Truck & SUV Sales Are Back Up

In a remarkable turn of American stupidity it appears that sales of SUVs and trucks are back up again, based on this article from CNN. I guess people don't learn from the past.

I am starting to think that the conspiracy talk I have heard about how the oil companies and OPEC manipulate gas prices might be true. The theory says that gas prices go up, people start buying and making fuel efficient cars, then OPEC reduces gas prices to drive the fuel efficient cars out of business, and then prices go back up.

This happened in the 70s, with the oil crisis then. After having to wait on line to get their gas rations people started buying smaller, more efficient cars. Then gas prices came down and everyone started buying big SUVs and trucks, and then rinse and repeat.

I find it remarkably stupid that people are going to fall for this again. You must be incredibly short sighted to think that gas prices are going to stay down. I guess Americans are blinded by the "great deals" the automakers are offering. Apparently these incentives are enough to make people forgot about the imminent bankruptcy.

I am reminded of someone I once knew who would buy anything if it seemed she was getting a good deal. She would go to Walmart for a tube of toothpaste and come out with $200 worth of junk, but all of the junk was "on sale," so she thought that by not buying it she would be "losing money." (I say "on sale" because for all I know the stores are just making up "full prices" and putting them next to things to make it seem like the sticker price is a discount.) It's kind of a twisted way to look at things, but it's perfectly in line with being a good little consumer and credit card user, as we are instructed to be by corporate america.