A quick Monday morning note...

[mapsedge]

It's making the rounds again.  The Great American Gas-Out.  A good friend of mine, who I thought would have known better, emailed it to me this morning. 

Common sense and simple math make such a gesture not only ineffectual, but actually hurt the wrong people.  Here, have a rebuttal:

The premise behind all these messages is inherently flawed, because consumers' not buying gasoline on one particular day doesn't affect oil companies at all.  The "gas out" scheme doesn't call upon people to use less gasoline, but simply to shift their date of purchase and buy gas a day earlier or later than they usually would  The very same amount of gasoline is sold either way, so oil companies don't lose any money.

Want lower gas prices?  Don't drive as much; buy a hybrid; ride a bike, or walk.  Decrease demand.

Full article at:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/nogas.asp