Do College Kids Hate Cars?
Having watched the UK morph from a nation of car-lovers into a country of downtrodden, guilt-ridden motorists, I read student scribe Andy Thompson's anti-car diatribe in The Daily Utah Chronicle with a deep sense of foreboding. The globally-warmed college curmudgeon labeled the automobile a "social epidemic," decried our nation's $135b highway spending as "a giant subsidy to the oil and automobile industry" and called for a mass transit system beside every American highway. Although Thompson's diatribe shows scant regard for the facts– The Big Three are not the "rip up the trolley tracks" political force of old and DaimlerChrysler is no more– a larger, more worrying question looms. Will America's college campuses be the starting point for a Euro-style anti-car jihad? Er, no. At the conclusion of his piece, Thompson dreams of the day when the "automobile is a luxury — one that everyone owns, just uses about as often as you take the boat out." Whew!
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"jabdalmalik, why on earth would you want to make a energy source so expensive so people have to spend even more to develop and use another source? That could possibly cripple the US economy." Oh come on, this is just sillytalk. Since when has frenzied innovation crippled the US economy? "Public Transportation? My city doesn’t have that. Nor does the city I work in, or the one I go to school in." Maybe when gas hits $10 a gallon you and the other residents of your city will start voting for public transportation initiatives instead of highways highways highways for a change. "Just for kicks, can you tell list one of those “efficient fuels”, I’d appreciate it. " I'd be happy if we could tax people into using diesel over the short term. A fuel source doesn't have to be perfect to be better than gasoline. But diesel isn't perfect. There are plenty of other fuels out there that have promise (yes, hydrogen is one), but as it stands none of them can truly be said to be a viable replacement for fossil fuels for those areas of the country where public transportation will never be a viable alternative (and they do exist, I'll not deny it). But give it a few years. Scientists are clever folks, they'll have all the kinks ironed out by then.
The government missed it's chance to raise gas taxes to European levels years ago. Liek when people could afford a somehting like that because they had a lot of disposable income. Peoples paychecks are being squeezed HARD right now from every direction and it's going to get worse. Doing something like that would hurt and kill a lot of people, the working poor among us, yes they are American's too with a right to a decent standard of living but people seem to forget that. What is that poor family that is barely making it going to do now that their commute to work now costs twice as much. Where is the money going to come from, there food budget, medical insurance(if they can even afford that). When you have no luxuries to get rid of you have to start cutting needs. And don't say they government can help them out, I think they have proven they are inept at doing that already. Taxing people to death is not the answer, unless you want another American Revolution.
"What is that poor family that is barely making it going to do now that their commute to work now costs twice as much." Fuel stamps for poor families doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility. "And don’t say they government can help them out, I think they have proven they are inept at doing that already." Holy meaningless conservative talking point, Batman! "Taxing people to death is not the answer, unless you want another American Revolution." When it comes to discouraging people from engaging in activities that're bad for them taxing them to death is actually quite effective. Take a look at cigarettes.