Not Just Overseas

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons (creativecommons.com).

If you've been around looking for the special gift for your teenager, a sturdy gift for the graduate, your growing family's next addition, or Mom's Saturday soccer asset, you hopefully aren't thinking of a shiny new car.  Not only the the natural disasters in Japan effect their country, but it effects us in America as well.  Since the devastating earthquake followed by a deadly tsunami, car dealers have raised car prices.  Especially Toyota, car company shipments have slowed since the disaster and car dealerships are taking advantage.

Dealer raise some car prices after Japan Crises

In summary, the Yahoo! Finance article states that the crisis in Japan is expected to slow car production and shipment.  Dealers are charging sticker price for their vehicles.  The article states that the price increase "will last weeks if not months" (Associated Press par. 4).  I was surprised to find out that customers hardly ever pay sticker price for cars, especially small and hybrid vehicles.  Now, that won't be possible due to the expected high demand and low supply.  There won't even be room for negotiation.

Not only do companies around the block effect our everyday lives, but so do corporations on the other side of the world.  For current car shoppers, this will be the toughest time to find a deal and there won't be much room for negotiation.  But not only car shoppers will be effected.  For us who already own Japanese-manufactured cars may be effected if anything happens where we need to import parts for repair of our vehicles.  Keep in mind everything that happens around you, even when it's across the ocean.  You never know how much it will effect you, no matter how far away.

Molly McAfee

Works Cited

Associated Press. "Dealers Raise Some Car Prices after Japan Crisis - Yahoo! Finance."Yahoo! Finance       - Business Finance, Stock Market, Quotes, News. 17 Mar. 2011. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.   

     <http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Dealers-raise-some-car-prices-apf-2312869891.html?x=0>.

Crude Awakening

Video courtesy of abcnews.com blog "The Radar."  Click here for the original article and video page.


Hearing the stories of gas prices before my time make me cringe.  I can't imagine only paying about 30 cents for a gallon of gas.  Unfortunately, I grew up during times when people had to compromise their lifestyles just to fill up their tanks.  It still continues today, with the recent inflation of gas prices.  I think gas corporations paying and charging too much for gas is a major example of corporations playing a role in our everyday lives.

There is no doubt that we always have somewhere to go.  Most American's are probably fortunate enough to be able to hop in their cars and get from place to place.  For me, I'm either driving to do community service work, running to the store, or going home for break or the weekend.  But like many other American's, I have to sacrifice those enjoyable things just because gas is way too expensive.  Some people even sacrifice other bills and repairs that need to be done, like fixing their breaks.  Saving enough money to buy gas has almost become unsafe.  

I think that gas corporations should stop buying gas offshore and paying the outrageous price for barrel after barrel.  We American's can't live without it, so we're definitely going to buy it.  But I think that it's totally unfair that there is no drilling in our country that offers it, and plenty of it.  I realize that there are laws protecting wildlife and other environmental factors from being harmed  by drilling, but at this point, a compromise is in order.  We need to lower these gas prices so that our everyday lives aren't effected like they are.

The above video and blog was published in 2008, however, the same problems still exist.  That's really exactly my point, too.  A problem that has been around so long that can be fixed, well, should be fixed.

Works Cited

"McCain: 'We Have to Drill Here and Drill Now' - Political Radar." Political Punch. ABC News, 4 
      Aug. 2008. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. <http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/08/mccain-we- 
      have.html>.