Pumping your own gas and other non-benficial ideas

In case you missed it Oregon is headed down the slope towards, arrgh "PUMPING YOUR OWN GAS." Effective January 1 you can pump your own gas if you are in a county with a population of less than 40,000. Of Oregon's 36 counties this law will apply to 17 of them. As I see it this "de-regulation" is just one more nail in the coffin holding the body of the sinking middle class. Pishaw you say, well I do have an argument.

I live in a more populous county not impacted by "pump your own" so in some respects I am hollering into a windstorm that has not yet arrived. A contributor to Forbes magazine (that staunch lighthouse of capitalism) Nick Sibilla uses the point that as a state (with New Jersey) still requiring someone to attend your car while fueling is some how stomping on the very foundation of a free market economy. Ok that is stretch, but no more than some of his arguments. Admittedly many reasons for continuing the status quo are pretty weak. Check out the 17 reasons as provided by  Oregon Law.org Nick continues his argument siting different states stupid regulations: Oregon Freak Out, BUT nobody talks about the important ones -- the impact on the people who will no longer have JOBS pumping gas. OR the fact that you, the consumer, will not see even the tiniest of incremental change in the price per gallon of gas anywhere as the result of allowing "pump your own." Nobody wants to talk about that,  'cause the data is safely locked away in a protected and passworded file in the accountants office back at HQ. It ain't hard to calculate however --

Pick a station in your community:
 Let's say it is open--
 6am to 10pm -- 16 hrs a day
 multiply by 7
 that is 112hrs per week
times 4 weeks/mo is 448 hours.
 At 25*  hrs per week per employee (nobody gets a full time job pumping as--not because they want but because they can't get it--just ask 'em.) That station needs 4.5 employees to operate. Other factors like how many islands, managing peak volume, and absenteeism may raise that number--
Multiply by the number of stations in your community and you should be getting the idea there are a significant number of people who NO LONGER HAVE THIS SHITTY but otherwise GLAD TO HAVE it job.

What really makes me irate is the Swamp drainer and his ilk want to make sure that folks on public assistance must work or volunteer. Well how are they going to work if those jobs go away because of "stupid regulations" Mr. Sibilla? Also I have done a lot of volunteer work and it cost nothin' but money--Swamp Drainer and his band of merry shovels haven't done much I am sure.

Now you know why I detest the damn self check out!