for sale...the ones with no lines had nothing for sale.

That is how it was for me last night coming home...the one gas station that had gas also had a very long line, and according to a local commenter on my "Gas Panic" video, the police were there to keep traffic flowing and tempers cool.

Is our society really that close to the edge? Have people no patience to deal with temporary shortages, or the ability to scale back their lives to make do? I spoke with a gas station attendant who said that most people were just getting less than 5 gallons of gas...some as little as a gallon as they were topping off their tanks.

I believe that is the biggest contributor to the whole crisis in our area, people are freaking out, and getting gas on days they don't normally get it. I fill up like clockwork every Thursday evening, and have yet to alter my schedule because of fear that there might be none when it comes my turn. I do not choose to live in fear.

Other people are reacting in different ways. A Jackson County blogger points the way to Agraria as a solution, and perhaps inevitable (and preferred?) outcome. The Lioness of observing Asheville City Council looked in vain for gas after the Asheville City Council once again refused capitalism by knocking down yet another proposal for a new building for Asheville. I just don't see why people who have millions to invest in bringing new industries to Asheville just keep trying. Don't do it...Asheville does not want your jobs, your buildings, or your money. They are communists in the purest sense of the word. If I had a million doallars...I would spend it on an ad campaign with "Communist Asheville" as my theme...but I digress from the gas shortage reportage...

John Boyle has an extensive Q&A article that has only 4 questions, and AshVegas has an article that quotes a local woman and her experience of the "Gas Crunch of Aught Eight", my favorite part is reaction of the people at the Governor Easley's Office:

The govenors office acted indignant that I would dare to bother them with such a trivial matter.

There is another post at the state progressive group blog, and the commenters there seem gleeful about it in a Daily KKKos sort of way.

I'll have my camera handy for the commute in as I take my truckload of WCU employees to work in my "for profit carpool" I started earlier this spring, and post an update to this post if I see anything interesting.

I almost forgot...here is a video response to my Gas Panic video, where a couple in Asheville ride along, watching their fellow citizens line up for gas and giggle as they are proud to be running on Bio-Diesel: