$4.00 gas: America's only hope for change?
Otherwise guzzlers will still be America's top sellersIf gas prices hit $4.00 today, what would happen?
According to a survey by Cars.com, 40 percent of car shoppers would immediately buy a more fuel efficient vehicle today. Another 41 percent would buy a more fuel efficient vehicle when they were ready to buy another auto.
However, if gas were $3.75, instead of $4.00, only 29 percent would buy a more fuel efficient vehicle.
Even more noteworthy, at $2.50 - 2.75, 64 percent of new car shoppers won't even consider a more fuel efficient vehicle.
I guess it's not really that surprising that US automakers are still dragging their feet on cheap hybrid cars, or even a real push towards hybridizing their truck fleets. Without much higher gas prices, Americans just aren't that interested.
Labels: Hybrid Vehicles
posted by Dahcredyns at
8:12 AM
12 Comments:
More proof that a gas tax is the only solution that will have a significant impact.
The two choices are:
1. Gas Tax
2. Gas Guzzlers
Smurf,
The only proof you're implicating is there would be no economy to even afford to buy a new more efficient car. Perhaps you have a very short memory, but the last time gasoline was 4.00/gallon, the price of goods started skyrocketing and now this country is in a DEEP recession! I really am tired of hearing people spout off on how more taxes are good for anyone who has to pay them! I already pay 45% of what I earn in taxes, one way or the other, and get very little for my hard earned pay.
I do agree however, that Detroit needs to have more efficient vehicles available at prices that can be afforded. Why is the Ford Fusion hybrid almost at or above $30,000. Was thinking of buying one this year, but Toyota's Camry hybrid is about $5000 less and only 3-4 MPG less efficient. THINK man...the last thing you want to do is pay taxes for the government to give to someone else!!!!
anonymous - $4.00 gas didn't cause the recession. c'mon.
the real estate boom has been on the danger screen for years. please, if people's houses were still going up in value, we'd complain about $4.00 gas, but we'd survive.
today, people aren't afraid of $3.00 gas. Even at $3.75 they still aren't that afraid. at $4.00 they start realizing the importance of fuel efficiency.
Moreover, gas taxes could be used to give consumers credits to buy more fuel efficient vehicles.
Also, a gas tax might fuel alternative fuels. It's not a fuel tax. It's an oil-based tax.
Ultimately, I'd argue foreign oil dependency, not $4.00 gas, was a huge source of today's recession.
Foreign oil dependency has resulted in 2 wars in Iraq and 9/11 - at a cost of trillions of dollars.
Then there is the tens of billions we spend per year just to secure shipping lanes out of the Persian Gulf - how is that cost not recovered at the pump? If the real cost of foreign oil dependency we're paid at the pump, we'd already be energy dependent.
Because most rich people and most politicians make money of our dependency, only something as simple as smart energy pricing is going to bring about change.
A little short term pain for a huge payback in the long term is a lot smarter than continuing the same losing proposition for more years and, yet, expect some different result.
If we don't off foreign oil as fast as possible, the current recession is just the calm before the storm. Yet, the quicker we get off foreign oil, the more upside for our economy.
I, for one, will gladly accept a little short term pain for a huge long term gain.
ANON,
I disagree that $4.00 gas caused the recession. The real estate and banking busts did.
BUT.....
Even if $4.00 gas "did" cause the recession...What caused $4.00 gas?
Foreign oil dependency......
The U.S. has been burned "twice" because of foreign oil dependency. How many more times do we have to get burned before we learn our lesson?
Dach,
you are still avoiding the tax issue.
As said before, I'm not for another tax. That's just insane. People have enough problems without the government forcing 4$ gass on them. Sorry to say it, but people NEED trucks and SUVs for their businesses and families. 4$ gasoline only puts further stress on them. It is insane for a "gas tax"... There is another way. America doesn't force things in such a manner on its citizens. Direct fuel injection and clean diesel engines are some good alternatives for "gas guzzlers"
i'm not avoiding anything. i'm addressing reality - the reality of today and what it's impact will be on the future.
staying addicted to foreign oil is only going to lead to more costs than a progressive, flexible gas tax. moreover, the extra costs of a gax tax could be recovered via technology, such as with clean diesels, hybrids, biofuels, etc. furthermore, the gas tax could be used to fund the purchase of these vehicles, or to provide relief for those with financial hardships.
and, don't forget, this gas tax wouldn't be instant. first, you provide a year warning. then you increase it a certain percent every six months based on gas prices.
this gives consumers an opportunity to upgrade to a clean diesel or hybrid truck or SUV. or, to downsize if they really don't need such a vehicle.
on a side note, an american focus on fuel efficiency would also, i'd bet, lead to innovations that could help spur US manufacturing and the economy.
still, if you don't like a gas tax. how about if we just pay the OPEC shipping lane security costs at the pump rather than as hidden military taxes?
those aren't war costs. those costs would still be 10's of billions today even if we weren't in iraq. yet, how can we keep denying the war costs of foreign oil dependency?
how do we end that madness if not via a significant embrace in efficiency and alternative energy? and how do we embrace those things without a penalty on oil?
we can refuse to pay today, but we'll only pay more tomorrow.
also, insane?
insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. for decades america has refused to expect the dangers of cheap, government-subsidized foreign oil. yet each decade the danger of this dependency only increase.
many national security advisors, including some that worked under Republican admins., have claimed that foreign oil dependency is the greatest danger facing american national security and the american economy.
isn't it time to take the bull by the horns?
No road in America is 100% paid for with gas taxes. Instead, the costs are hidden in sales and property taxes. You are paying those taxes now, just not from gas taxes. Why, because it is not politically feasible to raise gas taxes. I don't see that changing for a long time. A simple solution would be to at least have the tax indexed to inflation but even that is too much for Americans to stomach so we will have a tax deficit until we find a "creative solution". Americans don't want to know the truth so we have to find more ways to hide the tax. Last year, Bush just took the funds from the general fund to cover the deficit. I imagine Obama will do the same.
"Americans don't want to know the truth so we have to find more ways to hide the tax."
And yet we don't even it hide it that much. I mean how much more obvious than Iraq does it need to get?
I think we know the truth, we just refuse to believe it.
With China and India alone coming on the petroleum line faster and faster everyday, to think that the worst of foreign oil dependency isn't yet to come is pure denial.
This is just another calm before an even greater storm than the summer of 2008. It might still take several more years, even a decade, but the next hit will be far more devastating.
When that storm hits $4.00 gas will seem like the bargain of the century.
Dach,
What about the families and businesses that need these "gas guzzelers?" This "gas tax" is going to kill them... and, for some families, it could still make better financial sense to stay with their current vehicles then to buy a new one. It all comes down to the avordability and availability of hybrid technology. It still amazes me how little the general public knows about hybrids in themselves. Somehow, the government (ehh) and carmakers need to focus their efforts on avordability and how to get those prices down, so that hybrid technology can become a mainstream icon. I know that this view may sound narrow, but, where I come from, hybrid vehicles are looked upon with a certain amount of discontent (i.e. sissy, fagish, etc.), and so carmakers and governments alike need to get this message out; the message that hybrids are viable vehicles that will help america, not hender it.
I don't disagree that there are problems with a gas tax. Thus, it would be my hope that the gas tax would be used to offset some of those problems, at least initially.
Ultimately, I just think something has to be done and it has to be done soon. In the 70's America was about 26 percent dependent upon foreign oil. Today, we're about 70 percent dependent.
Yet, demand for oil in China, India, and the Middle East, is growing rapidly. Eventually, all of this is going to come to a head, and when it does it could get very ugly.
Nonetheless, you are right that a tax could lead to some significant short term pain. I don't think there is any solution that can completely avoid some pain. My belief, however, is that this short term pain would result in a much more robust long term gain.
Likewise, however, if we don't act the potential for long term pain is a very real possibility, and I think that long term pain could be far worse than any of us can even imagine.
Staying on our current path comes with a lot of risk. You might disagree with the gas tax, but do you agree that we are facing significant risk because of our foreign oil dependency?
This post has been removed by the author.
ANON,
The argument that American families & businesses need gas guzzlers is similar to many unsuccesful arguments made throughout history when resisting change....
In the mid 1800's it was argued that American families needed "slaves" and that plantation businesses could not survive economically without them.
What occurred after the abolishment of slavery was one of the greatest periods of innovation in farming technology ever seen....
We have to realize that the change away from gas guzzlers is inevitable, just like the end of slavery was inevitable.
Post a Comment
<< Home