Please note that I sadi nothing about the price of fuel in the U.S. being underpriced, Dinsdale did.
I happen to agree.
I too live atop a huge oil field and we pay close to $3.00 Cdn per gallon. Other countries have it even worse as Britain is paying something like $6.00 per gallon.
You goys down south are living the good life.
Hey! Us Jews aren’t doing that bad, either. ;j
Why should we raise taxes on gas? The U.S. is already running a budget surplus (or close to it). Who do you think would be hit hardest by an increase in gas taxes?
Obviously, Israel is an ally of the US, and anything that hints of trouble in the middle east, especially when Isael is involved, gets US attention.
I think we’d agree that the US is better off protecting the Democratic ally that we have in the middle east. Protection defined as huge support of their military. If you were to bet on the reasons the US gives a hoot about Israel, the safest bet would be because the middle east has oil to offer first. Anything that maintains stability (which is relative in the middle east) is what the US goal is.
Is it wrong to protect oil? Not really. Oil is the energy behing the modernization of countries. Heat, transportation, etc. Some folks thinking on a higher level will complain that due to our collective lack of foresight in energy demands, we are stuck to deal with the middle east issues and call them “human rights” issues, when we all know it’s about oil. That might be the “wrong” part.
I guess the “wrong” part is that we have no other (significantly) developed energy options - Energy options that are cleaner, more efficient and better for the planet and it’s inhabitants overall.
It’s hip to blame the government or oil companies. But we are getting into other energy sources, some are cleaner, some aren’t. I guess those who think it’s “wrong” to be in the middle east perceive it as a sympton of the real disease: We fat Americans love to burn oil and destroy the environment, and we have no other means to power anything 'cause we are careless slobs, and the government and oil companies are in bed together and haven’t done anything to reduce our oil dependence.
Alternative energy sources will eventually take over in a evolutionary way, not revolutionary. As it becomes economically practical to use cleaner fuels, they’ll take over.
Gas prices in the US: It’s still profitable to offer fuel at the prices the U.S citizens pay, so they stay relatiely low Vs. the world economy. Taxing gas to death would remove an unprecedented amount of money from the economy, place it in the hands of government and so on.
Quite frankly, you are into another great debate if you want to discuss taxes. I think I’ll take “less taxes is better” approach. I