Opinion: What's really behind America's pain at the pump

NBC News / Comcast ^ | April 16, 2022 | By Anne Lutz Fernandez

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Every time gas prices spike, the same questions get asked: Why are gas prices so high? Who’s to blame? What will bring them down?

These aren’t terrible questions, and they’re logical in a country where the majority of people are car owners. But the fact that we keep having these questions, decade after decade, suggests they’re also insufficient.

A better question may be: Why does gas price volatility have the power to cause so much pain? The answer, of course, is parked in America’s driveways.

What this tells us is when it comes to costs, gas isn’t the crux of the problem — cars are. What gas price spikes do is pierce the fantasy that our transportation system, overly dependent on cars, is sustainable.

So what to do? It must be made safer and easier for people to be able to drive less and be more mobile through smarter planning, low-cost pedestrian and cycling infrastructure and vastly improved and expanded transit. And if owners realize they may be spending more on their vehicles than they imagined and can spend less to get what they need, they can help make the next gas price spike a less painful one.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Anne Lutz Fernandez, who writes on education and transportation issues, is the author, with Catherine Lutz, of “Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and its Effect on Our Lives.”

[Organic Panic]

The same thing behind so many little girls.....

[CodeToad]

Propaganda. The left knows they have putting the squeeze on oil.

[rktman]

Everybody knows it’s the putin price hike. :>}

[ComputerGuy]

White nationalists

[MNJohnnie]

so once again NBC ignores all fact to repeat the Leftist political dogmas and lies.

This is naked propaganda, not journalism

[Houserino]

They can always try and blame peak oil again, which I think they’re on the verge of doing from the looks of their agenda.

[Aeneas2112]

And rassism’

[Leaning Right]

Here’s what NBC is saying. It’s all the fault of the average American for wanting the freedom to drive his own car, and go where he wants to go. This problem can be fixed by more government spending, and more top-down government control.

[Dragonspirit]

They always filibuster with excessive jargon. What they want is (other) people to take the bus and ride bikes. They don’t like car ownership. It’s too individual.

[Da Coyote]

What’s really behind America’s lack of logic and reasoning?

Collections of low-IQ folks who’ve never created anything and choose to make a living by writing about pretending to know how life actually works. You listinin’, media?

[Dr. Pritchett]

Agreed! I guess their point is that our car culture is just plain wrong. We need to be more like Europe obviously!! Including the 32 hour work week and more vacation!

[OrioleFan]

Oil driven above $85/bbl - you get another Putin war. How did we get there? Look to the White House and the greenies.

[ConservativeInPA]

Complete and utter tripe. They cannot even be taken seriously. This article is the equivalent of a high school English take on economics without ever studying economics. Oh look, Anne Lutz Fernandez has been teaching English in Connecticut public middle and high schools for 15 years. She has degrees in political science and English.

Most teachers are not qualified to teach kindergarten. Fernandez may be qualified to teach English, but she should stick to English. She is an economic moron.

[T. P. Pole]

Ah yes, the reason gas prices are so high is because we don’t have enough bike paths. I get it.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Everybody knows it’s the putin price hike. :>}"

Brandon did that....

[angry elephant]

Private planes are okay, though. When there is a climate convention hundreds of private planes arrive.

[rktman]

Or a WEF event. World Elite Forum.

[BiteYourSelf]

🐄🖕💩

[Political Junkie Too]

When there is a climate convention hundreds of private planes arrive.

And then all the electric shuttle vehicles run out of power with not enough charging stations to keep the fleet going. Diesel generators have to be brought in to keep the elites' EV shuttles running.

-PJ