Good idea - lets bump the federal tax on auto fuel way up (auto fuel only, not aviation fuels of course). This will force people to look for ways to reduce consumption thereby reducing demand on oil which will result in cheaper jet fuel. More people will fly since it will be much cheaper than driving ensuring job security for all of us! And as a bonus we can use the extra tax revenue to pay for nationalized health care! There - all our problems are solved!

 

I recently purchased a hybrid vehicle and doubled my fuel mileage in an insant. Better than double in fact. I see a lot of things on television talking about how paralyzing the cost of renewable energy, hydrogen vehicles, electric vehicles, and all the rest can be. They use big numbers like 10 billion dollars, or 6 billion dollars for another thing. And then I read that this war in Iraq, (not arguing for or against here) is costing about 12,000,000,000 PER MONTH.

If we used one month in Iraq and bought as many hybrids as possible it would be around 545454 vehicles. For one year that's about 6.5 million. That's at the price we paid. Obviously not a practical answer but still food for thought.

Maybe it is time for another Apollo style initiative to kick oil, responsibly over time. Sort of a "New Deal" for the 21st century.

 

He was connecting the necessity for higher gasoline taxes, not the price of crude oil, to the ability to pay for government sponsered programs such as socialized medicine in Europe. JP

 

save the petroleum for the jets....

let the people walk and ride bikes to the NuKe Power generated electrical trains.

 

Good point. If you take a look at some "newer" cities/metropolitan areas that saw growth, especially after WWII, they all suffer form that problem. The vast suburban growth, as well as the "white flight" escalated the suburbs and made public transportation networks completely unworkable. Instead of residential areas being built around the transit system, you know have to try and build the transit system in the residential area. Not an easy task.

Besides the tax issue, you have the issue of people simply not wanting the tracks to run through their neighborhood. They don't want the noise, nor the element that sometimes comes along with mass transit systems.

I live in one of the areas described above. On the last election, it was finally passed to build a rail system that will link downtown with the suburban metro areas,as well as the airport which is way outside the city. It should only take around 20 years to complete.

 

I remember seeing Prince Harry from the UK there in the warzone. Wonder where our leaderships kids are?

 

Every incentive we have to help save gas gets us kicked in the balls one way or another. Good example is diesel...............great mileage, but now it's 50 cents higher a gallon than gas. It's UNREFINED gas for crying out loud. Used to be a lot cheaper than gas, and you got a nice tax credit for buying diesel............now they screw you.

 

And now he's back if I'm not mistaken. His "secret" deployment got cut short after 10 weeks due to security/safety concerns.

Granted, he went.

I believe that two of McCain's sons are currently in Iraq

 

This is such a bogus argument. People don't fill their cars up with lattes to drive to work, nor do they fill up with water to drive to work either. They don't use a gallon of sunscreen at $85 either. They use GAS. Comparing gas to milk, water and lattes is just ridiculous.

 

I wonder how many barrels of oil it will take to produce that many new hybrid cars.

I absolutely agree. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like any of our candidates (much less the president) have suggestions that are good for the long-term prosperity of our people.