Dems Take On Gas Woes?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, General PoliticsThis has been a topic of interest for me lately.
However, I wish (for once) that somebody would come out and not bag on the President to make their point on an issue. Just try to solve the problem. You’ll appear more genuine, and it’ll make for a better world because of it.
This is also an interesting (and scary) stat:
Ever penny increase in gasoline prices means that U.S. consumers pay about $1.39 billion extra at the pump each year, according to Senate Energy Committee data.
At the end of the day, we need to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. That’s the only way we control our economy and our way of of life.
This entry was posted on Monday, August 22nd, 2005 and is filed under Economy, General Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 23rd, 2005 at 3:44 am
For goodness sakes! How, How are we ever going to reduce dependence on oil from the Middle East and reduce CO2 emissions without making petroleum more expensive? Look, if we hold gasoline prices, people will continue to buy SUVs because they are perceived to be safer and more comfortable. If we force improved mileage upon them, people will drive more miles because they like freedom and mobility. Alternative energy sources are mostly too expensive relative to petroleum, and are viable only with public subsidies. Alternative energy sources are not going to break out unless the cost of petroleum rises and stays high relative to alternatives. It is that simple. Why can’t our policy makers get it.
August 23rd, 2005 at 9:49 am
Our policy-makers know that the last administration to impose scarcity, even accidentally, got voted out of office. It doesn’t show much leadership to throw up their hands and say “It’s not our doing” but it saves having to actually make a case for using less (and making wastrels pay), and it’s safe.
Things are changing. Commuter Cars noted some time ago that electric vehicles were considerably cheaper to run than internal combustion so long as you don’t need to make long-distance trips. The recent run-up in oil prices has only made this more true. Further, concentrator-Stirling solar powerplants appear likely to hit the market soon at $2/watt or less than 10¢/kWh. (Gasoline at $2.699/gallon is over 40¢/kWh at the wheels.) What we need is a policy push to get this stuff out there, get the economies of scale in production, and shove petroleum to the same status for transport energy that tallow candles now hold for lighting.
(No preview? Hope my HTML isn’t mangled… no way to check.)
August 24th, 2005 at 10:42 pm
[...] Personally, I don’t see a future where I’ll own one, especially given the high gas prices. I know of other types of cars that can accomodate youngsters (if kids are in my future) and keep them entertained. [...]
August 7th, 2006 at 5:35 am
Good job.