Gas Price

[Bisquait]

Have you heard that the price of gas in the U.S. is cheap compared to the International rate of $5 to $6 a gallon?

Not the International rate. Please check your facts first. That would be more likely European rates, and northern Europe at that. Meanwhile, gas in South American, Middle East and Eastern countries are 10% of what we pay.

Have you heard that the U.S. government is considering emposing a $2 to $3 per gallon tax on the gas we buy? This is an effort to raise our awareness of our dependancies on oil, generate revenue for improving mass transit, and to get us to drive less, which will improve our air quality.

I agree we should be -much- more aware of our oil depedency situation, but such a radical move would cause a revolt. It certainly wouldn't even be talked about with our current pro-oil President/Congress, and even a very liberal President/Congress would have to implement a program making extremely gradual changes. Humans are creatures of habit, and by nature afraid of change. If you change too much too quickly, you will begin to disassociate your constituents. Politicians know this very well. Conspiracy theories such as this $3/gallon tax should fall into the same category as UFO-coverups and Elvis sightings.

[JAFO]

Not the International rate. Please check your facts first. That would be more likely European rates, and northern Europe at that. Meanwhile, gas in South American, Middle East and Eastern countries are 10% of what we pay.

Yes, prices vary but this does not dispute the fact that internationally we are at the lower third of what countries pay for gas.
http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lis...bal_gasprices/
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005...s_interna.html

I agree we should be -much- more aware of our oil depedency situation, but such a radical move would cause a revolt. It certainly wouldn't even be talked about with our current pro-oil President/Congress, and even a very liberal President/Congress would have to implement a program making extremely gradual changes. Humans are creatures of habit, and by nature afraid of change. If you change too much too quickly, you will begin to disassociate your constituents. Politicians know this very well. Conspiracy theories such as this $3/gallon tax should fall into the same category as UFO-coverups and Elvis sightings.

Sorry no conspiracy, this is reality! Ironically this was exactly their point, "Humans are creatures of habit...", this is why they are proposing this option. To force us into conservation. This may or may not happen, but this was presented to congress by Ben Bernanke the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve.
http://www.businessandmedia.org/news...s20060216b.asp

[Maugan_VX]

I can't even begin to express my shock ans awe at the profound ignorance that this proposed legislation displays.

While I'm not opposed to market forces driving the price of oil up and down, the government needs to butt the hell out of legislating behavior. (Same goes for taxing alcohol and cigarettes)

I hope everyone realizes just how much you'll be paying for everyday items like food, clothes, or anything that needs to be hauled BY A TRUCK or a PLANE if fuel prices were to artificially increase to $6 a gallon.

Please don't mistake my comments as anti-alternative fuels, I just don't think that taxing society into submission is the way to do it.

[Bisquait]

JAFO - the link you posted discusses Robert Frank (not Bernanke) "suggesting" a gas-tax in an article he wrote for the Times (not proposing it to congress). The article you are referencing is negating your own arguement.

I guess I would have two main points here.
A) Dont facilitate without checking facts first. And even then, be sure to subjectively look at said "facts", because...
B) Statistics can be altered. A prime example is the other link you posted. Sure, they happened to talk about 5 or 6 countries that have higher gas prices than we do. But I'm sure if you were on the other side of the argument, you could show 30 countries that have lower gas prices than we do. Then we'd be at the top of the list, and the article could have a completely different meaning. Point is, dont believe everything you see or read, especially from your government and definitely not the media.

I notice there's another thread thats following along the same discussion. Maybe an admin could combine the two threads?