$@$#%@ $3.46/Gallon at the pump this morning.

[Popeye_Card]

So did people 100 years ago walk those 90 miles every day, or take a horse? Or did they live closer to where their job was?

How do people get by in Europe, where cars are less prevalent and gas is more expensive?

I stand by my statement that it's not a right. If you can afford it, feel free to live/work wherever you want. But when the economy drives the price up, you may have to look at other alternatives if you can't afford it anymore.

A privilege is something that's given to you/granted for you (typically that you couldn't otherwise attain on your own). It's also something that can be taken away from you.

Saying that you can do whatever you want as long as you can afford it is pretty much the exact opposite.

I'm also not sure that everyday advances in technology should be considered "privileges." Is brushing your teeth with a toothbrush a privilege? Wearing glasses? Fishing with a new pole?

I think the word that fits your position is that gas consumption is a luxury...and you can either afford it or you can't. But for some people, I think it's obvious that gas consumption clearly isn't a luxury...it's a necessity based on circumstances beyond their relative control. Perhaps you don't know anyone personally in that situation, but I'll bet that a great many of the people who post here do.

OK, sorry. It's a luxury.

Sure, there are people who depend on vehicle transportation. But the majority of people I hear complaining about gas prices are people with 20+ mile commutes each way every day, and they do it because they want (not need) to live in one area while they want (not need) to work in another area that far away. If the gas prices really put that much of a hardship on you, then change your wants. Otherwise, quitcherbitchin, because yerbitchin isn't going to change fuel prices, and I don't want to hear about it every time gas goes up 20 cents.

EDIT: Actually, thinking about it more, I'd still call the ability to drive where you want a privilege. Most of us were lucky to have been born in the US (a great economy). We all piggyback on the work of people before us and around us who have built and maintain the economy that we have. We depend on evil oil companies to find oil, extract oil, transport it, refine it, transport it again, and sell it to us. I don't think anyone wants to go through that process themselves. The economic market can take that away too, or charge you more for their services of getting the gas to you.

So I would say the ability to live where you want and work where you want because gasoline is economicly friendly is a privelege. And for many in this world, toothbrushes and glasses are priveleges US citizens have as well, because they were lucky enough to be born here instead of somewhere in Africa. Those things can be taken away by the market as well if things really go downhill.

[EastonBlues22]

Sure, there are people who depend on vehicle transportation. But the majority of people I hear complaining about gas prices are people with 20+ mile commutes each way every day, and they do it because they want (not need) to live in one area while they want (not need) to work in another area that far away. If the gas prices really put that much of a hardship on you, then change your wants. Otherwise, quitcherbitchin, because yerbitchin isn't going to change fuel prices, and I don't want to hear about it every time gas goes up 20 cents.

There's an awful lot of people who established where they work and live well before gas prices became a concern. Not everyone can uproot their family/find a new job simply because gas prices have risen. Even if they established their homes and careers knowing the current gas situation, there's still plenty of things that can happen to change their situation that are beyond their control. Central offices are moved to new locations. People are transfered to new locations within a company for various reasons. Spouses might be transfered so that you no longer work near each other. People lose their jobs and are rehired someplace else. Do you really think it's a serious option for people to move every single time their circumstances change simply to optimize their gas expenditures? Gas prices are a hardship for many people who can't do anything about it.

Even for the people who could (theoretically) do something about it...there's obviously more at play than simply the variables of job location/home location/gas prices. The housing market, obviously, plays a role. Current contracts/financial obligations/debt plays a role. It takes time to sell a house/find a sub-leaser/satisfy your contract...nor is searching for a place of residence that satisfies all your needs ever easy. What about the children and their schooling/friends? What about the drop in seniority/profit sharing that will come with switching companies? You're greatly over-simplifying a very complex (for most people) situation. Gas can be a real financial hardship, but changing homes/employment can incur even greater hardships. Simply because it is the lesser of two "evils" doesn't mean that the gas hardship should be viewed as a "good" thing.

EDIT: Actually, thinking about it more, I'd still call the ability to drive where you want a privilege. Most of us were lucky to have been born in the US (a great economy). We all piggyback on the work of people before us and around us who have built and maintain the economy that we have. We depend on evil oil companies to find oil, extract oil, transport it, refine it, transport it again, and sell it to us. I don't think anyone wants to go through that process themselves. The economic market can take that away too, or charge you more for their services of getting the gas to you.

So I would say the ability to live where you want and work where you want because gasoline is economicly friendly is a privelege. And for many in this world, toothbrushes and glasses are priveleges US citizens have as well, because they were lucky enough to be born here instead of somewhere in Africa. Those things can be taken away by the market as well if things really go downhill.

Essentially, you're defining all goods (anything influenced by our economy) as privileges whose availability are granted or withheld simply based on where we happen to live. I disagree with that notion.

Normally I don't argue semantics, but I really think that viewing goods as privileges is a flawed way of looking at things. Basic human needs aren't something that fall under the realm of privileges.

When your parents allow you to drive their car, that's a privilege that you've been given. They can take that privilege away at any time. When you obtain your license, that's a privilege that society allows you to have once you've met certain requirements. It can be taken away if you violate the laws of society. Those are examples of earned privileges, but they can be unearned as well. I might be granted the privilege of meeting the President simply based on his whims...and that privilege can be revoked at any time based on his whims as well. In all cases, though, the privilege is intentionally given or revoked.

How you define your needs and the degree/manner in which the needs are met are directly influenced by your personal resources. Those resources, in turn, can be directly and indirectly affected by many factors (work ethic, education, lineage, geography, etc.)...but none of those things are privileges that were intentionally granted to some and denied to others by a second party. Nor are they typically things that can be taken away once you've obtained them.