Replies

“Why don't we just tax gasoline a bit more so that consumption goes down.” You say.

The government thinking for the people does not work. Have German tobacco taxes reduced the use of tobacco? However, Germany did discover the catalytic converter a DECADE after the US, unleaded fuel a DECADE after the US. Here’s a little fact for you. My Jeep SUV (1995) with a 5.2L V-8 uses a little more than a 1978 BMW 520 I once had. In the long run technology will solve the problem. Hydrogen, battery, hybrid or whatever which partially already exist will replace the conventional Otto engine.

What will your thinking bring? Disaster. Even in Germany, you’re completely dependent on the car for mobility. Without it, you may find yourself in a “Dorf” with little to buy or do. The whole state subsidized public transportation only works in major metropolitan areas and even then is a big hole the government pumps money into year after year. Modern housing development is more suburb and spread out. People work in Frankfurt but live in Bad Homburg. Though the German politician sold you a good lie so that they can rob you a bit more, these taxes are UNsocial, and have NOTHING to do with environmentalism.

Explain how I as an Alaskan living in a snowy place that gets to -70F with gravel roads am supposed to function with your high priced fuel? Do you want to have a bus to drive 2 kids 30 miles one way for school?

“Isn't it amazing that China will soon have higher fuel efficiency standards than the US?” You say.

Oh-more of this BS from you guys. So-Who had recycling first? You copied the whole concept from us. However today you typically go stupid and instead of making it a profitable and functioning system you create a “Gruene Punkt” that is running deficits and is BS. Much of the trash ends up on the dump anyway, some gets burned and it’s so costly that the Germans take their trash and ship it around the earth to Indonesia to be dumped. By the way, who had scrubbers first? Oh-the US. You burn the cheapest coal there is and because Nuclear power is taboo you build more coal burning plants! You’re insane.

Oeko crap we don’t care for. We don’t want our economy to implode such as yours. We don’t want to live in a socialist world where the state manages your life for you. It’s a sick outlook on life that is economically dysfunctional.

“Why is a country so focused on independence, so blind to its oil addiction? with our greatest enemies as the big suppliers.” You say

Ammmm, read where Germany gets its oil from. The Middle East. By the way-Europe imports 2/3 of its consumption. We import 1/3 of our consumption. Most of our oil is domestically produced (Alaska, Texas, Gulf….). The 1/3 that is imported is from Venezuela (Our major foreign supplier) and elsewhere. Only a small portion comes from the Middle East, unlike you.

Typical German-blind ideology. Central though. Only the “Vater Staat” can solve the worlds problems. A market with supply and demand? What’s that? Watch, in 10 years you will see many changes in the automotive industry and this will come WITHOUT Schroeders divine hand helping it along. As prices go up certain technology becomes cost effective, more is spent in R&D for alternatives and the consumer will change his purchasing criteria. Forcing this with legislation and taxes (To think for the consumer and market) is BS. It’s eyewash which will bring little to nothing.

But rest assured, as you pay $4.50 a gallon for fuel the airplanes at your airports are tanking 128,000 pounds of JP4 (Cheap fuel that burns dirty) at maybe 30 cents a liter and have NO catalytic converter, soot filter or anything else. Has Joschka got his new 600SEL at governments expense? Has he refused to fly with his government Airbus?

I would not criticize the US policy if I were you. It’s a more level handed and market driven way of looking at things. It’s not a class system as in Germany where "some" have exceptions (If the car belongs to the business etc) other get it paid for by the state and the majority of people are forced to drive their new version of a Trabant, the SMART car. In the US we don't go for that kind of thinking. There are a few liberals who see the virtue in how you do it, but they are the minority.

Red6