There wasn’t to be driven into invade Afghanistan through lies and fabrications, there was a reason there, wasn’t one for Iraq.
You’ll believe anything Faux News tells you, eh? I feel sorry for you, the American Taliban types.
[yawn] Nice tripe, your disingenuous pandering I’m sure will please the fundies and neocons (it’s where you got your list), then again, considering you don’t live in reality there’s no teaching you dumb humans new tricks.
Strawman much? Get a clue Troublemakershooter.
Great idea Ray. Does the tax apply to OTR rigs also? How about our great government give tax rebates for all those who purchase alternative fuel vehicles. And by tax rebates I mean serious rebates that will make these hybrids cheaper than gasoline vehicles. Supply and Demand will force the Big 4 to focus more on new technology. A solution is out there. Just remember, the oil companies are enjoying record profits (read BILLIONS) at our expense. But as they told congress, they are also paying record taxes. Let’s use their taxes to help us for a change.
+1
Until I see at least 2 people in at least 50% of Large SUV’s Gasoline is far to cheap.
What do you drive now?
I would imagine that a Smart would have a similar (or lower) TCO (excluding fuel) than MOST cars.
I’m not a Big smart fan personally, I feel that the mileage simply isnot high enough for me to justify trading the TDI In on one (Worse Mileage than my car and Smaller)
That’s right, they can eat cake, Matt.
How about higher taxes on oil companies that don’t invest the mega-profits we give them in further exploration or alter.fuels
Right; we live in a global economy and oil is a truly global product, bought and sold at world prices of now $118/barrel and heading up. Most developed countries, even ones with lots of oil, have some mechanism to reduce consumption through high user taxes, fuel economy/emission standards, and an annual road tax.
Once a year I get a Dutch car catalogue. Besides the prices and specs of each vehicel is the annual road tax to keep the plates on. This is steeply graduated against high HP, and car weight. This is on top of the $98,000 that a Jeep grand Cherokee costs there, which also has to burn the $7.50/gal. gasoline. You get the picture.
At one time in the past the US was more than self-sufficient in oil, it was a net exporter of cars, trade deficits were unknown, and Global Warming was not an issue.
We are still behaving as if those conditions still existed.
I thnk that people should use public transportation not raise the price of gas, walk to work, use a bicycle to work. I MEED MY VEHICLE FOR WORK A PICK UP TRUCK!!! I live on a fixed income, so raising the price of gas or taxing gas makes me poorer and poorer. What are you thinking about, yes walk, bike or use public transportation it is available in WISCONSIN MILWAUKEE buy a bus pass leave your gas guzzling vehicle at home save money.
Taxing the oil companies more would RAISE the gas prices. Politicians who think the opposite have opened their minds too far, and their brains fell out.
And nobody has built any new refineries because the EPA permits are too hard to get.
It would work if the intersections are redesigned to eliminate right-angle conflicts. But people would complain about not being able to have rectangular lots for their houses. Many lots would be octagonal or triangular.
We don’t need a massive program to create alternative fuels. When the price goes high enough, the alternative fuels will be cheaper.
People who think government is th4e answer for everything need to look at the truth: Government is the most inefficient thing on this planet. It’s like a camel: An ill-assorted collection of poorly matching parts, forming a distressing whole.
Problems are really solved once a market for the solution appears. Once people want to buy the solution, then companies will start producing products that meet their needs.
Look at all the energy-efficiency gains we are already getting, without the aid of some government bureaucrat with an expired brain trying to run the show:
- Compact fluorescents
- LED traffic signals (and soon, lightbulbs)
- Hybrid vehicles
- Washing machines that use less power and don’t tear the clothes up
- Solar-powered school-crossing warning signs
- Electrostatic fans
- Hybrid buses
- Solar-assisted hybrids
- Telecommuting
- Large solar panels
- High efficiency furnaces and water heaters
But beware of the charlatans producing fake products:
- Hydrogen generators that run off the electricity produced by the gasoline engine (they use more power than they make)
- Hydrogen power in general (it uses MORE energy to convert other energy sources to hydrogen)
- All of those gas-saving gadgets that don’t work. Some reduce your mileage.
- Homemade energy kits that make hydrogen - CAUTION: If you put salt in them, they make CHLORINE too. POISON!
- Devices you can attach to an appliance to make it use less power. They fool the meters used to measure the power used, but don’t really save power.
- The absolutely ridiculous idea of unplugging equipment with remote controls when it is not being used. It will use more energy while you are putting all of the settings back in than it saved while it was unplugged.
- Light rail - Unless there are plenty of people going between the same two destinations, it will waste energy.
- Tom & Ray’s drive to save the environment - Our newspaper decided to save trees by removing their column.
- Bicycles seem like a nice idea, until you find out how many traffic accidents bike riders cause because they won’t obey the traffic laws.
Nobody except a consumer ever pays taxes. All taxes on companies appear in the purchase price of their products. There is no other way these business taxes can be paid. The worker is taxed, because he alone produces wealth when he works.
And just what fairy supplies the money to reduce the price?
We are surrounded by econcompoops! These are people who believe that government has the power to do anything it wants and have the result come out the way government wants it. Unfortunately, the rules of real life experience show that:
- Government can’t control the economy without making a big mess of it.
- Markets always try to balance, whether or not government wants them to.
- Usually, when a market is unbalanced by government action, it rebalances itself in such a way as to either undo the government action or make a worse mess than the original problem.
- When government tries to control the price of a product to be lower than what it costs to make it, nobody makes the product.
- When government tries to raise the wages of workers higher than what employers can afford to pay, nobody is hired, and the employers go out of business or move to foreign countries.
- When government raises taxes, businesses move out of the country or go bankrupt. People can’t afford to live on their incomes, jobs disappear, and mortgages are foreclosed.
- When government tries to make the price of a product higher, too much of the product is made.
- When government subsidizes health care for the poor, it raises the price of health care for the rest of the people.
- The stimulus package will not cause people to spend more money. It will instead let them pay down their debts.
In short, when government does ANYTHING to the economy, the effect will not be the effect government wanted to occur.
But who are YOU to say what the “right” result is.
The free market always delivers the final result, no matter what government does. When government tries to do something about it, it causes the wrong intermediate result. This is because the economy is much bigger than any government’s power. Individuals making buying and hiring choices, when taken collectively, undo any attempt of government to control such choices.
We will get more fuel efficiency when the market demands it, and not before. But I see the market already demanding it without government meddling.
Trying to control the economy through government regulation is like trying to scotch-tape shaving cream to a cloudburst.
And an elected government can’t be any smarter than the least intelligent voter.
Stop worshiping government, and you will be better off.
Costs to society depend on who says they are costs. Therefore, they are fictions.
Economic decisions can never be made collectively. Individuals choose what to buy and when. This is why the government can’t control the economy.
How do I use public transportation when I work in three different towns on different days of the week, and the bus goes to each town once a day?
How do I carpool. Nobody else has the same work schedule.
You econompoops who use pocket calculators to figure general costs of different vehicles, and then make up one rule for everyone, belong in jail. You have no right to intrude into the lives of others to satisfy your groundless fears.
As long as government keeps its big fat destructive nose out of the economy, it will take care of itself. It’s government meddling that makes messes. And that includes the OPEC governments.
If any senator introduces such a tax, he will be voted out by many angry citizens who resent government meddling in their lives.
We need a global reduction of government, not driving. That would eliminate the hot air rising from politicians.
The economics works like this. Many jobs that might have been economically feasible with gas a 25? will not be when gas is at $4.00. With the price of gas going up at a known rate will alert those who have those jobs or employ people in those jobs that something much change.
There are several possible changes. The cost of the product or service may go up or the delivery method change orit will not be delivered.
Some people will find themselves without a job. They will then find that there are new jobs opening up. With the cost of fuel higher, then the corner food market will become more desirable (economically feasible). Likewise public transit will need more employees etc. and others will end up there.
Under these conditions there are winners, loosers and whiners. You chose which you want to be.
Here’s another issue with the tax. You’re assuming that the cost of the gasoline will remain steady while you tax it, and/or go down as you reduce comsumption. This is possible in a normal supply and demand style market. HOWEVER, both the production and price of oil is tightly controlled by OPEC. IF we succeed in significantly cutting our consumption, and so do other markets, OPEC will simply cut production to match. This would result in an increase in the price of oil, so that in the end we’re all still paying the same money for less fuel to be able to drive the same amount.
The only practical way to reduce consumption is to promote public transportation. People simply don’t have any other alternatives, in many cases, to driving A LOT simply for work and daily life.
As for Joseph E Meehan, your ideas about jobs are ludicrous. The loss of so many jobs, coupled with the increase in food and heating costs would drive this country into the worst economic depression it’s ever seen.