Asymmetric Whining
Asymmetric Whining
This is not news, but yet again we see the old phenomenon of people whining a lot when something gets worse but then saying nothing when it gets better. The latest example of that involves gasoline prices. They were rising and got into the range of near-real highs seen in times like 2008, 1981, and 1918. But now they have slid backward, down in the neighborhood of 20 cents per gallon where I am. Crude prices are down as well, with WTI having gotten near $120 per barrel it is now below #100 per barrel again. But am I hearing anybody cheer or say, “Wow! That’s great!” No. Of course, it can be said that the prices are still pretty high, and still way above where they were a year or two ago. But the crickets going on with this are noticeable. Oh, there was the interview Donald Trump just made with the Washington Post that appeared in today’s edition. But he was spouting outright falsehoods unsurprisingly, that crude prices have reached an all-time high along with retail gasoline prices, neither of which is remotely true.
Of course, it can be noted that this may not continue. Almost certainly a major factor in this decline is the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, with a less publicized release from the IEA reserves as well. Both of these are planned to continue for several months, with several states also temporarily suspending their gasoline taxes as well, just to add to this movement. The upshot has been both declining crude prices as well as declining retail prices. The lockdowns in China associated with the pandemic outbreak there also happen to be fueling a reduced demand, and also probably something on the order of two-thirds of Russian oil exports is still happening in one direction or another, despite the sanctions. So oil and gasoline prices have gone down, but there is reason to believe that some of the reasons for this may go away in a few months, so maybe getting too positive about it all is not reasonable.
As it is, we have already had some asymmetry of whining. This has involved people getting all worked up about the rise of inflation while somehow not being favorable about what appears to be one of the hottest job markets ever. Indeed, if anything the latter has led to people whining because it is hard to get people to do some services. They see the dark side of even what is mostly a good thing. But this asymmetry of being more upset about things that are getting worse rather than being pleased about things getting better is a deeply entrenched human characteristic.
Barkley Rosser
Barkley
You are not the only one noticing this. Where are the gasoline-lines we experienced in the seventies when people panicked? Did you top off your tank and add a couple of gallons. People are still zipping around 15 mph over the speed limit in their over powered vehicles.
But they will whine about being uncomfortable or about spending >$100 to fill a 30-gallon tank. How is that Hellcat or Raptor running these days?
We came out of a pandemic – so far with most people surviving if they followed a few cautions. Yeah, you can’t go down to the corner tavern guzzle your Budweiser (brewed on the inside of a horse like my German instructor claimed [except with the Budweiser I drank in Prachatice, Czech Republic]), can’t dine out or the McDonalds burger took 30 minutes to get while mthe car burns gasoline, you gotta maintain distance, and the worst discomfort being masking up. Our freedoms were impinged upon by Biden and government and yet many of us lived to whine about all the terrible discomforts we endured.
Forgot the needles to upload us with vaccine preventing the first two Covids and minimizing the impact of the Omicron version. Another crime against freedom. The freedom to die or get the ‘long” version of Covid
It has been a rough go in America while trump’s and Republican’s friend bombs the hell out of a country next door to Russia. And then there is the Capitol January 6, 2020, did Republicans really have to leave if the insurrections knew of their support? It appears many of them knew about the attack. Why did Cruz and Hawley leave?
We are just 1% or so off on Participation Rate with a low U3. U3 is artificially low. Supply Chain is still pretty much the driver of high prices, much of the pricing unsubstantiated (being late is not an excuse for a higher price), Labor will be offered up as the cause, companies are
losingdoing pretty damn good on the profit side. Execs really worked hard – bonus time!Rant over. Thanks for the stage . . .
Everyone complains about their pain, but only a fool broadcasts their pleasure.
human trait. well, yes. but the newssources have something to do with it.
we have already forgotten how Biden lost the war in Afghanistan, but we haven’t forgotten that he’s the worst president in history. look how he’s losing the war in Ukraine. good thing that Putin is so smart. wish we could have a president like that.
(sadly, this is not irony. it’s just quotations from the news,)
And they can not blame it on skin color this time.
Coberly,
My wife won’t let me watch much news on TV, but sounds like you might have watching Fox. We watch enough local news to catch the weather, but network news only a little – NBC & local affiliate. I only ever watched Fox News just enough to see what all the fuss was about. Unfortunately back when, I had a few coworkers that had actually recommended Fox for its unbiased POV! It sure made me cut NBC a break for being so stupid. I had not known that stupid came in big bulk economy sizes that large.
My wife finds news depressing, but she loves people. I am just the opposite.
Ron
I don’t watch TV at all, unless you count youtube. where it seems to me the mainscream news pretends to be reasonable but always picks up the insane right talking points to talk about, leaving the impression that where there’s smoke there’s fire. as for the Foxy bits..they are so insane they have to be “fake” i.e. actors pretending to be right wing loonies in order to discredit the right wing. makes sense, right?
it could be that i am just too far Left to see mainstream news as anything but Right in a suit. and Left as just Right turned inside out. cold out here on this soap box watching all the cars go by.
People sometimes cry when happy, but
apparently only dogs whine when happy.
Is that asymmetric enuf for ya?
Whining – ASPCA
are you saying we are all unhappy? is that because the Right keeps telling us about stuff we need to be unhappy about…even if it isn’t true?