Did He Think This Through?

I want you to think when you write. Is that really too much to ask? I just read an article on CNN's website explaining the pains that people in Camden, Alabama are feeling over gas prices. These people, shelling out some 13% of their paychecks for gas, are really feeling it. To this I have to say, "Well duh!" They paid this journalist, Steve Hargreaves, to tell us that fuel prices are high and that they hurt poor people who drive a lot more than others!
Take this example from the story's lead: "Corey Carter spends a quarter of his paycheck on gas." I feel for this guy, but I don't have any sympathy for Hargreaves, who doesn't give me sufficient information to know what to make of this story. How far does Carter drive to work? Why doesn't he carpool? What does he drive? If he's driving some 1978 Lincoln or other gas chugger, then might he not consider trying to downsize? It's possible that Carter drives a highly tuned hybrid from his mountain-top retreat where he cares for his mother who can't be moved and works a shift that nobody else who lives on his side of the plant works. Maybe, but with this fine writer--who apparently did most of his legwork for this article at a filling station--we'll never know.
Similarly, when he says, "For local businesses, an extra dollar spent in the tank means one not spent at the restaurant or hardware store," you wonder if you really needed to be told this bit of wisdom. An extra dollar spent on the cellphone bill or on the cable bill or on the lights or the water or taxes or anything else is also a dollar out of the local economy. How about a dollar spent on lottery tickets, Steve?
Just because Mr. Hargreaves gets paid for his writing does not make it good. I urge you to think harder than this guy thought before you sit down to pen your next grade-gathering effort.