Gotta admit this...................I'm happy about the price of gas

On a certain level i am glad its up and will go up more. Lets face it. NOTHING was going to stop Americans from driving SUVs (Standard Urban Vehicles) trucks, and V8's. This will and in the long run we'll be better for it. I sympathize with the five percent or so who NEED to drive something not gas friendly for work etc. But now when I see a Hummer or Escalade or any of the others I hear a giant sucking sound of that idiots disposable income going away. I smile a little. Looks like the big land beasts are going the way of the dinosaurs.

good riddance!

They may grumble about it, but the Stepford families making $200,000 a year will just pay the higher gas prices and not change their behavior in any way.

to donate blood and sell kidneys just so they can drive to their minimum wage jobs. You know what the best part is, there are big oil guys making record profits laughing all the way to the bank.

That's been worrying me a lot lately. We're already entering a recession at $4/gallon gasoline. The only all-electric vehicle on the market today is the $100,000 Tesla Roadster. GM is working on a plug-in hybrid, the Volt, with a release date of 2010 but it's estimated to cost $45,000 when it rolls out. With global oil production already entering a decline, we may see $7, $8, or even $10/gallon gasoline within 5-6 years. This implies a continued recession, sliding towards a full-blown depression.

Hell, we're already seeing people cutting back on auto purchases: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080304/BUSINESS01/803040385. I can't see it getting any better anytime soon.

Even if GM resurrected the EV-1, it would likely be priced out of the range of many of the people that need it the most. At the time it was released in the 1990's, it's lease payments were based on a vehicle price of $33,000. Even if they could sell it for $20,000 I doubt it would help the poor and middle-class as they struggle just to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads.

It helps everyone because it would reduce gas demand. The goal would be to get all commuter class vehicles electric. Then those who needed to use bigger vehicles like trucks for their work would have reduced gas prices to help them out. Also those who just wanted to keep using their current vehicle would also enjoy cheaper prices because of reduced demand for gasoline.

I am not arguing with you that this is not a solution to the messed up situation for those struggling just one step in fixing one wrong.

I have my fingers crossed that whoever controls the White House next can push something like this through. Without some kind of New Deal on Energy, it's not hard to see us entering a 2nd Great Depression.

At $21,000 a car.

$3 trillion: The cost of the Iraq War thus far. This would have been a much better use of taxpayers' money in moving toward reducing oil consumption and CO2.

I, for the life of me, can't figure out why we're in Iraq and what we expect to get out of it...:shrug:

The time and money this admin. has squandered makes my blood boil.

the pockets of the 1/10 of 1 percenters at the top.

When you look at what was spent in Iraq a program to boost technology like this doesn't look so expensive.

it still takes between 20 nd 50 barrels of oil to make any car.

Until a car is made totally of recycled materials, we won't get off oils teet anytime soon.

Or, is this, like other such schemes, only for the rest of you?

seem to give us a thought.

Our suffering and deaths are NOTHING to them.

:(

I appreciate your words, more than you know!!

I hope things are reasonably good in your world these days. :hi:

Those of us either not making it or barely doing so feel the pain here and now. I see how high prices will make needed changes happen. I alwo see how it will kill some of us.

What a mess!

Julie

"I see how high prices will make needed changes happen."

Actually, it doesn't. Those who can afford the big gas-guzzlers don't care HOW expensive the fuel is. They will keep running their gas-guzzlers, and not cut back at all. That's been proven over and over.

"I alwo see how it will kill some of us."

Well, I guess some DUers see that as a needed change. :(

If we REALLY are serious about "change" rather than just as a word to be bandied about and printed on large placards, what we do is what was done during the Second World War-- we ration. Yes, that's right... RATION.

That way, consumption goes DOWN, not just a game to be played.]

Everyone gets the same amount, and can use it as they wish. If they want to use it in their Hummer once a week, then that is their choice. If us poor folk have smaller cars and use them to get to our necessaries, then that is OUR choice. BUT, we dont' suffer so that they Hummers can hum along guzzling to their hearts content!


Again, that's if we were actually SERIOUS.

LEvel playing fields are always a good idea. :toast:

Are the consumers to blame for being able to afford a large inefficient vehicle or is the government to blame for not setting higher minimum mileage standards???

are equal in blame. If we didn't buy these inefficient vehicles, they wouldn't make them. If government forced manufacturers to make fuel efficient vehicles, they wouldn't. Welcome to DU.

because of the lack of decent jobs and public transit around here.

he had swtiched from a car to a motorcycle to try to save on gas and was hit by a car that pulled out in front of him....he had surgery on his spine and the word out now is that he will not walk again...do you not understand that most of those assholes driving Hummers will CONTINUE to drive them - as always it's the LESS-THAN-WEALTHY folk that get hurt more

Study after study shows that higher prices do SQUAT to lower consumption.

Those with bucks just LAUGH and keep going. Probably just run it for spite.

Meanwhile, those of us who are already hurting.... well, we hurt more and some of us die.

THIS is EXACTLY why the phrase "liberal elite".

This is EXACTLY why the "liberals" and "progressives" have lost the support of the middle- and lower-class.

Not that they give a rip.

From being run over by the pickup that hit him and then left the scene. In Chattanooga, Tennessee. He's just 23.

The poor poor police that can't find a white pickup with foreign paint scratches say that people are just going to have to learn to watch out for more and more motorcycle traffic - it seems like there's been a similar accident every couple of days since then.

He didn't get hit because he was trying to save gas, he got hit because he wasn't being sufficiently careful while he was riding a different kind of vehicle.

and sadly no matter how careful you are, there is some yahoo out there yakking on his cell phone not paying attention. Hell, I was driving my F150 and some ass on cell phone tried to come into my lane, and the front of our trucks were even- I wasn't in his blind spot. Rider care can not prevent all these accidents, and one day we have to start holding drivers accountable. As it is, you run over a motorcycle and you will be slapped on the wrist. If we start locking people up for 10 years minimum for vehicular homicide (this is what it should be, since it is purposeful negligence on the part of the driver) then maybe americans will start paying attention while driving.

on edit: sorry for rant, but I am sick and tired of people blaming the motorcyclist first.

"he got hit because he wasn't being sufficiently careful while he was riding a different kind of vehicle."

Judge much?

:eyes:

to blame the guy on the bike. In reality, most accidents involving motorcycles occur because idiots in cars have more important things to do than pay attention. Granted, there are some real crazy motorcyclist out there- usually 17 year old kids with bikes that weigh 350 lbs and put out 150 hp. But there are a lot more people like me who enjoy riding and getting 45 mpg. With gas the way it is, we will probably see more doing this.

that liberals hand out so freely.

The time comes to look at ourselves.

"Let there be peace, and let it begin with me."

but as your quote says, we have to improve our own first. Don't know if is because I am getting older, but we sure seem to be a much more selfish nation than we were 25 years ago. Hope your day goes well:hi:

which just leads to more ugliness, and more wars, etc.

There are many cultures that AREN'T this way, so that excuse doesn't hold.

Its time to look at ourselves, and be honest about what we see. As I've been saying lately, the CONS don't like to be confronted about their shit any more than we "progressives" do, so we can show that we are bigger people and have more depth if we are willing to listen to how others perceive us, and look at ourselves.

I completely agree that we are a more selfish society than we were 25 years ago, which also makes the "it's human nature" charge a little less likely. ^_^ It's up to us to decide how we want to be as a society.

Thanks for the wishes... the days haven't been so great.. I'm ready for an improvment.

Hope yours is fine, too. :hi:

Problem solved about the SUV thing.

Now, getting cars to run on anything but crude oil is the bigger question. Personally, I think all-electric is the ultimate future. The problem we face currently with electric cars is boosting the energy density of current battery technology and reducing the amount of time it takes to charge. Everybody would love to see the technology of the Tesla Roadster in everyday cars but without the price.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster#Model_Year_2008

The good news is the popularity of hybrid vehicles will become a huge motivating factor for the development of higher energy density batteries.

So you can sneer at those of us who can't afford such luxuries?

What would it take for you to actually consider what all of this does to those of us you see as beneath you?

Then you wonder why you have lost the votes of the lower classes.

:mad:

The only drawback might be the lay-offs that result at U.S. auto companies. They will need a couple of years' notice so they gear up to make more small cars instead of the monsters. And if they simply refuse to focus on small, efficient, low-priced cars, they will have to suffer the consequences.

the only way people are going to move back to the cities, reinvest in public transit and let the suburbs whither and die is by hitting everyone in the pocket book.

the only people I really feel any pure sympathy for are those who live in the last rural areas of the US where personal automobiles are the only way to get from A to B.

edit: to clarify, I'm not happy about the situation... but either we accept this pain or we just keep putting it off. we could have dealt with this in the late 1970s, but we were not strong enough then, and now the problems are even worse. I believe either we deal with it now or our children will simply not be capable of addressing the massive burden we will leave them with.

It will take MANY generations for everyone to move back to the city -- and city-life is going to be so congested and over-regulated that the rich will start a new move to the suburbs.

The suburbs need retrofitting in a number of ways, especially zoning, but they're not going to go away.

and actually the worst suburbanization happened within the last 20 years.

hell, they didn't even exist before the streetcar (1910ish), and even those were much more walkable than todays ugly bastard child of the suburban movement.

we can reverse this much quicker than people realize, it'll just take an acceptance that we CANNOT KEEP LIVING LIKE THIS.

Am driving a minivan I won in a contest in 2000. Yeah, it's not the most efficient, but it was a great prize to win since right at that time in my life I needed a new car, and couldn't afford one then either.

Am I being demonized by what I drive when I have no other choice currently at this point? :(
Am I being judged when no one knows my story as I drive down the road to get to work?

BTW Public transportation is not an option here in my little rural CA town.
I have bad knees and can't ride a bicycle.
I teach, and often have boxes of papers/materials I need to take to and from work.

with the "progressive" holier-than-thous.

Not everyone has the ability to walk or bike to where they need to go.

Sorry, but we need cars.

Don't need so many SUV's, but we need cars.

The cost of fuel doesn't just affect Hummer drivers. It affects the cost of food and all consumer goods. People will ultimately suffer a great deal as a result of corporate greed and this government's policies. Still smiling?

It USED to be that the Democratic party cared for people like me.

NOW maybe some of you can see why the party is faltering badly.

These attitudes don't escape the lower-classes. WE/they see this clearly.

I am not at all happy. The economy is slowing shutting down and I think by summer's end, when people finally start "getting what is going on" after their credit card bills start to max out (assuming they haven't already), we will be in a world of hurt.

I realized that EVERYONE, and EVERYTHING around us is affected by the high price of fuel, not just the SUV drivers. They may feel it first, and bitch about it the loudest, but they are the canaries in the coal mines.

Rising oil prices drive up the cost of fertilizer and diesel fuel needed by farmers. We are already seeing food riots in nations across the planet, partly due to high fuel costs being passed down the line, and also partly due to cropland being diverted to biofuels to offset high fuel costs. When you see your grocery bills climbing, that is due to the price of gas.

When farmers in Brazil clearcut rainforest to plant more soybeans and sugarcane for biofuels, that is due to the price of gas.

We're in Iraq, fighting a war that has nothing to do with the "war on terrorism", but by coincidence Iraq has one of the largest remaining oil reserves in the world. When US soldiers and Iraqi civilians die, it's due to the price of gas. And, if we ever get into a dick-waving contest with Iran, that is also due to the price of gas.

As Alberta, Canada tears up millions of acres of forest and diverts entire rivers to process filthy tar sand operations, it's due to the price of gas making it cost-effective to rape the land and pollute the air and water.

And as the economy falters, that too is in part due to the price of gas.

We've built a global society on a finite, dwindling resource without having a concise backup plan in place for the day that that resource finally began to fail. What we're seeing now is just the beginning.

really feeling this.

Many deaths of poor people will be the result, but does that matter to the self-righteous "liberals"????

is that people might be less likely to tear up the landscape with jet-skis and 'recreational' ATVs. Otherwise, I'm just another poor schmuck trying to get to work and am hating it.

OK,to be truthful, Mr Feb is driving my Saturn (25-30mpg) to work instead of his monster chevy silverado 305 (gallons per mile). I'm taking the damn bus. it's one of the reasons I gave up my house and moved into town.

not food, jobs, etc.

if it were actually causing a drastic change in energy usage and the type of energy we persue...

so far the answer to the solution weve been given is 'clean' coal.

We like to go where we want, whenever we want, and most of the times by ourselves. We don't like carpooling or limiting our trips in any way because that is, well, inconvenient. My city of 50,000 has good bus service, but most of the time the busses drive around most empty. Yes, even in these times of high gas prices the people here refuse to be inconvenienced by taking a bus. The taxpayers get tired of subsidizing a bus line that loses money.

When you want to go to the mall, you want to go when you want to go (the busses here do go to the mall). We all tend to want to go when we want to go, to just run outside and hop in the car and hit the road. For me it is only 3.5 miles to work. I could ride my bicycle since there is a safe way to travel and I sometimes do for the exercise, but since I have a car that gets over 30 mpg a gallon of gas will get me to work and back all week. I don't have the incentive. Most people, including myself, can and will change if they have enough incentive to do so.

The rich, and the people who have the money for the big, gas-guzzling vehicles will always have the cash for fuel no matter what it may cost. My biggest concern about high fuel prices is not about my ability to afford personal travel, but about its impact upon the cost of food and other goods. No matter what, let's hope our current crisis forces us to make some actual positive and permanent changes because just think where we would be today if we took the gas crisis of 30 years ago seriously.

I hate to tell you this but people who can afford to drive SUVs can afford the gas no matter the price.

I drive a SUV and I can hardly afford the gas right now. My wife and I bought this thing back in and gas prices were not that bad. At the time we bought it she had her accord, I had grand prix, and we have a motorcycle. Over the years I ended up giving my dad my grand prix because he needed a car and I was driving my uncles mazda. Well he needed it back and right now we cannot afford a car payment. We have one thanks to my wife hitting a deer last year and we had to get a car for her to drive. Now as long as the air temp is over 45 I ride the bike, I may freeze but its better than putting gas in that thing.

So just because somebody drives a suv does not mean that they can afford the gas prices.

We traded in our pickup truck and bought a Durango six years ago because we couldn't carry two kids in the truck.

My DH, who commutes 45 miles, drives a Honda Civic hybrid.

We use the SUV for towing (it was the last Durango built on a truck frame) our trailer for historical events, my mother's horse trailer when horses need to be moved, and carrying big stuff when we need to.

But aside from occasional trips to town, it stays parked now almost all the time. We are saving up for a second hybrid, but will still need a towing vehicle.

Right now, we just can't afford to get a new hybrid or a "new" car of any sort, so I drive as little as I can and use the Honda when I have to.

We're not rich, though I do know I'm privileged to be able to stay home with my children.

Anyway, the high price of gas does affect us too. And we don't drive an SUV simply because of the "status" thing, we just need a larger capacity vehicle too often for renting to be a viable option.

and can pull just about anything with the 5.9L engine under the hood. We use it for hauling, towing, and when all 3 of my kids would be up to be able to fit us all in 1 car. This thing stayed parked for several years just being used for the occasional power shopping trip and above until I gave my car to my dad because he needed one. Now I get to drive it when the weather is too cold or rainy for the bike, otherwise I am on the back of the 'Hawk (93 Honda 750 Nighthawk).

Also since my son doesnt come up anymore (21 years old and knows it all LOL) we can survive with my wife's 04 accord when the girls are up.

But it's the truth.

...not the SUV drivers. The poor will pay the most and before anyone else as they always do ...they pay more of their already desperately needed income in taxes than the rich proportionately (rich pay less than 5%, middle income around 10% and the poor pay 20% in taxes). Then they are expected to pay more just about everywhere from making a phone call to taking the bus with their "disposable" income. I would just like to know when an income is so "disposable" when the only thing to afford is food, rent and transportation ... The poor will suffer as their income goes down and the cost of living goes up. The poor are always the first laid off and the last hired. The poor are the first to wind up on the streets and the last ones to find a home. The poor have no hope of getting an education or decent pay.

If we really want to do something for all, we need to revamp our societies. For instance, as long as we have to drive long distances to get to work because housing nearby is unaffordable, that alone would help ` if you can walk to the store, bike or walk to work, your childcare is nearby,. your kids go to a nearby school, and you have public transportation that actually serves most rather than one major company in town, this is the deal. In Seattle for instance, they hardly have any buses going east and west. Know why? Because the system was built around Boeing hours. Like the whole world only needs the bus between 8 and 5 and we all only need to go north and south.

I am not making this up to tell you when I did not have a car and took the bus to school, it took me TWO HOURS one way for a trip that could be driven in less than 15 minutes. Then another hour to work. With teenagers left to their own devices and getting into trouble because they lacked adult supervision, groceries to get, and laundry to the landrymat, I am telling you life would have been so much easier with decent transit! I would never have gotten a car if I could have taken the bus more conveniently as other cities have provided.

I have some friends who live in motorhomes and park wherever they can for the night. It is expensive to drive those suckers, so they spend a great deal of their time looking for somewhere close to move to since they will get ticketed or kicked off. These are WORKING POOR folks. They are grateful to have that because at least they have a bed for all the work they do with little or no pay. the best ones are the ones with propane heat and stoves. Where they take their tanks in and get them filled, it is a lot cheaper than exchanging them for another tank. they ride the bus to work or walk if they can find a place close enough. Also getting enough water is hard but they find ways ... They say the scariest is when in the middle of the night they hear someone trying the door to their home ...so they have barricaded it at times to make sure they are safe ~ and they sleep with a gun. The hardest part is their two kids ...who have no address for school.


Cat In Seattle

Way to laugh at the plight of the poor, most of whom are forced, due to economic circumstances, to drive large gas guzzling cars. Way to write off farmers who are getting killed by high fuel prices. Way to laugh at all of us as food prices rise to unbearable levels.

And you're doing all this laughing because people who bought SUV's are getting hit with high gas prices:crazy: Yes, there are many people who shouldn't be driving SUV's, but there are also lots of people who need an SUV, contractors, various business folks, etc. Way to laugh at their pain. And as far as those who drive an SUV sheerly for vanity's sake, well guess what, most of them are going to pay the price at the pump and not blink an eye.

Such schadenfreude is grossly misplaced, and totally uncalled for. All you're doing in most cases is laughing at the plight of those who are less well off than you, thus making you look like a jerk, or worse.

He/they will be glad when we're wiped out by all this.

The attitude of the OP is what the media is picking up on as "elitist".

And it ain't helping this country one bit.

You know what that's called, boys and girls? Hyperinflation.

I can't imagine why you'd wish this upon other people.

I am a single working mother. I will be choosing between heat and food for my kids this winter, will you?

You are fucking clueless if you think the hummer owners are the ones being hurt by this.

The only problem is Europe has tons of public transit ... we have none.

And the majority of Americans do NOT drive SUVs/V8s, etc. The majority of Americans are struggling.

who don't drive the SUV's

The truckers are getting killed, they have to pass that price on and that eventually gets passed right back to Y O U in the form of higher prices for everything else.

So I assume you are happy that you essentially have taken a pay cut this year in the form of higher prices for everything you buy.

For some that is make them choose between being able to get to work (not everyone has options) or feeding their family.

as it did the entire year in 2000 on fuel for our trucks. We deliver food products so guess what is happening to the price of food..

:eyes: Lame.

have something in common.

Why do these 'solutions' always fall on the backs of those who can bear them least? Might it be because they have the least political muscle?

Wouldn't the obvious thing be to stop making gas hogs? What's so fucking hard about that? Oh, that's right, The Market is god. Whose god, I wonder.

How would they be able to continue to feel superior???

That's all important, donchaknow.

Hurrah for the Latte Liberals!!

:nuke:

Has it yet occurred to you that many people who drive SUVs are impervious to the price of gas? That a 10 cent per gallon hike
means nothing to them?

Meanwhile, it's killing everyone else at the pump, in the grocery store, at the mall, in the hiring office...everywhere you can imagine.

as they struggle to pay for food, gas and medicines.

:spank:

trash, and celebrate.

Let me know how happy you are when gas eats 10% of your income.

it eats up more than 10%, I spend about 100.00 a week in gas, bring home 750 every two weeks so trust me the gas prices HURT, but, at the same time my wife and I cannot afford to buy another car at this time so instead I freeze my butt off some mornings and ride the motorcycle and hoepfully we will be able to afford to get a car for me to drive to work.

I'm fortunate that it doen't bite me as hard, but I have started doing my 26 mile commute on my Vespa. That helps a lot, especially now that the weather is warming up.

is at or above 50 I ride the motorcycle. Its a 34 mile ride on mostly a 2 lane country road and a few miles on the freeway. 60-70 mph can get MIGHTY cold when the air temp is only 50 but if I wear my sweatshirt and keep my face shield down its bearable.

Pretty soon here in Atlanta it will be 75 to 80 when the sun rises.

so right now the temps are up and down so somedays I ride, somedays I drive, just have to play it by ear right now. I would MUCH rather ride, I just enjoy it more than driving.

Whatever......plenty of good excuses for excess Amercan consumerism going around here. No one held a gun to peoples heads and forced them to buy a huge vehicle or a V8. You sleep in the bed you make. Cheap oil in America was on borrowed time (and money).

The ones being hurt aren't the ones driving huge cars. Get a fucking clue. The working poor, who drive cheap used vehicles are the ones being hurt. The price of gas effects the price of food and heat. The working poor spend almost all income on food, gas and utilities. We don't have any extra income.

So fuck you about sleeping in the bed we made.

Like you know ANYTHING about the real world the rest of us live in.

:nopity:

It's ever so interesting that "liberals" can't handle the truth being given to them any more than the ReCONs can.

I'm in the south.......most working poor people are rednecks with massive trucks they really dont need with huge mud tires.

Heres another news flash THEY MOSTLY VOTE G.O.P........I cant help they are ignorant and want "u big shiny truck"

Until the working poor wake up and do whats in their best interest I'm not going to bother worrying about them.....They had several elections (chances) already. Because if this keeps up we will have a middle class similar to that of Brazil (tiny, marginalized) and we'll ALL be working poor.

You can lead a horse to water..........

If you haven't figured out that that is a bigger problem than simply the amount people drive, you are a fool.

harvested etc....... Americans consume like locusts...... We've had cheap food for a while now...the ride is over.

It's not the poor people's fault, you elitist pos, it is a totally unjust system which compels them to do what they must to to survive and screw your disapproval.

Boy howdy, you are certainly a fine advertisement for getting those folks to vote Democratic.

Obama was right. I dont care how he back peddaled his statement. They care about guns, The bible, and they mostly vote GOP. If McCain gets this election its THEIR fault. I've had it with trying to be sympathetic to their plight......... They listen to FOX news.

You and your kind. Small wonder that the 'party of the people' is not recognised as such by half of the populace.

Do you not see that the arrogance which you display(proudly!) and the lost connection between the Democratic Party and the people the purport to represent might be connected?

I want to get it straight before getting my knickers twisted.

and i dont care what you do with your knickers lol

I'm personally fed up. Its sad the GOP has duped that many people. But I'm sick of trying to sympathize and understand with rednecks. You think they would've wised up by now. This is a huge block of the population...not a special ed class.

Being kept off balance, and working hard to try to survive, some people do not have the time, chance, opportunity, ability, to do enough research to be able to figure it out. Scared and off balance people vote stupidly.

Mien Gott, you really don't get it, do you? What I'm talking about is this sickening air of superiority which you exude. That's what all the recent talk about elitism is about, and you fit the bill to a tee. Do you not see how this could be off-putting to folks of less means than yourself?

Yes, the GOP has duped many people, but they've had mighty help from people like you, people who talk down to the masses without even considering your pomposity. Enough of that sneering browbeating and any normal person with an ounce of self-respect might prefer appeals to traditional values, even if they suspect they're being lied to.

Theres being sympathetic but at some point you become a pushover. I dont care what the facist media says about elitism (or anything else for that matter). If someone chooses traditional values over something that is blatantly good for their well being thats a sign of stupidity. Most people buy large vehicles out of a juvenile sense of "i want" without any thought to how much it costs.

I surrender before your monumental arrogance and stupidity.

Are you sure you're at the right site?

aren't winning elections.

:shrug:

And I sure as hell never voted for these idiots.

"progressive".

:eyes:

What candidate are you for?

Because with your ugly spewing, I wouldn't vote for your candidate on a bet.

driving an Escalade. I am shocked at the stupidity of this post.

If you can afford an Escalade, filling up your tank went from $70 to $100. NO BIG DEAL.

If you are poverty stricken and driver an older, beat up car because that's all you can afford, it's a huge deal.

not necessarily

The fourteen year old truck was bought partly for work many years ago

It wasn't that bad to fill her up back then

These days.... once hubby gets transfered, he's driving the hybrid and I will take the big mo to the supermarket once a week

Not all of those trucks you see on the road were bought with that expensive of a gas bill, so yes, it has also hit the escalade driving group hard, though not as hard... mostly

I don't like them and I have friends and relatives that drive them. But there is nothing we can do about it.

I live in a poor neighborhood. And yet the traffic is just atrocious. NOBODY is cutting back on their driving, or improving their gas guzzling driving habits. It's still like the Indy 500 out there.

Double it? Hell, triple it.

Most people are on autopilot.......crank up pay for gas and go......

:crazy:

This must be SUV Week on DU.

Edit: I'm not happy about my spelling.

Why do you care what I pay for gas? Don't be happy. All of us pay the same for a gallon of gas even the poorest among us. Are you happy the $8.00/ hour guy driving to work may work half his day just to pay for getting there?

I've got a friend whose husband gave her a new Hummer H2 for Xmas.

I asked her how much gas prices would need to rise before she abandoned the Hummer.

She just looked at me with blank eyes as if the question did not register. I reworded the question and asked her again.

She was incapable of thinking of ANY gas price that would keep her from driving the H2.

To those with enough money cost does not matter. The only limit the wealthy will encounter is a physical limit. Only when something is simply not available will they be affected.

did you know that? How much can you deduct for driving a hybrid?

Not individuals. I thought I should point that out before people take this the wrong way.

It's still an asinine deduction.

and write off the hummer deduction.

It's poor urban and regional planning that created our problem, not the popularity of gas-guzzling vehicles.

Suburbia is just as much to blame. Cities get revamped for cars alone. Getting rid of large vehicles will be a big step in the right direction though.

We need to reformat for higher population density, Not necessarily to the extent of Europe but closer in that direction.

and we might should rethink that strategy...

Let's be honest about the appeal of suburbia.

I'm not saying everyone who lives in a suburb is a racist but that was the primary motivating factor for creating suburbs.

to prompt white flight. They wanted no value left in the inner cities, which they assumed would be taken out at some point. That's why they built the interstates that facilitated the white, middle-class flight the military planners wanted. In the process they killed not only the urban cores but small towns and small-scale farming too.

racism certainly contributed, but the national government was really trying to get people to build new houses and to fill them with crap to keep support the economy.

Washington wanted sprawl as a defense of the economy against nuclear strikes, so they built the interstate system.

the current unsustainable infrastructure is probably the biggest unintentional-but-completely-intentional mess humanity ever created

one of the reasons I list Eisenhower as one of the worst presidents in my personal ranking is the fact that he spent his time in office setting all this stuff up, then on his way out made that comment warning us how badly he screwed up.

I can't spend too much time talking about this, I'll piss off anyone who ever lived in the 'burbs who is over 30.

all of which I believe should be small farms supporting the nearby city, not suburbs.

<-- future planner here... and yeah, our idiot planning of the last 50 years certainly contributed to the problem, but you shouldn't discount the effect that cheap energy had, or the national push towards consumerism/housing ownership, or racism, or isolationist technologies like the TV that took us out of our backyards and into our living rooms, or health issues, or corporate greed coming before human interests or etc etc etc...

famlies here and it's really taking a big toll on them.

They aren't phrasing it perfectly, and perhaps underestimates who it will actually penalize, but the OP does get to a blunt truth.

Yes, it would be better if we all collectively realized that cheap energy is just about over, and that a replacement, if there ever will be one, is years away in scaling up. For the near future, we need to scramble to adjust to a new reality. And if in this transition, we paid special attention to those most vulnerable. Yes, this would indeed be ideal.

However, we live in a world where corporations are hiring front groups, claiming to be independent, that won't even acknowledge something like global warming. A world where a McMansion is what people still shoot for. Where there are golf courses and green lawns in the desert. And where China and India, with it's own exploding populations, want the exact same dream. Hell, we aren't even smart enough to end the drug war, something obvious with reams of data against it.

There is little adjustment taking place, on a large scale, to what's going to come. We are like alcoholics who can only think about the next drunk, and won't stop until they're forced to by injury, death or imprisonment. Sure, it would have been better if he quit drinking when he lost his job, or wife, or home. But he didn't. And injury or imprisonment are better than death.

I'm not happy about it, but it's reality. It catches up to everyone in the end.

policies created by Cheney's energy task force. There sole purpose for being was to increase the wealth of oil companies and their owners.

The same people who bring you high gas prices are the same people you expect will create more fuel efficient cars. Too bad they don't play that way. They are sucking every last dollar they can out of all of us.

They way to hurt them is not to buy gas. Don't wait for a savior to come along because it isn't going to happen.

Ride public transportation if you can.
Car pool.
Don't use recreational vehicles
Ride a bike or motorcycle
there are many more things to be done.

It's just great, because my income is certainly growing at the same rate! It's great heating a home with fuel that costs $4.10/gal as well. Lots of fun!! So happy.

the five dollar a milk gallon

And other things....

I also hope you enjoy people having to decide between food or gas to go to their jobs

Today I went shopping at the PX and yes was pleasantly surprised that I could afford the chicken there, but at my local supermarket... it is out of reach

What other things are out of reach?

A relaxing coffee at a coffee shop...

Yep, you read right

And it all has to do with the higher price of gas

Oh and here is one more... it will NOT encourage middle america to STOP driving, since we don't have descent public transport.

Will you also be happy when you too cannot afford to buy food, or gas?

Well if its a direct result of them buying a massive land tank and communting 50 miles a day then no no i dont care anymore. I would like a yacht but i dont buy one because 1. i cant afford it (obviously) and 2.I CANT AFFORD TO PUT FUEL IN IT lol.

We dont have decent public transport or even sidewalks in many places..........it all relates to who you elect. I dont have anything against poor people and we need our middle class shored up more than anything now.

and you will get it when your ass is in that sling....

By the way it is more than just who you elect.... but I doubt you will get it

to switch to alternative, green fuels. I can see why that would cheer anyone up. But it is hurting alot of people.

So.. I guess you are fine with the cost of food and goods going up?

Nice.

In a few years I plan on trading in the SUV for another hybrid. I think you'll start to see more hybrids and fewer SUV's on the road but I'm not sure that it will effect gas prices very much. Demand for oil has actually dropped and yet oil prices climb along with everything else.