Not me, but that is what it seems the US is doing when it comes to oil.
Actually, as a I think about it, current US energy policy is similar to the crusade of angry mothers, who want to rid the world of the members of DAMM. ( Drunks against mad mothers). Their efforts to change the DUI laws have been long and fierce-but interestingly enough the DUI rate remains about the same-or in some places it has gone up.
The reason? Well, besides the fact that the BAC limit is too low( .10 is the only correct number-but that is for another post) the main reason that all these tough DUI laws don’t work too well is simple:
There is no other way to get your car back from the bar.
E.G. When it comes to transportation, there is no good alternative way to get to the places you want to go.
Now the same is true for energy and drilling for oil. The powers that be can whine all they want about drilling offshore and in ANWAR and it still does not disguise the great fact that the US simply uses too much gasoline. Or as the S.O. says the US is a car society. And like our wayward friend tap dancing in front of the State Trooper, the reason is the same:
We don’t have any other way to get back from the bar.
Please, spare me the lines about taxis and designated drivers-those are all good ideas. But they sure don’t help the guy out there prowling for a pick up by himself. And for taxis to be a real alternative they need to be more plentiful and cheaper. They are not. Trust me, I know. As dedicated member of DAMM, I take a lot of taxis-I don’t want to dance in front of the road nazis. I’m still going to go to the bar.
Because I love bars. And in Tokyo I could go to a lot of bars-and never run afoul of the police. This in a country where the DUI limit is .03. They can do that with a clear conscience because they have decent public transportation.
Taxis are still expensive though. But the busses run on time.
And without viable public transportation alternatives, the US will keep paying higher prices for gasoline. Because the population is still going to go the bar. Or to work, or to school or wherever.
On the way up here to my parents house I marvelled at an e-mail I got from American urging me to sign a petition to urge Congress to go after speculators. Saying they are the problem with gasoline. I think I will pass. If I had the money, I would be a speculator too. Why do commodities traders drive up the price of oil?
Because they can.
It still comes down to a couple of hard truths. Demand is higher because of all those Indians and Chinese who are burning gas they don’t deserve to have. And they want even more.
And second, the war(s) in the Middle East make investors nervous. They make drivers nervous. They make countries nervous. So they stock up. Which further drives up demand.
So I’ve got an idea. Instead of taking all that money for drilling-and for the wars that make everyone nervous, and build some good trains.
And while we are at it, subsidize the taxi services too. So fares are low.
Then the mothers could be really angry-with good reason.
We could get to the bar without breaking the bank.
Why sweat the DUI limits if one is a perennial loser who has already been cited 17 times for DUI but since one doesn’t have license or insurance and doesn’t care since the worst that will happen after one kills someone is a year in pokey followed, maybe someday, by deportation and yet we just can’t seem to get a handle on the problem.
Me, I’m all for execution on the 2nd offense and death on the first offense if the drunk killed or seriously injured anybody. You get what you subsidize and we seem to subsidize an endless series of drunken killers.
You are right, to a point. We don’t have much public transportation here in the US and nowhere is that more apparent than in SE Michigan. If you want to get from Ann Arbor to Detroit Rock City, and you don’t have a car, you are SOL.
But if I take a drive out in the country around here in Washtenaw County, I note that there are so many farms. You are not going to be successful with a mostly rural population when it comes to public transportation. No, that is not the answer.
The answer is fuel-efficient vehicles. Because in the US, we are all about individualism and that is primarily expressed by the vehicle one drives. It gives us the freedom to do what we want to do when we want to do it. And this addiction to freedom is our indirect addiction to gasoline.
I think that if we really want change, then the bottom needs to fall out so folks can figure out some real alternatives. To fuel, to transportation, and probably lots more.
Some out there think that the auto and oil companies are in cahoots trying to prevent fuel economy measures from making it to the market. I can tell you for a fact that we (in the auto industry, anyway) are doing everything we can to get more fuel efficient and environment friendly vehicles to the market. What no one understands is that from concept to market, you are looking at typically 5 years for a new product. When gas was cheap and everyone was buying SUVs and pickups, thats what we made. Why? Because they made money and that is the real reason we make vehicles: TO MAKE MONEY. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves.
Lately, of course, the price of gas has gone up and consequently so have buying habits (as an aside, so have other commodities prices: the price of cold-rolled steel has doubled since December). So now everyone wants fuel efficient vehicles. They are coming, trust me.
But it won’t be tomorrow…and by then, things will have changed again.
Skippy-san, you were on the right track until you swerved and said we need to subsidize taxis? Why is it that when something is not working the way it does in Asia the answer is for government to fix it. The US is a free market economy. Every time government tries to put the fix on a problem, that will mean more money out of my pocket, a blotted government agency and the problem will only get worse.
In an entrepreneur society if there is a need someone will figure it out and come up with a solution. And they will do it and make money, create jobs, which make taxes.
We can’t drill, conserve or alternative fuel our way out of this situation overnight. But Congress and the tree hugging greenies have blocked efforts for most of 30+ years. If we produced more of our own oil middle east unrest would have less effect on price. Conservation is always good. I have a paid for gas hog SUV. I drive it as little as possible but right now it would cost me more to go out and buy a new vehicle just to save gas. Its the economics. There may come a time when the steel in it will be worth more as scrap, but for now it’s my 4 wheel choice to drive. (I have 2 wheels also@ 50MPG).
Get government out of our way and solutions will be forthcoming.
Cy-kick,
Lets get back to the point. Only government can overcome the intial infrastructure investment that is required to get rail lines built. Besides, Have you ever tried a bar run in California in a taxi. It gets mighty expensive pretty quick. What I want is something like Hong Kong where I can boom all night long and still come back to Kolwoon at 3 am with money in my pocket.
Certainly that is a better use of money than trying to help useless Arabs…….
Skippy-san, ever hear of Henry Flagler. Why must government always be the answer? If you want to play you have to pay. Bar hopping can be expensive, but get a DUI and then you will see the real cost of not being smart.
For what it will cost the American public to subsidize rail systems, the government would be better off just giving everyone a gas card.