Dow Chemical price hikes add to hardship
Dow Chemical Co. last week raised the price of all its products 20 percent, reflecting the steep climb in the cost of crude oil, gasoline, natural gas and electricity. Blaming irresponsible politicians, Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris stated, “The country now faces a true energy crisis, one that is causing serious harm to America’s manufacturing sector and all consumers of energy.” Consumers, already hit by $4 gasoline and rising food prices, now will see rises in the price of almost every product and many services, including essential government services such as education and police protection.
Across the nation, school districts are limiting field trips and, in some cases, canceling classes one day a week because they can’t pay the doubled cost of operating school buses.
An added hardship inflicted by high fuel prices is the rise in crime: Thieves are driving off from gas stations without paying and siphoning gasoline from other cars. Some crooks, defeated by locked gas tanks, dangerously drill holes in gas tanks, risking fire and explosion that could destroy property and take life.
It’s unlikely, but perhaps now the U.S. government will adopt a sane energy policy that will provide the nation with more fuel both hydrocarbons and alternatives and place downward pressure on price.