Gas prices set for another Spring surge
Could start rising as early as February in CaliforniaThe AP is reporting that because of the switch from winter to summer gasoline blends, gasoline prices will surge this spring as they have the last couple of springs. That should lead to gas prices of about $3.50 nationwide, and around $4.00 per gallon in most urban areas. I hope it goes even higher, providing an even greater benefit to those that have already bought hybrid cars, while providing more incentives for more to go hybrid.
Labels: gas, Hybrid Vehicles
posted by Dahcredyns at
7:57 AM
4 Comments:
At this point, higher gas prices only mean higher oil company profits. If they went higher because the true cost to our country was being balanced out through a fuel tax, I'd be OK with it. I don't like higher just for the sake of making myself feel like I made the right decision buying a hybrid. Higher fuel prices are also paid by the urban bus utilities as well, so even public transportation people get pinched.
You are absolutely right, KP.
Still, it is gas prices that are driving consumers into hybrid vehicles. Higher gas prices will drive even more Americans into hybrids, Smart Cars, etc., while putting pressure on automakers to meet this new demand.
Getting people to change the way they think about driving, about hybrid technology, about the petro industry is worth the cost of increased profits - I think!
Those profits line the pockets of the callous people that are part of the source of the problem. Granted, politicians are eager to cut taxes for votes, but don't you think oil companies fund some lobbyists opposing gas taxes with their profits?
If "W" wants to save any of his reputation for posterity, he should invoke a federal gas tax that would squeeze those oil profits into funding all of the federal operations (including middle-east "defense") that effectively subsidize the petroleum industry.
Sadly, I don't think oil companies have to spend much to oppose gas taxes. Americans are typically, extremely opposed to gas taxes, or almost any tax for that matter.
As for a direct tax on oil companies, it seems hard to believe that those costs wouldn't make it back to the consumer. It seems even harder to believe W would push such a plan.
Maybe government or industry could solve these problems, but it seems to me it's going to come down to consumers, voters
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