We are whiners when it comes to cheap gas. We have a strong sense of entitlement when it comes to Big Vehicles at Fast Speeds. It’ll be interesting to see if and when there’s a common sense, short-run response to high prices (smaller vehicles, slower speeds, car pooling, less driving, living closer to work). I’m old enough to remember Carter’s 55 mph speed limit and our near-universal rejection of it. It’s a question of pain threshold- don’t know when we’ll hit ours.
Gasoline at higher prices might mean that Americans stop using cars three times as big as anyone (or near anyone) needs, and American car companies might start making efficient vehicles, and Americans might stop consuming four times their fair share of the world’s irreplaceable resources, and might stop creating four times their fair share of greenhouse gases. Might – but I am not holding my breath.
Of course, if you really need a two-ton SUV to haul your groceries back from the supermarket, then fine – but do you?
I live in the UK. Gasoline is about $7.50 per gallon here – we manage.
In the long run, we might find cheap alternate energy. That is a solution but we don’t have it yet. Partly, we don’t have it because Carter tried to fund research on it but Reagan decided he could keep oil cheap by sponsoring the iraq/iran war instead. We lost 26 years worth of funded research.
Now we need a solution. Maybe we can license one from china, they appear to be doing more research on it than we are.
Would it have been better if I had said “Acknowledge that there is a problem” rather than “Stop whining”? I think it amounts to the same thing.
Perhaps you should read around my blog a little more: I opposed the invasion of Iraq and I oppose the invasion of Iran. I’ve opposed every military action by the U. S. for the last 30 years.
For nearly as long I’ve supported elimination of subsidies on oil consumptino and supported a price stabilization tax on gasoline to push the price even higher (in which case federal subsidies for research on alternative fuels would not have been necessary).
Perhaps I should also remind you that during the Reagan Administration the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives over the entire period. Our energy problems are emphatically not a Republican-only problem—they’re bipartisan idiocy.
Yes, “Acknowledge that there is a problem” is much better in my eyes. I’m glad we agree, they didn’t seem the same to me.
And yes, the low funding for alternate energy has been bipartisan. Clinton didn’t particularly push it, and it hasn’t been a priority during Democraty or Republican control of congress. Carter failed to make his point in a way that persuaded the mass of voters.
We are whiners when it comes to cheap gas. We have a strong sense of entitlement when it comes to Big Vehicles at Fast Speeds. It’ll be interesting to see if and when there’s a common sense, short-run response to high prices (smaller vehicles, slower speeds, car pooling, less driving, living closer to work). I’m old enough to remember Carter’s 55 mph speed limit and our near-universal rejection of it. It’s a question of pain threshold- don’t know when we’ll hit ours.
Gasoline at higher prices might mean that Americans stop using cars three times as big as anyone (or near anyone) needs, and American car companies might start making efficient vehicles, and Americans might stop consuming four times their fair share of the world’s irreplaceable resources, and might stop creating four times their fair share of greenhouse gases. Might – but I am not holding my breath.
Of course, if you really need a two-ton SUV to haul your groceries back from the supermarket, then fine – but do you?
I live in the UK. Gasoline is about $7.50 per gallon here – we manage.
Most analysts point out that demand from India and China have much more to do with crude prices than American SUVs.
And remember, Kyoto was dead from the start because emerging economies were exempt from certain kinds of “fair share” strictures.
We need some kind of solution.
“Stop whining” is not a solution.
Invading iraq and iran is not a solution.
In the long run, we might find cheap alternate energy. That is a solution but we don’t have it yet. Partly, we don’t have it because Carter tried to fund research on it but Reagan decided he could keep oil cheap by sponsoring the iraq/iran war instead. We lost 26 years worth of funded research.
Now we need a solution. Maybe we can license one from china, they appear to be doing more research on it than we are.
J Thomas:
Would it have been better if I had said “Acknowledge that there is a problem” rather than “Stop whining”? I think it amounts to the same thing.
Perhaps you should read around my blog a little more: I opposed the invasion of Iraq and I oppose the invasion of Iran. I’ve opposed every military action by the U. S. for the last 30 years.
For nearly as long I’ve supported elimination of subsidies on oil consumptino and supported a price stabilization tax on gasoline to push the price even higher (in which case federal subsidies for research on alternative fuels would not have been necessary).
Perhaps I should also remind you that during the Reagan Administration the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives over the entire period. Our energy problems are emphatically not a Republican-only problem—they’re bipartisan idiocy.
Dave, thank you.
Yes, “Acknowledge that there is a problem” is much better in my eyes. I’m glad we agree, they didn’t seem the same to me.
And yes, the low funding for alternate energy has been bipartisan. Clinton didn’t particularly push it, and it hasn’t been a priority during Democraty or Republican control of congress. Carter failed to make his point in a way that persuaded the mass of voters.