Have car commercials changed where you are? Normally, they show the car and shout about rebates or low interest. A thousand here, a few percentage points there. But now, the dealers around here are not offering $1,000 rebates. No, now you get something truly valuable if you buy a new car – you get a free tank of gas. Or – if you buy in the next 36 hours – you get free gas for the rest of the year.
One of my daughters noticed the difference. She's never commented on car ads before, but tonight she asked how much a full tank would cost. I told her about $60, and she said, "wow, that sounds like a pretty good deal. We should buy a car."
Everyone is feeling the pain at the pump – gas jumped about 20 cents today – so much, in fact, that some of us are so excited at the prospect of free gasoline that we forget that $60 isn't as valuable as, say, $1,000. The car companies wouldn't be doing that on purpose, would they?
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