Too bad he can't afford a haircut or moustache trim, or smaller glasses, though.
Posted on 09/14/2005 10:49:53 AM PDT by cogitator
What this country needs is $4-a-gallon gasoline or, maybe, $5. We don't need it today, but we do need it over the next seven to 10 years via a steadily rising oil tax. Coupled with stricter fuel economy standards, higher pump prices would push reluctant auto companies and American drivers away from today's gas guzzlers. That should be our policy.
...
Hurricane Katrina's message is clear: We are vulnerable to any major cutoff of oil. This cutoff came from a natural disaster, but the larger menace is a political cutoff.
...
Government needs to foster a market for fuel efficiency. ... One way or another, Americans should know that the era of cheap gasoline is history. Some drivers will want hybrid versions of their present vehicles; others will downsize. It's not a national tragedy for someone to trade an Expedition for a Taurus.
At times, individual freedom must be compromised to improve collective security.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
And if I may beat a drum that I've banged before -- another tactic is to increase the development and production of nuclear power and to use the extra nuke power to process biofuels, notably switchgrass into cellulosic ethanol. A economically advantageous by-product of doing that would be a new agricultural market, especially good for the South where switchgrass grows particularly well. (And nuke power can also be used for thermal depolymerization, which takes care of a lot of excess waste!)
I saw that clown in today's paper.
Funny how he can probably afford gas prices at 4-5 dollars per gallon, being a rich columnist.
I'd settle for home heating oil.
The REAL problem is that the natural gas they spew won't burn.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Howabout oil from COAL..and tar sands...already proven technology
I, and most others I know, simply can't afford $4 or $5 for a gallon of gas. If my city had a better bus system, I would gladly use it.
Great. Behave like I want you to behave, or I'll use the power of the government to confiscate your wealth.
The market knows best. Leave it alone.
What this boob does not get is that cheap oil is the grease that makes our ecnomoy work and run. If people curb spending because the gas is too high to drive to the stores, then the economy will really tank and inflation will skyrocket due to passthroughs of the increases.
I'm all for more fuel efficiency, development of alternative energy sources, less dependency on foreign oil, and more reliance on domestic resources. I'm sure the technological genius of our country that has brought us so far can also deal with these issues.
Samuelson's plan means stealing bread from my children's mouths.
"At times, individual freedom must be compromised to improve collective security."
George Orwell agrees.
That's funny. I got a different message from Hurricane Katrina . . .
When you are faced with a potential disaster and have no more than 12-24 hours to get out of town, a minivan or big-@ssed SUV or pickup truck is one of the best things you can have at your disposal.
Samuelson's basic premise is wrong. Hurricane Katrina would have had a disruptive impact on this country regardless of what types of products we manufacture or import. And his point about our reliance on foreign oil is downright idiotic . . . Katrina's biggest impact wasn't on oil imports, but on U.S. oil extracted from the Gulf of Mexico.
ALASKAN NATURAL GAS PIPELINE
ALASKAN NATURAL GAS PIPELINE
More off shore drilling
More offfshore drilling
Exterminate Environmentalists
Exterminate Environmentalists
Build more Nukes
Build more Nukes
Coal, coal, coal
Coal, coal, coal
Now isn't that simple
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security --Benjamin Franklin
We'll definitely see more fuel from those sources in the future.
Our Fleet ave. MPG is determined by Big GOV/OIL/CORP..
An entity I like to label Sneakyman Inc..
We could have had almost 40% better MPG for a long time now. But it would have been "inconvenient" .
I like Samuelson,always have,and he's right on the money.
I probably wasted a gallon of gas this morning on a bunch of meaningless errands and will probably do the same thing tomorrow.
Higher gasoline prices would make me sit up and pay attention.
but but the high gas prices are bush's fault
These libs have to get the story straight, they want high gas prices, then when the gas prices are high they want lower gas prices. They also place the blame on Bush for high gas prices
The mental disease known as liberalism blows my mind sometimes
Agreed on those points, and Samuelson is a somewhat respected economist on Free Republic. I think he expects that a slow phase-in combined with a shift in the "fleet" gas economy would forestall harsh economic impact -- it would be worse if oil prices went up by themselves and there was no shift in usage patterns.
That's going to be a lot more expensive this winter too, and also natural gas (which is what my home uses). I'm going to thermal-film most of my windows, which I haven't done for about a decade.
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