> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What’s the point? - URL: https://www.smdp.com/whats-the-point-20060425/ - Published: 2006-04-25T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T23:55:36.000Z - Author: David Pisarra - Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import I was speaking recently with a friend about the gas price crisis. He asked me my opinion on what President Bush should do to correct the situation. He was certain that I would take the opportunity to bash the president and his Republican party policies on the environment and the failure of the administration to prevent or alleviate the current gas crisis. Most people expect the president to be able to do something about the price of gas. Contrary to President Bush’s grandiose dreams, he’s not in charge of the entire world. The president, through his secretary of treasury, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and other assorted and sundry political wonks can have an impact upon the country’s finances, but at the end of the day the world market dictates everything from the cost of the lettuce in our burritos to double mocha lattes. The reality is that even though we live in a multi-cultural world, which consists of democracies, republics, theocracies, monarchies and dictatorships — each individual political subdivision of the globe partakes in the much larger global marketplace. Though some countries believe themselves to be capitalist havens, and others choose to describe themselves as Communist or socialist, the harsh reality is that at the end of the day, all countries come together on the world market, buying and selling their individual products and resources. The answer as to why we have high gas prices lies not in the White House, but rather in Wal-Mart. Though there are many who would like to say that the war in Iraq, the instability throughout the Middle East and the need to pay Lee Raymond’s $400 million pension are the reasons why gas prices are now tipping $3.50 a gallon, they would be wrong. The simple fact of the matter is that gasoline, like everything else on the planet, is subject to the laws of supply and demand. The problem we are running up against right now is that the demand for petroleum products far exceeds the supply. This is not to say that those people who drive Hummers are responsible for high gas prices. It also is not to say that the Arabs have intentionally restricted gasoline production to increase gas prices. The fault lies in two main areas. First, it is the overzealous packagers, who put plastic products in plastic containers which then go into plastic bags to be taken home and put in our plastic bins. Secondly, it is two white-hot economies manufacturing plastic products to be put in plastic packaging which is shipped here, so they can show up on our shelves where they are then sold and put into plastic bags. China and India are two major producers of plastic products. They are manufacturing products at an alarming rate to be sold to Americans, which are plastic based. All one needs to do is look at the amount of plastic on their computer keyboard, the disposable containers purchased at the grocery store and the amount of packaging that surrounds something as simple as a memory chip that goes into our cameras. I purchased a one gigabyte memory chip for my phone the other day. It measures no more than three quarters of an inch by three quarters of an inch and is approximately an eighth of an inch thick. Essentially it’s plastic with some semiconductors inside. It came permanently sealed in a plastic box, and one needs an arc welder to open the package. Once I removed the hard outer plastic case, there was this slim chip encased in a cellophane wrapper. After purchasing this plastic chip, the clerk put it in a plastic bag. I politely refused the bag since I felt that I am man enough to carry it out the door without the needed assistance of the bag handles. The point of all this is that the product I purchased, this tiny piece of plastic encased in plastic and then wrapped in plastic is a petroleum-based product. Plastics come from petroleum. The more plastics we use the greater the pressure there is on the petroleum market. High gas prices are nothing more than a natural outgrowth of booming economies, whether those economies are based in the United States, in China, or India. The fact is as we consume more plastic based products in America, we put pressure on the world petroleum refineries. One trip through a Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, or your local Vons or Ralph’s, you can see that the amount of plastic products and packaging that is now available has grown significantly in the last five years. The simple truth is that in the world market, we don’t have enough refineries to meet the global demand for petroleum based products. As much as I would like to blame the gas guzzling SUVs, the Hummer driving governors, and a Texas oil man in the White House, it’s not their fault. The fault lies with all of us. Every time we go to Starbucks and get one of those little plastic caps on our coffees, or we use those disposable food containers, or we throw out the mayonnaise jar that used to be glass but now is plastic, we’re contributing to the global demand for plastic, and that is what is driving up our gas prices. What this means for us locally is a sad reality. The economy of Santa Monica is due to take a huge hit as a consequence of $4 a gallon gasoline. High gas prices will result in low tourism rates because people will not be driving or flying as much. And this summer, we can expect to see the ripple effects of higher gas prices across our economy — from our electric bills, to our food bills. And that is nothing more than the market balancing itself. People will hold off buying a new computer, upgrading to a bigger plasma screen TV, and many will stay at home this summer. That will slowly decrease the demand for petroleum-based products, which in turn will alleviate the pressure on gas prices, sometime in the middle of 2006\. (David Pisarra (310) 664-9969 or) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 25, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/042506.pdf?ref=smdp.com)