OMG: Gas prices increase 5 cents!

While I am no longer in the US, I still try to keep up-to-date on American news. I'm not abroad for very long after all, and since we are the largest exporter of media in the world, it's actually hard to stay disconnected for long. In fact, as I've probably mentioned before, the people I meet here (albeit a highly educated, largely international, and therefore fairly biased sample) know more about American lifestyle, politics, policy, and history than many Americans. Since coming to Australia, I have definitely gained a lot of perspective as regards home; funny, how leaving a place can make you see it more clearly. The price of gas and oil: while its near-constant increasing price is hurting everyone in the US, and will more than likely hurt me when I get home, I doubt it will be nearly as high as here (about $1.50/litre) or elsewhere like Europe, where it is even higher. The minimum wage: we've just increased it to $7.50 per hour, set to occur in 2009, and Australia leaves us in the dust with a minimum wage just increased to over $15.00 an hour! And our election system: is this extended campaign period that the US is known for, which lasts over a year and racks up a bill the size of many small countries GDPs, really necessary?

While it has grown clearer that no government is perfect, and that every country has its problems, embarrassments, and controversies, we could all stand to gain a little perspective. This refreshing snippet from the Senate's Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Bipartisan Energy Summit caught my attention:

SENATOR SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (RI): Gentlemen, we’re in the middle of a near total mortgage system meltdown in this country. We have a health care system that burns 16 percent of our GDP, in which the Medicare liability alone has been estimated at $34 trillion. We’re burning $10 billion a month in Iraq.

This administration has run up $7.7 trillion in national debt, by our calculation. And there is worsening evidence every day of global warming, with worsening environmental and national security ramifications. In light of those conditions, do any of you seriously contend that drilling for more oil is the number one issue facing the American people today?

(Long silent pause during which nobody answers.)

WHITEHOUSE: No, it doesn’t seem so.

While I am certainly taking his soapbox speech with a hefty helping of salt, I do hope that our government, and what's more its people, will open their eyes and focus on what really matters.