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Live near your work and services and use public transit. Simple. The guy probably wouldn't have been poor if he hadn't been sending all his disposable income to the middle east.
Not everybody lives in NYC, and most people don't have means to just pack up and move.
Yep they spend it on other things then turn around and scream how the infrastructure is falling apart and we have to do something about it when they're the ones robbing the fund to fix it to begin with. Classic DC game they play all the time. Those shovel ready jobs were supposed to save all the roads too. Wonder what happened to that trillion?
Just follow obama to all the campaign fund raisers and then you'll find where the money went.
If there is one thing we need to learn from this thread:
Quote:
Originally Posted by noexcuseforignorance
Energy is way too cheap in this country.
We Americans have NO idea how good we have it when it comes to energy costs. And because it is so cheap, we abuse it.
In my opinion, we should be taxing the hell out of oil products. Take the proceeds and dump it into alternative energy. We need to get the scientists and engineers of this country working on the problem. Then we'll need infrastructure improvements to handle whatever the outcome is. If we wait until oil is prohibitively expensive, its already too late. Private industry will not fix the problem themselves until it is profitable to do so. But, any change this large will take a lot of time. We need to start this now. Get used to paying higher energy prices now so that when the proverbial #2 hits the fan, we will be ready for it.
Of course, people will say "How can I afford if they suddenly raise the cost of gasoline (and other oil products)? How can you expect me to just conjure up the extra money?"
Funny part is that when Americans want something, we find a way to afford it.
Average cost of a cell phone plan per year: $600 (we all know this could be much higher with data plans, texting plans, etc)
What's my point? If there was a $1 per gallon gasoline tax right now, the average driver would be paying an extra $569 per year ( 14000 / 24.6 ), which is roughly the cost of their cell phone plan.
Remember when we didn't have cell phones? Remember not batting an eye when we took on this $50/mo toy (or $100/mo for some?). Now, think about what will happen when gas legitimately goes up to $4.37/gal and we have NOTHING to show for it except more US dollars leaving this country.
It is very obvious that Ms. Jackson and her cohorts are ready to pound us on the price of gasoline. They are ready to attempt to force a cut in the amount of sulfur in gasoline and I believe that they are pushing this one as part of the failure of the Congress to pass Cap and Trade for the administration.
It would be even cheaper if this administration didn't decide to punish folks for using energy they deem not worthy to drive their cars or heat their homes and dumped piles of taxpayer money down the green energy toilet.
Ya, the EPA! The goverment! Those evil nasty things!
And OIL COMPANIES have nothing to do with with the price of gas....REALLY!??????
Now, while I don't care about the oil companie's pollution since I'm old and won't see what happens to younger generations who won't have clean air or water....I think it's funny to blame everyone BUT those who can, and do, raise the price of gas at whim.
Are any of you upset that one reason oil companies gave last year for the increased gas prices wa because Americans WEREN'T USING ENOUGH!
Kinda knocks that old "supply and demand" crap on it's rear , doesn't it. And proves that the bloated oil companies can charge anyything they want....
If there is one thing we need to learn from this thread:
We Americans have NO idea how good we have it when it comes to energy costs. And because it is so cheap, we abuse it.
In my opinion, we should be taxing the hell out of oil products. Take the proceeds and dump it into alternative energy. We need to get the scientists and engineers of this country working on the problem. Then we'll need infrastructure improvements to handle whatever the outcome is. If we wait until oil is prohibitively expensive, its already too late. Private industry will not fix the problem themselves until it is profitable to do so. But, any change this large will take a lot of time. We need to start this now. Get used to paying higher energy prices now so that when the proverbial #2 hits the fan, we will be ready for it.
Of course, people will say "How can I afford if they suddenly raise the cost of gasoline (and other oil products)? How can you expect me to just conjure up the extra money?"
Funny part is that when Americans want something, we find a way to afford it.
Average cost of a cell phone plan per year: $600 (we all know this could be much higher with data plans, texting plans, etc)
What's my point? If there was a $1 per gallon gasoline tax right now, the average driver would be paying an extra $569 per year ( 14000 / 24.6 ), which is roughly the cost of their cell phone plan.
Remember when we didn't have cell phones? Remember not batting an eye when we took on this $50/mo toy (or $100/mo for some?). Now, think about what will happen when gas legitimately goes up to $4.37/gal and we have NOTHING to show for it except more US dollars leaving this country.
The one thing in your thoughtful post that I agree with 100% is: "Private industry will not fix the problem themselves until it is profitable to do so."
As long as there is a buck to be made by satisfying the needs and desires of society, all of our needs and desires will be met. A problem that is not profitable to fix is not a problem.
The problem with shoveling money into alternatives before they make economic sense is that most of the money will be wasted. Fund basic research, extend the frontiers of knowledge, but waste not a penny on trying to force alternatives before their time. The fact that this waste might only be as much as a cell phone bill does not offset the fact that wasting money makes us poorer.
A few years ago, we thought America had a 65 year supply of natural gas. Today, it looks like there are 200 years supply. Ten years ago, nobody imagined the oil bonanza that has sprung up in North Dakota. Wasting money today based on today's erroneous understanding of the future is foolish.
The market assures that each store in the country stocks the right proportions of apples and toilet paper and toothpaste, and it will assure that we have the optimal mix of energy today, a decade from now, and a century from now.
I would gladly move to a city with public transportation but first I got to sell the damn house ohh and have you noticed that now is a great time and inventory, I will have NO problems doing that (joke) , and the taxes property in NYC and affordable rents just make it a good choice for me. SOME people have no choice but to rely on their car due to high property tax close to their work, high rents close to their work or they cant sell their damn house due to what happened!! Lots of people moved furthur out to cheaper areas away from big cities to commute and raise a family and have a home. THey could not afford the high costs of living near their work due to sky rocketing real estate, and property tax. Now they want to kill us with the gas and no public transportation!! While the funny part is the section 8's and welfare are in the citys and dont work were we need to work!!!!! We need to trade places with the welfare people if gas keeps going up, while they sit home!!!
The market assures that each store in the country stocks the right proportions of apples and toilet paper and toothpaste, and it will assure that we have the optimal mix of energy today, a decade from now, and a century from now.
I call that the Mussolinian Approach to government.
"The corporate State considers that private enterprise in the sphere of production is the most effective and useful instrument in the interest of the nation"
- Benito Mussolini, Fascism: Doctrine and Institutions
Fund basic research, extend the frontiers of knowledge, but waste not a penny on trying to force alternatives before their time.
That's an important point, most of the subsidies given to green tech are for production instead of R&D. Imagine if the billions of dollars a year wasted on these projects was funneled to R&D. You want to see results? Shift those funds to a billion dollar prize for whoever can beat the cost of coal.
I'll make another important point about subsidies:
“If I wanted to kill [tax subsidies], the thing to do is for Exxon Mobil to go and invest heavily in them and then Congress would immediately cancel the tax subsidy. Actually what they would do is they would just cancel it for us,” said Mr.Tillerson, during the annual analyst meeting at the New York Stock Exchange.
He added: “In reality, that is what I fear would happen. So we are not going to go into investments that are dependent on a government providing a tax system to make them viable.”
Why should the largest private energy company in the world with vast resources and knowledge not want to get involved with new tech? Having said that since making this comment they have invested 600 million in algae research. Why should their product have to compete against ethanol?
I call that the Mussolinian Approach to government.
"The corporate State considers that private enterprise in the sphere of production is the most effective and useful instrument in the interest of the nation"
- Benito Mussolini, Fascism: Doctrine and Institutions
Interesting quotation, EG. But Benny had a thing about centralized control, so I fixed his statement:
"A free people considers that private enterprise in the sphere of production is the most effective and useful instrument in the interest of citizens in a free society."
This is a little more reflective of the American experience.
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