600 to 1

How is it 'easier' to adjust to gradually rising energy, vs. fast rising energy?

Our economy is based on this perception. Fast rises, and we're enraged! Big Oil! Those Bastards! Slow rises, and we only grumble a little, but in the end...we get the same damn result.

California gas usage is 1.4% less than this time last year. Increase gas prices 50%, add a recession, and demand decreases a whopping 1.4%! Go ahead, bitch about the price. But you won't back off using it.

This shows how very little time and money are needed to buy a shitload of energy. We spend less than 5% of our GDP on energy. It is amazingly cheap. One bottom rung worker can still buy a gallon of gas for less than an hour's work. That gallon has the equivalent energy of 600 hours of his labor. A 600:1 ratio! And that's expensive?

Every day, Concord residents commute to Folsom and back. Elk Grove to Santa Clara. Escondido to National City. Even the unemployed have to drive to the unemployment office. This is the American mandate -- squander energy. This is the EGCMP in action.