Flashback – Perspective and Gas Prices

[In the fall of 2011 I published a piece with that title. At that time, eight and a half years ago, people were looking forward to prices dropping to about where they are today. The point of the discussion was how short memories are, how easy it is to complain when things change for the worse and how quickly we take benefits for granted. Here it is again for your consideration.]

A couple of days ago the AP published an article on lower gas prices. The price has dropped significantly since summer and some people were amazed and thrilled to find prices below $3 a gallon.  If things go well some parts of the country could see prices as low as $2.50 in the near future (or not).

What does this have to do with perspective? To me it’s a reverse example. Here we have people very happy with prices below $3 and possibly headed toward $2.50, whereas not too long ago we were hearing cries of pain and anguish at prices as high as $2.50. But compared to $4.00 it seems like a bargain. People tend to have short memories and get used to things as they are, reacting with some discomfort to changes. In this example it is joy rather than discomfort, but because we have experienced such economic and technological growth and improvements throughout our lives, our expectations are set and any loss or reduction causes discomfort.

Perspective should remind us that how things are today is not the way they always were. Gas was not always three or four dollars a gallon, but televisions were not always digital, with 50-inch screens, surround sound, 200 channels, or even in color (and we had to get out of our chair to change the channels). Less than one hundred years ago most Americans had to live without radios, a second car, a washing machine, a vacuum cleaner, in-door plumbing, Social Security or any expected retirement, Medicare or any health insurance. More recently people got along fine without home computers, dishwashers, smartphones, moon roofs, garage door openers and home air conditioning. But it’s easy to take these things for granted and feel we could not live without them, when, in fact, people lived for all of history without them. Recognition of this makes it easy to understand how Greek citizens can march in protest over loss of benefits while their country teeters on the edge of bankruptcy.

Perspective is about values, values that keep our wants from morphing into needs (and needs into rights), values that remind us what is vital vs what we can really live without. It’s nice to see the price of gas turn around, but it should also remind us to be grateful for what we have and to consult our core values when we decide how to spend the extra cash. Martin Luther King, Jr. put it very bluntly in his 1964 lecture at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies: “Yet, in spite of these spectacular strides in science and technology, and still unlimited ones to come, something basic is missing. There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually.” I think he was talking, in part, about perspective, and I wonder if we have been progressing or declining since then.

Taking a Perspective Break

One of the least accurately used words in the English language is need. It is used as a substitute for want, in the sense of really wanting something. The logic of need is one thing, but the emotion kicks in to make that substitution of need for want so often that two very distinct terms become interchangeable. Losing the sense of that difference leads to unhappiness.

One of the core skills behind successful behavior in the dimension of perspective is the ability to clearly see the difference.

This idea was reinforced by a recent interview in the business section of The Atlantic, “Why So Many Smart People Aren’t Happy” with the author of a book by the same title. After basic needs are met, research shows that there are just three things needed for happiness: “having meaningful social relationships, being good at whatever it is one spends one’s days doing, and having the freedom to make life decisions independently.” These are not necessarily related to intelligence, level of education or wealth.

You may remember news from a 2017 Princeton University study presenting evidence that happiness increases with earnings only up to about $75,000 per year. "The lower a person's annual income falls below that benchmark, the unhappier he or she feels. But no matter how much more than $75,000 people make, they don't report any greater degree of happiness."

Additional intelligence, education or success does not keep people from making common mistakes like comparing themselves to others. Whenever there is a comparison, there will always be a winner and a loser. More ambitious people tend to compare themselves to others with higher levels of accomplishment and across more fields of interest. They end up the loser more often.

In terms of these faulty comparisons, having a grasp of economic understanding comes into play. With a scarcity mentality, people assume that any gain must be offset by a loss for another, and conversely they believe that someone else only comes out ahead (or gets rich) by taking from everyone else. This kind of thinking is demonstrably wrong, but it is convenient fodder for politicians and groups trying to stoke discontent against successful businesses or individuals. (This discontentment does not lead to happiness.)

Working for big rewards and recognition are not advisable. Not only do you put yourself at the mercy of other people’s opinions (and biases), the thrill of the award or pay raise soon wears off leaving you yearning for the next one.

All these false and unadvisable comparisons, this jealousy of someone doing better and this yearning for the next prize or reward, lead to mistaking wants for needs. Using a very Spartan definition, basic needs include air, water, food, basic shelter and adequate clothing. All else is a luxury.The new dress or bigger car is not a need. People lived for centuries without electricity, indoor plumbing and handheld entertainment. Not too many years ago, if you wanted to make a phone call while driving, it required a stop to find a pay phone. Little more than one hundred years ago a major problem in big cities was dead horses abandoned in the street!

Remembering facts like these from time to time gives the perspective to moderate the yearning, to identify, or at least prioritize, the wants.

An extreme example come from the news last week where “an 11-year-old northern Indiana boy shot and wounded his state-trooper father because he was upset that his parents took away his video games.” He got the gun from his father’s locked police vehicle. 

That shows poor perspective – even for a young boy; but how many older and more mature Americans have similar, if less violent reactions, when their wants are blocked or hampered? How many have trouble distinguishing wants from needs? A walk through the mall on a weekend afternoon (at a time when personal debt is at an all-time high) gives a pretty good picture.

Perspective and Gas Prices

A couple of days ago the AP published an article on lower gas prices.  The price has dropped significantly since summer and some people were amazed and thrilled to find prices below $3 a gallon.  If things go well some parts of the country could see prices as low as $2.50 in the near future (or not).

What does this have to do with perspective?  To me it’s a reverse example.  Here we have people very happy with prices below $3 and possibly headed toward $2.50, whereas not too long ago we were hearing cries of pain and anguish at prices as high as $2.50, but compared to $4.00 it seems like a bargain.  People tend to have short memories and get used to things as they are, reacting with some discomfort to changes.  In this example it is joy rather than discomfort, but because we have experienced such economic and technological growth and improvements throughout our lives, our expectations are set and any loss or reduction causes discomfort.

Perspective should remind us that how things are today is not the way they always were.  Gas was not always three or four dollars a gallon, but televisions were not always digital, with 50-inch screens, surround sound, 200 channels, or even in color (and we had to get out of our chair to change the channels).  Less than one hundred years ago most Americans had to live without radios, a second car, a washing machine, a vacuum cleaner, in-door plumbing, Social Security or any expected retirement, Medicare or any health insurance.  More recently people got along fine without home computers, dishwashers, (4G) cell phones, moon roofs, garage door openers and home air conditioning.  But it’s easy to take these things for granted and feel we could not live without them, when, in fact, people lived for many centuries without them.  It’s easy to understand how Greek citizens can march in protest over loss of benefits while their country teeters on the edge of bankruptcy.

Perspective is about values, values that keep our wants from morphing into needs, values that remind us what is vital vs what we can really live without.  It’s nice to see the price of gas turn around, but it should also remind us to be grateful for what we have and to consult our core values when we decide how to spend the extra cash.  Martin Luther King, Jr. put it very bluntly in his 1964 lecture at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies:  “Yet, in spite of these spectacular strides in science and technology, and still unlimited ones to come, something basic is missing. There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually.”  I think he was talking, in part, about perspective and wonder if we have been progressing or declining since then.

Perspective and Expectations

Americans have high expectations.  We expect a lot for ourselves and for our children.  These expectations evolve and change making it difficult to maintain perspective.

Perspective is about separating needs from wants, knowing what are the necessities of life and what are merely nice to have.  Over time though, we begin to take things for granted.  This explains why so many people spend more money than they earn.  The recent recession, which drove debt to the extreme, has been a wakeup call for many as they live out the consequences of earlier behavior.

As I write this I am sitting in an air-conditioned house.  It’s 85 degrees outside and humid and expected to get warmer.  I am comfortable and grateful, but remember a time when home air-conditioning was a luxury only the rich could afford.  On a hot day people would find excuses to go to a store or to a movie just to get into an air-conditioned building.  The alternative was to set up the garden hose in the backyard or just sweat it out wearing a few clothes as was decent.  Today the standard of living for everyone is higher and home air-conditioning is fairly common – 88% of new construction vs. less than half 40 years ago.

There are many other things we take for granted.  We expect them and complain when our expectations are not met.  It has been ingrained in our psyches that these are rights, not recent developments that were unimaginable just a few years ago.  Let’s look at a short list.

Televisions:  More than half the households in the US have 3 or more TVs and only 11% do not have cable or the equivalent.  Can we live with fewer than three televisions, without cable or HD?  Certainly, but no one expects to.  In fact, there are more TVs in the US than people and a 2009 study stated that 71% of children between 8 and 18 have a TV in their bedroom.

Vacations:  One reason people are loyal to a company is the ability to accumulate vacation.  How long ago was it that workers never took a vacation, or if they did, they never dreamed of being able to fly to a particular destination?

Retirement, healthcare, unemployment Insurance:  These have a comparatively short history.  Up until about 75 years ago, people expected to work until they died, didn’t expect their employer to pay their doctor bills and depended on family to take care of them when they were no longer able to work.  It’s great that we have progressed this far, but perspective helps us feel grateful for the advances we have made rather than resentful that we don’t have everything we dream about.  Bottom line, it’s a happier and healthier way to live.