less cars on the road
rush hour would be sane
fewer traffic accidents/ fatalities
cheaper car insurance
lower polution levels
fewer wasteful/unnescessary trips
decrease in “road rage incidents”
improved bus/transit systems
police can spend more time finding axe murders
the list is endless, please post if you have any more benfits/ideas
Your list only make sense if gas prices were higher and essentially unaffordable. Most recent news items I’ve read suggest that the market can sustain current gas hikes with few changes in people’s driving habits. So no car pooling, no alternative transportation means explored en masse/. Just oil companies getting over.
For your scenario to work, the current $2.00/gallon average would roughly have to double.
I can’t remember where I read/watched it, but apparently demand for gas in the US is up significantly from what it was this time last year.
So, as Askia says, none of those benefits you mention will necessarially happen until increasing gas prices cause decrease in gas use.
It would be impossible for me to make a living without driving my car.
Not true. Many successful pimps walk their rounds, rather than drive.
komrade, I think you would like Germany’s ecotax, perhaps just a little higher.
http://www.eco-tax.info/4fakten/EcoTaxFacts.html
1 gallon of gas costs about $5.40 at the moment, but most of it is due to other taxes.
I agree. I know eventually prices of gas will go up because so many people are using it and it’ll start to run out and the probem will fix itslef 
That’s the problem with unsustainable resources.
Of course, knowing humans, they’ll probably come up with something worse :rolleyes:
Man, just one more reason for me to move to Germany. What other brilliant ideas does Germay have?
Won’t change my driving habits. I go where I need to when I need to.
I guess If it gets to be 4-5 dollars a gallon I will look into cost/benifit of buying an additional, more fuel efficient vehicle.
less cars on the road
less tanks in Iraq… ok, no, just a higher tax bill, no, strike that, deficit
rush hour would be sane
if you think more of a balance of cars, bikes, cycles, scooters, etc sharing the roads at rush hour is sane
fewer traffic accidents/ fatalities
see above
cheaper car insurance
more expensive in-town real estate, and practically every consumer good
lower polution levels
and less utility to go to the places to best appreciate it
fewer wasteful/unnescessary trips
longer hassle and inconvenience or expense for necessary trips
decrease in "road rage incidents"
increase in fuel thefts
improved bus/transit systems
and higher prices for mass transit, due to increased utility value and use
police can spend more time finding axe murders
and the tax savings can go to buying fresh fruit and veges in winter.
At least if the gas prices were artificially high due to taxes, such funds could be diverted back to public services or reduced taxes from other sources. The reliance of the American economy on gas prices hardly equates to benefits for the masses.
I tried to find a link for this and couldn’t, but a commentator on Marketplace mentioned that the high gasoline prices were possibly the result of speculators who used to trade electricity futures at Enron trying to earn a living. If that’s true, then the whole thing could come crashing down.
This debate creates a trilemma (three-horned dilemma) for my ecologist/consumerist/liberal brain.
On one side, as an ecologist, I hate to see the utter waste of SUV’s pouring gas into the gutter just so the single urban driver can show off his disposable income.
But as a consumerist, I hate to see the oil companies rack up their current windfall profits on the basis of false claims of scarcity.
And while European level gas taxes would put the brakes on those two items, my liberal leanings say that would just be a regressive tax, entitling the rich to get richer (off less income tax) and the poor poorer off simple needs (like getting to work).
What to do?
This is why we need some more politicians willing to debate issues instead of “who was a hero/ draft dodger decades ago.”
Oil companies seeking windfall profits might actually have a point with their claims of scarcity, even if that scarcity is artificially created by OPEC members trying to maintain their own profits.
What, no mention of “increased/faster adoption of hybrid and alternate-fuel vehicles”?
My parents had to buy a new car the other day, and instead of going for the full-sized Accord they were considering earlier, they went and got a Civic Hybrid. Had a real devil of a time trying to find one, too, and the only color remaining was white…
It’s too bad they couldn’t have waited until the fall; Honda is supposed to come out with a hybrid Accord then. And actually, the Accord sedan isn’t so bad on gas mileage - I bought the Accord partially because of its mileage. Of course, I was coming from a 1996 Caravan, so anything looked good in comparison.
And, actually, the Civic Hybrid’s sales are weak compared to the Prius. Here in Rochester, I am still waiting for my 2004 Toyota Prius which I put down a deposit on at the dealership last November only a few days after the first one had arrived to test drive. (Ten or so people on the list ahead of me had put down deposits before the car was even available to test drive!) The dealer says that people who are signing up now are being told the wait will be a year or more! Of course, all this is partly a problem of low supply, i.e., they are just not making that many…Clearly demand has greatly exceeded their expectations.
Speaking of Hybrids and exceeding expectations, Ford is releasing their Escape hybrid this August. Ford has announced that they are making 20,000 of them but that 30,000 people have already contacted Ford wanting to buy them - and this is before any type of advertising push. If the Escape does really well we might see more manufacturers selling SUV hybrids sooner rather than later.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2004-05-13-ford-hybrid-suv_x.htm
Moderator’s Note: Brutus, don’t call other posters pimps in Great Debates. You’ve been around here long enough to know about personal insults outside of the Pit.
Insult? You are so behind the times. But sure.
benifits of high gas prices part 2
"Your list only make sense if gas prices were higher and essentially unaffordable. Most recent news items I’ve read suggest that the market can sustain current gas hikes with few changes in people’s driving habits. So no car pooling, no alternative transportation means explored en masse/. Just oil companies getting over.
For your scenario to work, the current $2.00/gallon average would roughly have to double."
less cars on the road
less tanks in Iraq… ok, no, just a higher tax bill, no, strike that, deficit
-car bombs would be easier to identify since they would be the only moving vehicle
rush hour would be sane
if you think more of a balance of cars, bikes, cycles, scooters, etc sharing the roads at rush hour is sane
fewer traffic accidents/ fatalities
see above
-i was thinking “critical mass” & rush hour being less than 1 hour since people will have to live close to work & walk
cheaper car insurance
-horse & buggy * see rush hour
more expensive in-town real estate, and practically every consumer good
lower polution levels
-if you don’t mind the “stench” * see horse & buggy
and less utility to go to the places to best appreciate it
fewer wasteful/unnescessary trips
longer hassle and inconvenience or expense for necessary trips
decrease in “road rage incidents”
increase in fuel thefts
-orginized crime would abandon “traditional” sources of income & start a whole new racket
improved bus/transit systems
and higher prices for mass transit, due to increased utility value and use
-after the oil dries up and/or is not available ox & cart make a come back
-buggy whip manufacturing are back in biz
police can spend more time finding axe murders
and the tax savings can go to buying fresh fruit and veges in winter.
alternitive fuel…peat & dried dung
roads are dug up & converted to comunity gardens
-the politicians, oil companies & car companies finally get their act together
after the 22nd cenyury resembles the 19th century