When the price of gas in Los Angeles is so high it leaves a millionaire professional athlete’s mouth hanging open in shock, you know the crap is hitting the fan. Jimmy Butler, a forward for the Miami Heat, was in complete and total disbelief when he went to fill up his vehicle after a workout with the team in L.A. when he got a load of how much he was paying for fuel. Now imagine how painful it is for those who live paycheck-to-paycheck or own a small business? It’s debilitating.
While standing at the gas pump in his post-workout sweats, Butler was video recorded saying, “This is highway f***ing robbery,” as the numbers on the digital display at the pump racked up higher and higher. “Man, I’m trying to get some of this gas back. Do you think if I go in there and tell them I put the wrong gas in here they’ll give me a refund? This is crazy; I’m going electric!” the basketball player wisecracked.
Once he got in his vehicle the professional basketball star asked, “Can y’all believe it costs $145 to fill up a Bugatti?”
He then drove away from the gas station.
Most relatable Jimmy Butler moment 🤣 pic.twitter.com/p3aTP8hxOX
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) September 26, 2023
“The 34-year-old from Houston, Texas, is likely used to lower prices in his home state, which averaged $3.38/gallon at the time of this publication, according to AAA. In Florida, where the player makes his money, the average price is $3.56, compared to a massive $5.89 average in California,” TheBlaze reported.
So how much does Butler bring in as a professional athlete? Well, currently, Butler is all set to make a cool $45 million for the 23-24 NBA season, with an increase that will lift that number to $52 million by 2025. The total earnings of his career surpass $218 million and will end up costing him $364 million when his current contract runs out.
This is the cheapest #gas station in #LosAngeles – our #government is failing us. #feds are making it worse! pic.twitter.com/B6p6qieJl1
— NORTHHOLLYWOODCA (@geesyer) September 19, 2023
There are a lot of factors that have led to the high cost of gasoline at the pumps, all of it relating to policies that have been enacted by President Joe Biden and his ilk in Congress. One of those policies involves his push to get rid of fossil fuels and force everyone to go electric.
Add to that an autoworkers strike that is threatening the production of American-made cars, all the while “Chinese state-run firm is set to receive more than $536 million in state incentives and tax breaks to build an electric vehicle battery plant in Illinois.”
Ford has also stopped work on an electric vehicle battery plant based out of Michigan worth $3.5 billion.
Even little kids are feeling the pinch of high oil prices.
“Even toy company Lego had to learn a harsh lesson about the world’s need for oil. The company indicated in 2018 that it had set a target to swap the oil-based plastics it uses in the 110-120 billion pieces it produces every year for sustainable materials by 2030. The Danish company eventually admitted that not only would it need to change its entire production facilities to ‘go green,’ it would end up being worse for the environment,” TheBlaze said.
“In order to scale production [of recycled PET], the level of disruption to the manufacturing environment was such that we needed to change everything in our factories. After all that, the carbon footprint would have been higher. It was disappointing,” Tim Brooks, Lego’s head of sustainability, went on to say about the situation.