What's wrong with the price of gas going up?

[devilgrrl]

If some of you want my honest opinion... I think gas should be $6+ per gallon. What do you all think?

[MercutioATC]

1. I agree completely.

We're the innovators of the world, but we only innovate when it's profitable. At $2/gallon gas is just too damn cheap. Give us $5/gallon gas and you'd see us come up with new energy sources (and more efficient use of the resources we currently use) pretty quickly.

[pberq]

2. If that's what it takes

I'm all for it if that is the only way to wean this country off oil.

[donco6]

3. Not necessarily in disagreement, but worry about

those who can't afford it now. We have a lot of people in my school district who are already hand-to-mouth. I don't know how they're coping as it is.

[Wickerman]

4. Ok, but in the meantime its all of Bush's* fellow war criminals reaping

the rewards of higher prices through record profits. I got a problem with the 6$ gallon of gas in that instance.

[physioex]

5. Only for those with those SUV's......

Complicated question. It would make the price of all good and services go up from the trucking company to the local mom and pop chains who deliver flowers. In some ways it would be a regressive tax. I am all for conservation, we need to get people off their Hummer H2s.

In the short term, I get to do a bit of laughing at the people driving their H2s but in the long term it might not be funny.

[galadrium]

6. It would certainly be good for the environment

I would love to see less SUVs and more highly efficient four cylinders and hybrids. This is what it is going to take to get us there.

[QC]

7. What are low-income people supposed to do?

What about those of us who live in rural areas, where there's no mass transit and distances don't permit us to bike everywhere? How are those who are living hand to mouth as it is supposed to get to work when they can't afford your $6 gas? And why should Bush's buddies in Big Oil Inc. get to loot the country?

Did you give this idea any thought at all before posting?

[Goldom]

8. $6 gas = alternative energy NOW.

And then you'll be fine.

[ButterflyBlood]

12. and until then?

n/t

[QC]

14. What should they do in the meantime?

You know, while we're waiting to develop the new technologies, get them to every corner of the country, etc? Should they just stop eating in the meantime? How are people who work in convenience stores going to buy hybrid cars or whatever? I make $900 a month--can I afford a Prius?

People who work for a living are hurting right now, so it's not going to be much comfort to reassure them that in a year or two they'll be able to afford to live again.

[Goldom]

16. A few points

-Gas in Europe is crazy expensive, cause it has taxes - tax money can help the poor.
-The Prius is the cheapest gas-run car to own that currently exists. It's price tag is not that much above most cheap cars, and it will pay for itself in no time in this economy.

[QC]

18. Let me repeat myself. I make $900 a month. A Prius is $20,000.

Can I afford one? No. I could not afford a WalMart bicycle at this point in my life. I can barely keep my 25-year-old car running, and I live in a rural area, so public transport is not an option. And as tough as things are for me, a lot of people are even worse off. How can you expect those people to take you seriously when you tell them that they can avoid the whole problem by running out and buying a car that will cost almost two years' income for them?

[donco6]

21. In Europe they have cheap subsidized mass transit

that goes everywhere.

Here in the West, we don't. There's a lot of miles and miles of nothing between cities here. Lots of RWers who don't like mass transit anyway. It's not a good comparison.

[rhino47]

15. Thats assuming the poor could afford alternative energy

If they can`t then they are screwed yet again.

[BigMcLargehuge]

9. if the increase were taxes used to fund or subsidize an affordable

and extensive rail system then I have no problem with it. When it's up because OPEC cuts production of US refiners are trying to pull an enron, I have problems with it.

Gimme accessible and affordable rail and I'll turn in my car.

[BlueStateGirl]

10. The price of nearly everything else rising as well.

Homes, food, clothing, utlilty bills, any thing maunfactured or shipped anywhere, which is just about everything.

And the fact that it really hits the working poor and lower middle class. Especially when food and heating costs rise.

[SOteric]

11. Have you thought about how much produce, goods, etc.- will cost

if the price of shipping them triples?

Have you thought about the people at the lower income levels who need to travel great distances to hold down the only job they can snag in this economy?

It's not just one citizen in a car, the cost of fuel affects the economy.

[gristy]

13. Gas should cost a lot, but not when all that money just goes to

the oil companies and other countries from whom we buy the oil. Gas needs to have the s--- taxed out of it and the revenue received used to reduce taxes on certain groups (e.g. the trucking industry and the poor) and to pay for important things like paying down the national debt, public transportation, and alternative energy research.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

17. Did you bother to think about the major ripple effect...

...your little scheme would cause?

Do you want to bring America completely to a halt? Do you want the poor to have to choose between eating and getting to work? Just for fun, the poor would have to do without heat during the winter, wouldn't they?

How much do you want the food you buy in grocery stores to cost? The cost of produce will skyrocket with your suggestion of $6+ gasoline prices. The cost of ANYTHING moved by highway would triple...is that what you want? Nobody but the very wealthy could even dream of flying...the cost of tickets would be out of this world.

Nice job suggesting that we turn America into a third world country. Thanks.

[gristy]

22. All of the problems you list can be controlled with a well-crafted bill.

Following your logic, the price of gas is either just where it should be or it should be lower. Bush is letting free markets set all prices. He is not taking any advantage of the tools he has available to achieve the many wonderful things that free markets have no interest in at all.

[The Shadow]

19. The Problem With That Is

Why are the oil corporations posting handsome profits recently.
Chevron announced their earnings for the last quarter and showed record profits?
What is wrong with that picture? Historically when oil prices go up, we are told that, due to the rising cost of crude, the cost of doing business increases. So why is it that only the end users suffer?

Certainly, the shareholders and their respective corporations don't pay, never have never will.

Perhaps, when I see the major oil companies reflect the harshness of the market, maybe then I will accept the rising costs.

But, alas, the energy industry has perpetuated the myth so long that they will continue to rob the consumer and laugh all the way to the bank.

[union_maid]

20. Regressive

That kind of thing is why people think we're elitist of course. It's totally out of touch with the very real problems that people face.

It's another thing that hits people who are least able to afford it. I don't think that punishing people who have no choice is a very good way to solve our problems. Gas guzzler taxes for non-commercial vehicles are fine with me. For me, I can deal with the price of gas alone, because we live close to where we work, but not everyone is so lucky. OTOH, ever since my husband had to take a job at half of his previous salary because the job he'd held for 20 years moved to India, we're having a real hard time making the bills. The price of everything that uses fuel for shipping and manufacturing, home heating fuel and of course, electricity because you need fossil fuel for the electric plants, going up isn't going to make life any easier. And we're better off than a lot of people.