40 - 50k isn't an expensive vehicle. 200 - 300k is expensive. When you live in a neigihborhood where everyone on the block has a 100k car, then you're living with the well to do. All the rest are posers, and probably can't afford teh 3/gal gas. Art
I'm not going to bother quoting all of that various stuff, but here are my answers in a nutshell. 1. As it happens, I am selling a very reliable car even as we speak. It's 5 years old, has a driver and passenger airbag, it has done duty w/ (2) baby seats in the back (and 2 adults in the front), and it regularly gets 34mpg. $2500 and it's yours...and there are many like it available right now. 2. Nobody "needs" to tow a boat or a trailer. This is silly. If you're referring to people who tow for a living, obviously that's not who we're talking about. 3. There are plenty of cars available that get good mpg that easily fit 4 or even 5 people. Only a very small % of families "need" a minivan. Yes, it is more convenient, but you don't need it. 4. The idea that an Excursion can be a practical family vehicle (even a diesel) is exactly what I'm talking about. If you were actually worried about mpg/practicality, you'd be looking at something like a used 4 cyl. Camry. My step-mom has one of those, and it gets 30mpg on the hwy w. 4 people in it. Anyway, I'm not saying that you're a bad person for driving these cars. I'm saying that if you drive these gas sucking cars, you have no room to complain about high gas prices, because you are the reason the prices remain high, even after the crisis of Katrina (vis a vis fuel) is past. Nobody stopped buying gas when the price went up, so why lower it? The same goes for recreational gas use, or long commutes, etc. I'm not saying that I wouldn't/don't do any of this stuff. I'm simply saying that every person who drived 50+ miles/day, and/or drives a Canyonero supports the current gas pricing we see every day...it's not because Big Petro is robbing you of your God-given right to unlimited cheap gas.
Nobody had a choice. Our economy is built upon fuel--be it gas for cars, fuel for electricity, and diesel for product shipping. Going to work is not an option for most, so not buying gas to get there is a lame argument. DDT--we live in a BIG country and it requires gas to get to places. Asking someone to double the cost of their home so they can have less of a commute to save gas isn't much of a savings. Unless you expect everyone to live like sardines packed into confined areas where everything is under a mile away, your suggestions won't work. There is a reason suburbs exist--turns out a lot of people don't like to live in a city. And now that suburbs are too expensive to afford, people move further out. Hell, I work 22 miles from home, which is close to your 50 mile/day commute limit and I consider that CLOSE to work.
BTW, you think 30mpg gasser at $3.25/gal is better than 25mpg disel at $2.90/gal? Over a 300 mile basis (a good weekly comparison), you've saved $2.
You are entirely missing my point. I simply said that these are the reasons gas is expensive, not Big Evil Petroleum companies. That's it. If you think it's a good idea to drive 45 miles/day in your Canyonero to get to work, that's perfectly fine...just don't complain about the gas prices that you are creating. That's all I'm saying. There's a reason gas is $3/gallon--turns out alot of people don't like to drive small cars or live close to work. I do it myself...in fact, my commute coincidentally is also 22 miles. Sometimes I do the drive in the wife's 21mpg minivan. What does this mean? It means that $3 gas is my fault too.
As I recall, the first real inkling (at least in my lifetime) that the general public had that there was a remote chance of petroluem as a cheap energy source was a finite resource was the winter of 1973-74. We got a taste of rapidly rising prices and very limited availability. A hell of a lot of development of business and residential property has happened in the intervening years. We COULD have made a choice then to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels, but we went back to our wasteful ways like a crack addict turned loose in a DEA evidence room. We are having this discussion on a board set up for a sport that burns fossil fuels for fun. One of the largest (if not the largest) spectator sport in the US, NASCAR, relies on the same fuels for fun and entertainment. A significant portion of our economy is based on convenience, not necessity. We wait in our cars, engines running, to get food, do our banking, get coffee and pick up our clothes from the cleaners. The average house in the US is significantly larger than most other countries. This requires more resources to build and maintain. Many of us have multiple motorcycles, and/or more cars than licensed drivers in the household. All of these take energy to produce and deliver even if you never drive them. Most of the products we buy are packaged in petroleum derived products. As long as it was cheap, most gave no thought to the long term consequences. We made choices, and we are now paying for those choices. There will be a time of reckoning and we will have to adapt but don't kid yourself that we didn't have a choice.
Well, as long as we all buy stock in Exxon, the dividends and market value will help all of us pay for the over-inflated prices that we pay.
Basically to the average USA consumer gas is still a bargain at $3.00. Otherwise we would see a change in behavior. Everyone likes to bitch but most are unwilling to make changes. Gas is still cheap at $3.00. Just wait until it hits $4.00.
Americans are doing something. These prices are the best thing that could happen to the US. Everyone is talking now about why the hell we don't have more efficient cars AND SUV and full size trucks sales have plummeted over the last 2 years. The automotive industry is taking not too. There are hybrids now that look like normal cars and not alien vehicles. These a small steps but it shows that they are taking notice.
