Sometimes it really seems the average citizen simply can’t catch a break – or at least be allowed to enjoy one. Any good News or trends that positively affect the typical working stiff inevitably result in alarmist reports of impending calamity as a consequence.
Take something as simple as falling prices for gasoline. With gas prices in Canada floating between $1.30 and $1.40 per litre for most of the past three years, the typical Canadian was truly feeling pain at the pumps. With the cost of filling up even a mid-sized automobile approaching $100, simply getting to work had become a costly proposition. For far too many motorists in an extremely tight economy, the difference between their own wages and the minimum was the cost of operating a vehicle. Little point in driving to a better-paying job if the trip is all you get for your effort.
For the last few months, the long-term trend has been reversed and plummeting gas prices have provided consumers with the opportunity to spend a little of their cash on something besides fuel.
Unfortunately, instead of hearing stories of good News as the economy benefits from a little loosening of the working class purse strings, all we hear are forecasts of economic gloom and doom and the impending collapse of the suddenly oh-so-fragile Canadian oil sector.
The trend was considered concerning enough to cause the Bank of Canada to lower the already infinitesimal interest rate in an effort to keep the economy stimulated.
Sadly, that move did not result in headlines like “Affordable housing for the masses” or “Home ownership dreams set to come true.” Instead, we hear about the inflation of a “housing bubble” and predictions of a looming return to a recession, particularly disturbing no doubt to the large segment of the population that never fully recovered from the last one.
When the dollar was high, a lower dollar was touted as the only recipe for increased exports, which would spur manufacturing and job creation. So the loonie tumbles and what do we hear? A weak dollar puts domestic manufacturers at a pricing disadvantage relative to other global producers and the economy is headed to collapse once again.
In simple terms, we are continually sent the message that “if it’s good for you, it’s bad for the economy.” And so we are urged to take no joy in the occasional respite from the eternal assault on our earning power.
There is little that can be done to alter the cycle from an individual standpoint. The deepest problems with the economy stem from the unsustainable concept that growth is imperative and profits must always rise. That can’t work for everyone, yet corporations, by their very nature, must be greedy to survive. If they don’t snatch up the last dollar in the market, their competitors will.
So, instead of discovering that $1.40 gas is crippling to consumers and $0.80 gas to corporations, and then settling on a sustainable price point in between, the market ratchets the price ever higher until it hits the ceiling, collapses and the cycle begins anew.
So for now, go ahead and crack a smile while you fill your tank. You’ve earned it simply for keeping going through the last gasoline “bubble.” Just be sure to turn your radio to a station that provides music, not News, if you want to actually enjoy the ride.
