fast
Contributor
There is something I have recognized as unintuitive but can’t adjust the numbers even for a close approximation.
Let’s suppose you’re financially well off such that you could EASILY afford $100 a gallon gas prices. Many people can afford that without a smidgen of difficulty, and it would surely bring a sigh of relief when it comes to traffic; however, an attempt to sustain such prices would yield such catastrophic results that society would be brought to a halt. Where would rich people even have to go? The closed down stores with no products, services, or even employees? That’s (oh, I’m just going to call it category 5 gas prices (like a hurricane classification).
If gas prices went to $8 a gallon, it would have a significant impact (category 1) but life would not cease from having a presence on the planet. There would still be food. There was would be electricity. There will be a society left to adapt, but the important point here is that the people who can afford category 5 prices could afford the consequences of a category 1 sustained price level.
Now, my numbers may be severely off. Maybe $6 is a cat 1 and $25 is a cat 5. I have no idea, but what’s not readily intuitive (unless you consider the unexpected consequences the impact would have on society) is that being financially well off and being able to afford cat 4 or 5 gas prices don’t go together. Maybe if you were a billionaire, fine, but a low level millionaire wouldn’t handle well the resulting consequences of sustained egregious prices.
My question is at what price point (category 3) would things be so bad that those who can’t afford it would have their lives terribly disrupted but not so outlandishly so that those who can afford it would only be moderately affected?
Is the margin thin? Like, would $10 a gallon be a cat 4? In a sense I’m looking for a tornado like or hurricane like understanding of the spectrum of gas prices to social devastation. How much intensity I should have behind a jaw drop after hearing something about what they might go to is completely unknown in the grand scheme of things.
It’s like if a weatherman screaming about a severely dangerous hurricane is approaching, I know how to adjust my jaw and my eyes when I hear it’s a cat 1 vs a cat 5, and I’m pretty darn sure that $100 a gallon is far past a cat 5, I have no way of judging any television screams regarding gas. Yeah, $12 a gallon is bad (I got that: it’s very bad), but is it really and truly a cat 5 like they sound or is it really a cat 2? See, that’s the problem, and I have no idea the answer.
Let’s suppose you’re financially well off such that you could EASILY afford $100 a gallon gas prices. Many people can afford that without a smidgen of difficulty, and it would surely bring a sigh of relief when it comes to traffic; however, an attempt to sustain such prices would yield such catastrophic results that society would be brought to a halt. Where would rich people even have to go? The closed down stores with no products, services, or even employees? That’s (oh, I’m just going to call it category 5 gas prices (like a hurricane classification).
If gas prices went to $8 a gallon, it would have a significant impact (category 1) but life would not cease from having a presence on the planet. There would still be food. There was would be electricity. There will be a society left to adapt, but the important point here is that the people who can afford category 5 prices could afford the consequences of a category 1 sustained price level.
Now, my numbers may be severely off. Maybe $6 is a cat 1 and $25 is a cat 5. I have no idea, but what’s not readily intuitive (unless you consider the unexpected consequences the impact would have on society) is that being financially well off and being able to afford cat 4 or 5 gas prices don’t go together. Maybe if you were a billionaire, fine, but a low level millionaire wouldn’t handle well the resulting consequences of sustained egregious prices.
My question is at what price point (category 3) would things be so bad that those who can’t afford it would have their lives terribly disrupted but not so outlandishly so that those who can afford it would only be moderately affected?
Is the margin thin? Like, would $10 a gallon be a cat 4? In a sense I’m looking for a tornado like or hurricane like understanding of the spectrum of gas prices to social devastation. How much intensity I should have behind a jaw drop after hearing something about what they might go to is completely unknown in the grand scheme of things.
It’s like if a weatherman screaming about a severely dangerous hurricane is approaching, I know how to adjust my jaw and my eyes when I hear it’s a cat 1 vs a cat 5, and I’m pretty darn sure that $100 a gallon is far past a cat 5, I have no way of judging any television screams regarding gas. Yeah, $12 a gallon is bad (I got that: it’s very bad), but is it really and truly a cat 5 like they sound or is it really a cat 2? See, that’s the problem, and I have no idea the answer.
