Gas prices

[Marque]

I will give you just a small example of how it hurts everyone, especially in a micro economy. I live in small town fifteen or so miles off the coast. There are two grocery stores in town. One one on each side of the tracks. The one on the poorer side of town, store A, is a little cheaper, the produce isn't as fresh, its noticeably smaller than store B. The average shopper at store A probably spends half of what the average shopper at store B spends. Well the owner of store A knows a few guys that work in the oilfield. Turns out platforms and drilling rigs need groceries. Well the owner of store A goes to the local Ford dealer and buys 3 econoline vans to start supplying rigs with groceries. He also hires 6 drivers. He gets these vans serviced at the local mechanic, buys tires at the local tire shop. He starts generating more revenue. Builds a a convenience store with gas pumps out in front of the main store. Hires some more cashiers for that store. All of a sudden 15 or so people that didn't have jobs are employed. They are able to afford repairs to their cars or homes that they previously could not. They hire handy men or carpenters who buy supplies at the local lumber yard. The cycle is endless. Its not just the guys working 14 and 14 that are dependent on the oilfield. In a small town like mine oil is the lifeblood. All people see when they think of oilfield workers are the 19 year old kids who go out and buy the biggest truck they can get finance for, racking their pipes up and down main street. Its hard to feel too bad for him when he gets laid off. But what about the single mother working as a cashier that loose her job because the revenue from the rig groceries is gone. I have friends that have 9 to 5 jobs that resent the fact that I make twice as much as them and have a two week vacation every two weeks. I went to school, I could get a job normal job but it really doesn't interest me. I like the adventure and the challenge of working out here. Working in the same office for the next 30 years just to get to go home and eat what their fat wives decided to microwave sounds like a nightmare to me. But I am also typing this from a 50 year old inland barge on Christmas day. Everything in life is a comprimise. But don't for one second kid yourself about the importance of oil to the economy of Louisiana. Everything is effected by it, everything.