Sometimes I wish I were an economist. Then maybe I could explain to you why we are being told the cost of heating our homes this winter will force us to reach deeper into our pocketbooks than ever before. Maybe I could add support to Sen. Charles Schumer's recent comments that the average family will spend $463 over last year for the privilege of firing up their gas furnace this winter. Maybe I could ease the fears of those of you on fixed incomes worrying where the extra cash will come from.
But I'm just a layman.
Here's what perplexes these untrained eyes: All of this talk of record prices started back in the fall when Hurricane Katrina and her cast of record-setting peers battered the Eastern Seaboard unmercifully. You remember those days, don't you? Overnight, the cost of a gallon of gas jumped more than a dollar and continued northward until it nearly hit $4 per gallon here in Western New York.
While we were being gouged at the pump, the conversation quickly shifted to home heating costs. At the same time that some lawmakers were questioning the steep hike at the filling stations -- which led to record third-quarter profits for the gas industry -- they were also telling us that as long as those prices stayed high for a protracted period of time, so too would our heating costs soar.
But a funny thing happened on the way to December. Auto fuel prices fell and then fell some more. Nationwide, the current average cost for a gallon of gas is $2.12. Here on the Niagara Frontier, you can fill up for about $2.29 a gallon. Prices on the reservation are threatening to slip under $2 for the first time in many a moon.
Gasoline costs are cheaper today than they were last year at this time. Again, I'm no economist, but why are we being told that oil and natural gas costs are still going to hit record highs? Sounds like another industry all lined up and ready to gouge us, if you ask me. If that's not the case, why can't we liberate some of this Iraqi oil -- oil that's cost over 2,000 American lives to secure -- to ease the burden for taxpayers?
Dec. 8 was the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death. I would have written about it in this space, but quite frankly, I'm still not over it. I am angry at national news outlets for giving his killer -- who shall remain unidentified on these pages -- even a sliver of the spotlight to espouse his views.
When will they realize that the best punishment doled out to assassins is to ignore them? They commit their crimes in hopes of being noticed in spite of having lived unfulfilled lives. I say, let them die as inconsequentially as they lived.
One last thought on Lennon: Can we just give peace a chance as it pertains to Yoko Ono? Some of the media coverage of the anniversary of his murder invariably led to the old discussion of how Yoko broke up the Beatles. If you were an admirer of John's and you're still angry with Yoko, it's time to let it go. John loved her completely and, lest we forget, Yoko watched him get shot five times before he died in her arms. It's time to let bygones be forever gone.
If there is one oxymoron I've heard enough this year, it's "friendly fire." First it was former NFL player-turned-Army Ranger Pat Tillman, and then it was our own Army Staff Sgt. Aram J. Bass, whose deaths were categorized or investigated as resulting from friendly fire.
Tillman turned down a multimillion-dollar contract to continue playing professional football because he was so angry over the Sept. 11 attacks on America. Tillman specifically requested deployment to Afghanistan because he wanted to capture Osama bin Laden himself.
Bass, according to a published interview with his uncle, shared Tillman's love of America and dreamed of making a difference with his life.
Both men, both heroes, were sent home in flag-draped coffins after, it is believed, being accidentally shot by soldiers in their own companies.
There's not one damned friendly thing about it.
Don't get me wrong. I'm happy for Buffalo and the giant chunk of change that Brian Higgins wrangled from the Niagara Power Project recently. I'm happy because I've seen firsthand what the cities of Cleveland and Baltimore did once they secured money to restore their waterfronts, and now Buffalo will be able to do the same.
But I don't understand it one bit.
Just exactly why does Buffalo deserve any money generated from the hydroelectric power plant in Lewiston? Close geographic proximity? It seems to me that it is just the most recent in a disturbing number of cases of our neighbors to the immediate south hijacking our resources and name recognition for their gain.
I've said it before and it bears repeating -- Niagara Falls needs to be a bit more proprietary when it comes to protecting what is ours. Regional growth as it pertains to tourism should be within the county of Niagara. It does not need to extend to Erie County. As it is, there are still far too few tourists who find their way to such wonderful "Rainbow County" bright spots as the Lockport Caves, the Lockport Canal Cruises, the shops on Center Street in Lewiston, Olcott, Becker Farms, the canal in North Tonawanda and the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum.
Congratulations to Buffalo and Mr. Higgins. Enjoy your windfall and spend it wisely. I'd like to tell my dear readers just why you're deserving of your good fortune, but, as we established up top, I'm no economist.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Dec. 20 2005 |