No one enjoys high priced gasoline. Today (4/28/06) self-serve regular was $3.50 at the station where I regularly fill up. I am not a holier than thou, look at me and do as I do. I drive a wonderfully fine example of a gigantic, bloated Detroit pig iron. But if the price of gas stays high, my next vehicle will be fuel efficient. I’d rather not as I do like the comfort, the ride, the “power everything” road hog beast that my lending institution and I jointly own today. However, I do also know that there are autos on the market today that get 50+ mpg and I’ll buy one if the price of gas stays high. Today’s paper reported that the same gas was over $6 in London, UK. The Brits have a national energy policy. Most European nations have had a national energy policy for three decades. Because they have such a policy, they also have mass transit systems that work to get people to work, school, shopping, and back home at night. They have fuel efficient vehicles. They work seriously at energy conservation. They are already commercially developing alternative energy sources of wind, hydro, tides, solar, bio-mass, and nuclear. They are way, way ahead of us. All the ridiculous, mealy-mouthed proposals of the last few days are anti-environment, pandering of the worst kind to the energy ignorant, and a black blot of shame for any true conservative. Politicians of that ilk are living examples of crawdad conservatives. Crawdads, spineless mudbugs, jump backwards into their slimy mud holes for protection. Government (that’s us) taxes things to get less of something. WE tax tobacco to reduce smoking. WE tax alcohol to reduce drinking. WE tax capitol gains because WE do not want too much investment in jobs producing business. WE tax consumption to get less consumption. WE have had 35 years to get our national energy policy on the right track and have been unable to get the job done because WE are addicted to cheap fuels. Today and for the future, if we want to reduce the price of gas WE have to RAISE TAXES on gasoline. Yes, it will hurt temporarily. Taking out the thorn always does. It will only get better if we take out the thorn. Yes, the price of gas will go up. People will learn to drive less. People will learn to choose, and to plan trips in their vehicles more carefully. They will learn to share rides and carpool. They will learn how to take the bus to work. They will demand of themselves through their government that there will be fuel efficient transit systems (and pay for them by taxing vehicle fuel). They will buy fuel efficient vehicles, or learn to do without one altogether. DEMAND will drop, well - like a rock in gasoline. The Saudi and friends cartel will reduce the price at the well head to try to convince us to buy gas guzzling SUV’s again. It worked the first time. Americans are stupid. They’ll do it again. HIGHER TAXES on gas will lower DEMAND. Lower DEMAND will increase SUPPLY as unsold gas supplies will surge upward, PRICES AT THE PUMP will plummet, and we will have cheap gas again. When I see the pandering pimps that we call politicians on TV telling their straight faced lies, I shout back, “Liar, liar, pants on fire!” The Republicans have had the sweet taste of power and don’t want to lose the cash flow teat again. The Democrats are desperate to regain their opportunity to suck our democracy dry. Every pol on TV already knows the correct answer. They already know exactly how to bring down the price of gas. RAISE TAXES on gas. We could do it without higher taxes, but that won’t work. All we have to do is convince 100,000,000 motorists to each decide to buy ten gallons less than they are now during the next year. Half a tank of gas. Added together, this is 1,000,000,000 [That’s BILLION !] gallons of gas sitting around waiting for someone to purchase it. Gas sitting in a fuel farm tank, or at your local gas station NEEDS to be purchased and used. If it is not, the price drops - well - like a rock in gasoline. So how do we MAKE it happen: RAISE TAXES on gasoline. How can this crazy idea possibly work? It works because it squeezes out the overpricing caused by excessive DEMAND. Demand pushed prices upward. All it takes is enough people simply deciding that they will drive a little less. About 200 miles a year less. Drive a tiny bit more conservatively. Drive without rabbit starts. Stick to 50, or 55 mph, not 65. Plan your trips to eliminate unnecessary miles. Decide to stay at home and play catch with John Jr., and hopscotch with sister Sue. Pop some popcorn, and invite the neighbors over for a friendly game of cards, conversation, and yelling humorous unprintable expletives at the spineless mudbug pols on TV. You accomplish several things. You get to know your kids better. You get to know your neighbors better. You build your vocabulary. You can easily save ten gallons of gas. You will be helping build energy efficient cars, wind, water, solar, and hydrogen power systems. You will be encouraging the construction of mass transit systems, creating “stay at home in the USA” high paying jobs, building the national economy, and you will really be sticking it to the big oil companies. You will reduce DEMAND. The Saudi’s and friends cartel have to sell their oil to keep their economies going. They need a constant supply of our money. They will sell more oil for the same, or a lower price, to get it. SUPPLY goes Up, PRICE goes DOWN. Don’t be fooled. The lower the price of crude the more oil they must pump out of the ground. We must then have the guts to continue the taxes on fuels to keep oil prices low, without also encouraging the return of the gas guzzlers. We will have to control their breeding with other measures. Check this out. Price / gallon $3 $6 $9 Mpg 20, or less 40, or better 60, maybe so Price / mile $0.15 / mile $0.15 / mile $0.15 / mile What controls the equations above? Not price per gallon, but miles per gallon. Price is the least important variable. Don’t let the lying politicians stampede you into thinking that BIG BAD OIL did this current situation of high gas prices to you. You did this to you. Heck, I did this to me. I knew exactly what I was doing when I bought my guzzling behemoth. I wanted my current vehicle. It was BIG and BRIGHT, and SHINEY. I knew it was likely that the price at the pump would go up. I bought it anyway. The Devil did not make me do it. I did it. I chose my BIG RED Detroit Pig Iron deliberately. Pig Iron pigs out on pig food. That’s gasoline folks. We can all join together and put our big fat pigs on a slight diet and we can ride them a little bit less. It is that easy and that hard. There are otherwise no easy answers. Don’t let yourself get sidetracked with the argument about refinery capacity. That is bogus. WE didn’t want any more refineries built because WE are NIMBY’s. WE made it impossibly expensive for them to be built by pricing them out of the financial reach of even BIG BAD HIGH PROFIT OIL. WE reversed the capitalist equation that usually works to lower prices for us. Now, WE will have to re-reverse that equation to get what we say WE want. It will not be very easy to do. It would most likely not be good for us to try. REMEMBER, it is not the price of the gas that is important, it is supply, and it is the gas mileage of our vehicles that is supremely important.
(c) Copyright 2006: George Wallace brings 28 years in the classroom to bear on this subject. He recently published a book on religion which lashes out at nearly all of the comfortable ideas about God, organized religion, and the priesthood. His pithy suggestions for a return to a God-centered religion will interest everyone. This article may be freely reprinted so long as all copyright attributions, and the full content of this resource box are included. www.OhGodIsThatYou.com
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