So who needs a car?

It's amazing how many people whine about how their car is keeping them broke. If it isn't fuel prices (which are still cheap in this country by world standards anyway), then it's the repairs, the rego, the repayments, or even the fact that the thing loses half of it's value as soon as you drive it out of the show room. Of course, not owning a car I don't have any of those problems. However, I'm just about to drop $600 on bicycle repairs, so perhaps I'm not getting off as lightly as some think.

Basically I need new pedals, a new saddle, a new chain & cluster, cables and several other things before I head to Scotland, which is now just two weeks away. Who needs a car when a bicycle is quite capable of keeping me broke?

It seems that just about everyone wants money off me right now -- even my Internet provider tried to overcharge me (they were soon talked out of that). That said, I'm sure when I ride the new components this weekend I'll feel better. I guess the real benefit in having my bike is knowing that the average car's fuel bill will tear up the $600 in no time, while I should now be clear for at least a few months.

Incidentally, I have to ask why there is so much whining going on about oil companies supposedly "overcharging" for fuel. If this was any other commodity in the economy, everyone would be saying that the company has a right to charge whatever people are prepared to pay and make as much money as possible from it, after all, it's just capitalism, right?

Heck, if I started publicly whining about farmers or bakers supposedly "profiteering" by charging too much for bread, I'd quickly be shouted down and branded a "communist", yet it seems people can whine about fuel prices and somehow a company making a profit here is now evil. Isn't it funny how quickly people who call themselves "capitalists" suddenly morph into communists when it suits them?