We were assholes when it came to consumption. However the supply is high. Consumption is dropping and alternatives are coming on line. The price will not correct. It is determined by speculators and oil cartels. Supply and demand have long ago been removed from oil prices. Monopolies like big profits.
Honestly, the SUV is nothing more than a 1940s sedan with a little better traction. It’s a shape we keep returning to, time after time. I have a theory about how certain sizes feel most appropriate for a job, and a SUV seems to be the most appropriate size for a family do-anything vehicle.
Not precisely. The true definition of an SUV is Sport Utility Vehicle. They have higher hp motors to make them more fun to drive.
Plus. vans seem better in the most cases as a family vehicle. I haven’t driven an SUV (we do have truck bought for hauling horses which we seldom use) but I do know vans aren’t all that much fun to drive.
In the old days we managed with station wagons, by the way.
You don’t think we should have product safety a government function.? Lead paint in kids toys is ok?. What about worker safety. ?What about child workers? What about working conditions. ? Should there be a limit on hours worked? Truth in packaging mean any thing to you?
…in their choice of cars-mafgs. stopped making full-sized ars, the public responded by buying SUVs (they were classed as trucks, to get around the crash and fuel economy standards for cars). Now, as the price of gasoline zooms, Detroit will (eventually) give people what they want. But this is a problem-Detroit has production lines geared up to make SUVs. We need to do two things:
- increase the tax on gasoline, and USE the revenue to construct coal-gasoline (Fischer Tropsch) plants
- Allow the industry time to retool-to make smaller cars
If we don’t do this, we face:
-massive unemployment in Michigan, and a bankruptcy of GM, FORD, CHRYSLER
-a huge increase in the balance of payments deficit-people will buy Japanese and Korean cars
They control the supply of $. And, generally, the rarer a thing is, the more it is worth.
Deficit spending creates dollars. More or less.
The knee-jerk ad hom is kind of… telling, isn’t it?
Oh, good one! 
I wasn’t arguing against any of those. I was just pointing out that monopolies, contrary to what seems to be popular belief, are about as anti-Laissez-faire as you can get. Monopolies are protectionist, artificially jack up prices and stifle competition.
Every thing you named sounds well and good. The problem is, though, that government agencies are the worst type of self perpetuating bureaucratic monopolies. They are the single largest factor contributing to the huge number of lobbyist in Washington.
Then why do we have to do occasional trust busting?
It is the normal evolution of business to collude. That is why we have laws against it. Controlling production and fixing prices is the aim of business. Competition is good for the consumer. It is bad for business. Look at energy and see how they wish to control. It requires vigilance to protect the people.
I have to disagree.
I’ve always thought that the ‘Sport’ part of SUV is that it made it easier to take your sport gear with you. Not that it was fast or fun to drive. It’s about towing and carrying ability.
Yeah, we had big ass station wagons in the past. This is the new role of the SUV. Now they have four wheel drive.
Thinking about the 1972 Chrysler town and County with a 383ci that my mom had. Or the 1976 Chevy wagon with a 350ci.engine….
My 2006 SUV can do a lot more than the previous wagons. It has a smaller engine, and gets better mileage.
Auto engines are more efficient than in the 60s. Huge engines were the norm then. We overpower our cars of today. Even Lincolns are advertised by racing them through the streets. The speed limit is 70. We do not need cars that go 140. We could save a lot of fuel by smaller cars and smaller engines. It has been clear for a long time that we should go that way. But Americans are convinced the family car should double as a dragster on weekends.
Let’s see a cite that worldwide production of oil is dropping.
Again, let’s see an example from US history to back this up. I’d like to see one example of a monopoly in US business that arose apart from government artificially keeping out rivals.
Here’s the good news: with the legislated increase in CAFE standards, the price of gas will be effectively halved. Talk about a disincentive for driving.
Er…
OK, so CAFE is flawed. What do you expect, it’s the government.
All I’ll add is that we have been underpaying for gasoline for years…decades even.
<<Looks towards European gas prices vis a vis availability/efficiency of public transit>>
And now when you couple soaring demand from someone “other than the USA” gasp/horror and the fact that the dollar and economy is sliding, you have what we have.
I for one think that gasoline prices are perfectly reasonable given our consumption level, and hope that as they climb, more will rail against combustion engines and force big oil/big auto/government to research, develop, incentivize the creation of an affordable alternative means of four-wheeled transportation (we do have all those pesky highways) to carry us into the 21st century.
We have the technology to do it now, but the shortsightedness of the people and the immediate profits from the status quo are bogging us down.
It will iron itself out soon enough…it has to.
Excuse me? Do you think the amount of driving would double if effective prices were cut in half? I assume you mean by needing half as much gas for the same trip, right? If that were true, we’d have halved our driving as gas prices doubled. A ton of gas is used during commutes, which aren’t going to change any.
Any cites about Prius drivers suddenly driving more? Thought not.
Actually vans replaced station wagons. We bought a big Chevy wagon for our second kid, back in '86 or so, and got a great deal on it because everyone else was buying vans. SUVs came later.
Four wheel drive cars are great if you need them. Where I live, it never snows, yet there are tons of SUVs. Not everyone needs to go to Tahoe in blizzards. I bet we could make a fuel efficient decent size wagon if we wanted to.
Well, I’ll agree that the oil market is not free, but not because the price is high, but because it’s low.