Bogus Gasoline Boycott

I recently received an email from a friend encouraging me to boycott filling my gasoline tank today. I wrote her back and told her I was not planning to participate primarily because my family's livelihood is provided by Exxon Mobil. More importantly, a boycott won't help because there are many factors that won't be influenced by that. Here are the reasons why an oil boycott is a futile effort:

1. I don't need to buy gas today. I bought gas the other day, so whether or not there was a boycott, I wouldn't have stopped at the local BP. In fact, that is true of most people. We wouldn't have all run out to buy gasoline today. And even if we chose not to drive today, we likely wouldn't choose to remain at home. We'd still have to go to work, to the store and to our regular appointments. For many of us, that wouldn't be within walking distance. And if we took public transportation, how would that help the message we're trying to send? After all, buses and taxis run on gasoline.

2. Gas prices are partially a product of supply and demand. Our demand has gone up as we've gone from being one-vehicle to two-and three-vehicle families. Last week, I admired a friend's new Mercedes two-seater, which joined a veritable junk yard of cars in his driveway. That was the third vehicle he assigned to himself. His daughter and son each also own two vehicles. Our own increased demand for oil is exacerbated by the economic expansion of China. There are only so many rigs and refineries at work at any given time, and even if a new one is put into operation, its capacity is outstripped by demand.

3. Some rigs and derricks are having to dig deeper because the oil at near the surface has been depleted. That means additional costs.

4. Nigeria, the world's eighth-largest oil producer, recently conducted an election that was deemed not credible. That nation appears to be poised for a civil war starting as early as the end of the month. In addition, a spate of high-ransom kidnappings is forcing the large oil companies to consider their presence in and around the West African nation. The multi-million-dollar ransoms the oil companies claim they don't pay (wink, wink) also cut into the bottom line.

The bottom line: Our high-octane lifestyle comes at a high price.