Well, no one ever said that current oil production would have to stop. That's what I meant when I said there would be a need for an additional expenditure up front (for subsidies to decrease purchase prices).

A 10% reduction in oil consumption due to wind and solar usage would certainly be nothing to dismiss when current nationwide consumption is taken into account.

Subsidies would at least lower current prices making those econoboxes more affordable than they are now, which is why a lot of them do keep sitting on dealer lots. At current prices, not breaking even until a person reaches 150,000 miles isn't much of an incentive, even if the buyer does know they'd be helping the environment the whole time. A person still has to make ends meet these days.

My VX is more of a weekender too. I've averaged about 2800 miles a year since buying mine.

And my question about the status quo was rhetorical. I already know it's not working. I was just hoping it would generate some ideas for possible solutions, not just more reasons why some things might not work.