It is ironic and somewhat funny to listen to Americans bitch and moan about the high price of everything nowadays yet for the most part they appear to be entirely too ignorant to identify their cupabilty in our current situation.

We are indeed fortunate to have folks like you to point out our ignorance.

DO you guys know how silly you look complaining that the government need to “do something” (cant say what) about the price of gas. AS IF, buying vehicles that uselessly need twice as much fuel to run does NOT have “something” to do with the problem. I guess folks never take into consideration just how much extra petroleum is being used to create all the extra sqaure yards of plastic inside your SUV.

Would agree that those blaming the government (other than taxes which are necessary to maintain highways, etc.) are mislead. Supply/demand is the usual culprit and lifestyle adjustments will likely be made over the long-run.

So far as what vehicles people buy, how would you have any idea what lead me to buy an SUV? Unless, of course, I am presumed to be an ignorant ass simply by the act of purchasing one.
Since I have no idea where you live, or what your needs are, I will refrain from suggesting what sort of car you should buy.

Today MIDDLE-CLASS America is broke! Like a bunch of fools they simply transfered the vast majority of middle-class accumulated wealth into the hands of a relatively few wealthy Americans and international players that beat the drum of wasteful consumption.

My family is about a solidly middle class (in economic terms) as we could be. So were my folks (who were products of the depression and knew the value of a buck). They were certainly not broke, nor are we. If we have to tighten our belts a bit, so be it. It will not be the 1st time and likely will not be the last either.

Today the government that they think should “do something” to help thinks the solutions is to give you back about less than 1% of the your total tax burden in hopes (with a great deal of encouragement) they you will simply go right out and transfer this little bit of cash right back into the hands of those same wealthy folks that DO NOT feel any responsibilty to never maintain or repair any of the infrastruture of this country (unless it is on their own private property and paid for with your tax dollars).

I read the above paragraph several times and admit to having some difficulty deciphering it.
If your point that the government wanted us to spend the tax rebate quickly, all I can say is that we were not told to spend it foolishly.

If I understand that you expect private individuals or corporations to spend money on (badly needed) infrastructure improvements, please let me know where this happens.

It is sad to see that folks are too stupid to understand that this whole idea of “ME above everyone else” is nothing more than a dumb poly for you to overcome any sense of community and feel comfort in being a selfish jerk-off. THAT IS HOW AMERICAN BIG BUSINESS WANTS YOU TO THINK!

I believe that you have already pointed out our collective ignorance, for which I thanked you graciously.

Folks that talk that “I’m a unique individual American” are NOT free thinkers but actually indoctrinated fools marching to a standard drill.

Once again, thanks for pointing out our foolishness. May I ask how you managed to escape this indoctrination?

Everyone should spend some time in the advertising and marketing business in the USA.
IF you do you will quickly come to understand how the whole SUV fade was “created” by some clever folks. Come on, did you actually believe that one day millions of good ole sedan driving American just woke up desiring a 5000lb SUV?

A good point indeed. I’m sure that most of us were unaware the most sales of new products were advertising driven. I always wondered how people in that industry could keep a job.

Also spend some time in waste management in the USA to get another perspective on our AMERICAN culture. Go to a landfill or recycling plant and have a good look, I don’t see garbage I see a great deal of wasted US dollar that did NOTHING to make our country a better place.

Would agree that some people replace things before I would. This obviously makes them foolish people.

“A FOOL AND HIS MONEY WILL SOON PART”

True that.

On a more serious note, have to say that I get as tired of people telling us how we should live our lives, as I do of Madison Avenue telling me how much I need the new “Flubber-mobile”.

I’m not broke and neither are any of my friends or family. I don’t think things are nearly as bad as some would have people believe. I’m not saying it’s all good, but it’s not all bad either.

DO you guys know how silly you look complaining that the government need to “do something” (cant say what) about the price of gas. AS IF, buying vehicles that uselessly need twice as much fuel to run does NOT have “something” to do with the problem. I guess folks never take into consideration just how much extra petroleum is being used to create all the extra sqaure yards of plastic inside your SUV.

Today MIDDLE-CLASS America is broke! Like a bunch of fools they simply transfered the vast majority of middle-class accumulated wealth into the hands of a relatively few wealthy Americans and international players that beat the drum of wasteful consumption.
Today the government that they think should “do something” to help thinks the solutions is to give you back about less than 1% of the your total tax burden in hopes (with a great deal of encouragement) they you will simply go right out and transfer this little bit of cash right back into the hands of those same wealthy folks that DO NOT feel any responsibilty to never maintain or repair any of the infrastruture of this country (unless it is on their own private property and paid for with your tax dollars).

It is sad to see that folks are too stupid to understand that this whole idea of “ME above everyone else” is nothing more than a dumb poly for you to overcome any sense of community and feel comfort in being a selfish jerk-off. THAT IS HOW AMERICAN BIG BUSINESS WANTS YOU TO THINK!

Folks that talk that “I’m a unique individual American” are NOT free thinkers but actually indoctrinated fools marching to a standard drill.

Everyone should spend some time in the advertising and marketing business in the USA.
IF you do you will quickly come to understand how the whole SUV fade was “created” by some clever folks. Come on, did you actually believe that one day millions of good ole sedan driving American just woke up desiring a 5000lb SUV?

Also spend some time in waste management in the USA to get another perspective on our AMERICAN culture. Go to a landfill or recycling plant and have a good look, I don’t see garbage I see a great deal of wasted US dollar that did NOTHING to make our country a better place.

“A FOOL AND HIS MONEY WILL SOON PART”

You can have your cake & eat it too! For $8500 out the door new you can buy a sportbike that does mid to high 10’s 1/4 mile stock, that returns you 40+mpg. 0-60 in the mid 3’s in first gear.

Unfortunately you have to give up passenger room, trunk (my backpack is my trunk), and put on 20 pounds of safety gear that really only protect you if you are sliding on the ground…..

Believe it or not there is more to Korea than dog eating. Their society is a lot more refined than most.

Just as there is more to America than hot dog eating contests.

The first-gen FWD Eldorados are some of the finest examples of Cadillac style. And the Art-and-Science styling, in my opinion, owes much to this car. Remember some of the renderings of the new CTS? One of them had a trunk and taillight design straight from this car. I’m sorry it turned out to be bit of photoshop whimsy.

What do you do?

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.milenio.com%2Fmexico%2Fmilenio%2Fnota.asp%3Fid%3D651680&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=es&tl=en

If someone disagrees with you, this makes them a troll? Just wondering.

Only partly. It would appear that a very rich man who is a public figure should be somewhat more cognizant of the inadvertant power of irony.

For instance, if your rich neighbor feels he needs to eat illegally-imported Persian caviar for breakfast each morning, you can criticise him on several levels: he is breaking the law; he is (indirectly) helping a rogue regime; he is (probably) playing a part in the extinction of a fish species. If your neighbor said to you: “it’s the American way to spend my money the way I want to”, you’d laugh in his face.

What’s the problem with using a wasteful car on a daily basis? Well, cars depend for about 50% on oil products which come from the enemies of the Western world. Do you feel good knowing that your money is lining the pockets of people who finance Osama and stone adulterers and homosexuals? (Would you buy a car made in North Korea?)

Another point would be that since oil is a scarce resource, every wasted gallon drives up the price for everybody else. It’s not like some guy who eats three big macs for lunch.

(I’m not gonna get into the global-warming topic, because that would feed the trolls).

If you agree with my premise that wasting gasoline is harmful to society, then you can still employ the hedonistic argument: “I don’t give a shit about society, I only care about what makes me feel good”. But it’s for good reasons that this website is not called IDGASAABC (”I don’t give a shit about anything but cars”).

James Watt said just that.

People can do what they want. We have laws because people many times can’t be trusted to act in anyone’s interests but their own. People CAN buy big cars they don’t remotely need and say screw carbon footprints. People can be greedy. People can say screw everyone else.

It’s a good thing that the number of people using mass transit is up. Watch it go down as gas prices do. So the ugly American acts only in his self interest. The silver lining to high gas prices is that we were using less.

The man was C Everett Koop

It was duce and a quarter long and had a 500 cu. in. engine. It could go when urged — I remember doing over 100 mph on the outerbelt — but it would not burn rubber. The amazing thing is that despite being a front driver (on the same platform as the Toronado and the Rivera) there was no back seat legroom at all. This has been a characteristic of GM designs since forever.

When his lease expired, Dad, at our urging, bought a M-B 280 SEL 4.5 (W108) which was much smaller than the Caddy (about 30 in. shorter) and which lasted him about 14 years.

But if you want/need something larger, that’s cool. We’re about choice here, just (as others have pointed out) be prepared to live with them. If you’ve paid for and/or can afford the Tahoe/Sclade/F150 and its gas, great! If not, then them’s the breaks.

Life is a trade-off. If you get a big honkin’ vehicle, and/or one that has a 3.5L or bigger engine and goes 0-60 in a millisecond, you’re going to sacrifice mileage and possibly have to put premium gas in it (in luxury cars anyhow). If you like an economical car as I do, you’re going to have to give up on room and not be as zippy or smooth as the BMW. In fact, mileage goes down pretty quick when you want more room, and I’ve gotten spoiled to 32+ combined, having begun my driving in 1980 during that price spike.

Maybe one day we’ll have more choices of alternative, renewable fuel sources. Necessity really is the mother of invention, and some bright person may find a way to do this, or some of it anyhow. Who knows–perhaps we’ll be able to have a little each of room, comfort, performance and mileage? Until that happy day, we live with the options we have now. Choose wisely for your circumstances, then enjoy your vehicle without regret.

Of course I’m a sucker for older cars, as I own a 67 Galaxie convertible.

By the way, the price of gas, and the knowledge our money is going to our enemies, is the only reason I’d downsize vehicles.

The local news LOOKS for the complainers, otherwise it wouldn’t be “news”.

Wife and I love our 4Runner. Its paid for and I ask no sympathy from anyone.

It’s amazing how many things some attribute to culture which are mostly the result of economics.

4)Is there anything really fundamentally wrong about drivig to wherever and whenever you want with such vehicle?

My answer to all of these is NO.

However – don’t whine and complain about high gas prices when you exercise these rights. When you make your bed – you sleep in it…

Phil Gramm had it right about his “nation of whiners” comment…