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Posted by on March 30, 2008, 7:08 pm
> hall...@aol.com wrote:
> > On Mar 29, 5:14?pm, websu...@cox.net wrote:
> >> should loosen smog regulations on gasoline and additives, to help
> >>> bring price down a little
>
> >>> temporarily suspend the federal gasoline tax
>
> >> That gas tax isn't enough to make a difference. ?RAISE the tax, and
> >> use it for alternative development, efficient mass transit, etc.
>
> > unrestrained higher costs of gasoline means less spending on
> > everything else.............
>
> Exactly. Fuel use is virtually inelastic. Price goes up, people pay it or
> starve, lose their jobs, or suffer other dire consequences. Gone are the
> days when people "went for a drive." Virtually all travel is a necessity.
>
> As for using increased tax revenues to fund, say, mass transit. It takes
> five years to lay track. So 100% of the drivers in my town would be charged
> extra amounts so that five years from now, 2% of the population will have
> the opportunity to use rail transit? Really bad trade-off. Really bad.
The alternative is that in 5 years, you'll still be paying huge
amounts for gas, but you WON'T have mass transit. That's even worse.
We screwed up mass transit a long time ago, and correcting that will
be costly, but not impossible.
Furthermore, you don't have to have rails for MT. You CAN use busses,
which don't take anywhere near 5 years to implement, and the routes
can be changed immediately at no cost as situations warrant. Not the
best answer, but it is and answer.
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Posted by on April 1, 2008, 1:09 am
On Mar 30, 5:19 pm, d...@manx.misty.com (Don Klipstein) wrote:
>snip of some good stuff<
>
> - Don Klipstein (d...@misty.com)
I can't disagree with most of what you said.
The efficiency with which tax money is spent is a major issue,
somewhat separate from the encouragement of fuel efficiency by raising
its cost.
Two problems, two solutions that might be related.
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Posted by on March 30, 2008, 7:12 pm
> On Mar 29, 5:14=EF=BF=BDpm, websu...@cox.net wrote:
>
uld loosen smog regulations on gasoline and additives, to help
> > > bring price down a little
>
> > > temporarily suspend the federal gasoline tax
>
> > That gas tax isn't enough to make a difference. =EF=BF=BDRAISE the tax, =
and
> > use it for alternative development, efficient mass transit, etc.
>
> unrestrained higher costs of gasoline means less spending on
> everything else.............
>
> its killing our economy.
>
> might be better to take the hit on lost gas tax revenue, than pay tons
> more for unemployment welfare etc
The gas tax revenue is fairly small, but is supposed to be used to
fund roadways and improvements. Kill the tax, and in a few years the
roadways are in bad shape, at which time you pay more for repairs,
detours, etc. Dropping the tax is a short-term answer that creates a
long-term problem.
Anyway, if you kill the tax, and stop funding needed roadwork, you now
have roadworkers out of work, which adds to the unemployment. The gas
tax hasn't kept up with inflation and increased road needs for many
years now.
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Posted by HeyBub on March 29, 2008, 9:08 pm
hallerb@aol.com wrote:
>
> and most importandly change funding of all national elections
> completely. limit 100 bucks per person, no corporate giving to
> candidates.
>
> so our representives arent bought and sold anymore
The "special interests" are a counter to the mob. Sort of a
checks-and-balances, a division of power. The "mob" won't let the special
interests get too far afield, and the "special interests" act as a brake on
"gimme (oil, drugs, etc.) for free."
George Will proposed a simplified campaign finance law:
1. No cash,
2. No foreign contributions,
3. Instant disclosure.
That's it.
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Posted by gas on March 30, 2008, 8:17 am
On Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:02:11 -0700, hallerb@aol.com wrote:
> feds should loosen smog regulations on gasoline and additives, to help
> bring price down a little
>
> temporarily suspend the federal gasoline tax
>
> feds should allow cheap dirty econo car sales in the US for a limited
> number of years. low power they wouldnt be allowed on some roads, lower
> safety. but say 50 MPG minimum. such cars are sold in other countries
> thru out the world
Oh yeah, that's a great idea, because short-sightedness is in such short
supply already! Let's make sure to remove any financial incentive to
actually get away from our dependence on foreign oil. We also get the
lovely side benefits of more pollution and less safety. Fantastic.
Frankly, what's happening now is a reckoning that's been long in the
coming. If we as a nation had maintained the focus on reducing oil
consumption and dependence we had in the seventies, even in a toned down
fashion, we wouldn't be in the straits we are now.
The solution now is to explore alternatives. I'm looking into building a
zero-energy home right now and I'm amazed at how cheaply and practically
it can be done, depending of course on what part of the country you're
living in. Geothermal heat pumping (e.g. http://rebeeco.com/content/
view/15/15/ ) works pretty much anywhere in the U.S. and would greatly
reduce our environmental footprint. With fuel oil as high as it is, this
will greatly reduce our fuel costs as well.
Basically we've been lucky, spoiled and short-sighted for the last 30
years, and now we're paying for it. In order to solve the problem we need
less short-sightedness, not more. Or we could use your solution, and
leave the problem to our kids.
> and most importandly change funding of all national elections
> completely. limit 100 bucks per person, no corporate giving to
> candidates.
>
> so our representives arent bought and sold anymore
I agree with you in principle on that one.
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