How Not to Deal with the Energy Crisis
Gas prices are soaring. And both Congress and the auto manufacturers are proposing solutions. The only problem is that none of them are any good.
This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee hauled CEO's from top oil companies up to the hill to testify as crude oil hit a new high: $133 per barrel. To deal with record-setting gas prices, John McCain and Hillary Clinton have called for a "gas tax holiday," a proposal so ludicrous I wont even rebut the idea.
And how are American auto-manufacturers responding you ask? Not by increasing fuel efficiency standards, but by subsidizing your gasoline purchases for the next three years if you buy a dodge today. That's right, Dodge-Chrysler's "Lets Refuel America!" sale guarantees you will never pay more than $2.99 per gallon for three years after buying a new Chrysler-Dodge or Jeep.
First, if you actually take a look at the text, there are so many loopholes that its just a bad-deal altogether. Secondly, anybody with any brains ought to realize that the age of cheap oil is over. While you may pay $3 a gallon for three years, gas will not be any cheaper by then. It will likely stay the same price or increase. If you plan on buying a new car, you would be better off just buying a hybrid or one of those electric cars that you can plug in overnight.
While we can all debate about untapped oil reserves, clearly global demand is increasing and will increase as more people are lifted out of poverty in emerging global powers like India and China.
The U.S. has got to make hard choices to reduce demand. The obvious solutions are imposing high fuel efficiency standards on auto manufacturers and investing more in energy efficient mass transit and in R & D for alternative sources of energy. The problem is that in an election year, many politicians appeal to "pocketbook politics" rather than hard truths and long-term solutions.
This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee hauled CEO's from top oil companies up to the hill to testify as crude oil hit a new high: $133 per barrel. To deal with record-setting gas prices, John McCain and Hillary Clinton have called for a "gas tax holiday," a proposal so ludicrous I wont even rebut the idea.
And how are American auto-manufacturers responding you ask? Not by increasing fuel efficiency standards, but by subsidizing your gasoline purchases for the next three years if you buy a dodge today. That's right, Dodge-Chrysler's "Lets Refuel America!" sale guarantees you will never pay more than $2.99 per gallon for three years after buying a new Chrysler-Dodge or Jeep.
First, if you actually take a look at the text, there are so many loopholes that its just a bad-deal altogether. Secondly, anybody with any brains ought to realize that the age of cheap oil is over. While you may pay $3 a gallon for three years, gas will not be any cheaper by then. It will likely stay the same price or increase. If you plan on buying a new car, you would be better off just buying a hybrid or one of those electric cars that you can plug in overnight.
While we can all debate about untapped oil reserves, clearly global demand is increasing and will increase as more people are lifted out of poverty in emerging global powers like India and China.
The U.S. has got to make hard choices to reduce demand. The obvious solutions are imposing high fuel efficiency standards on auto manufacturers and investing more in energy efficient mass transit and in R & D for alternative sources of energy. The problem is that in an election year, many politicians appeal to "pocketbook politics" rather than hard truths and long-term solutions.
posted by Trevor at
12:21 PM
2 Comments:
Having just spent 15 hours of my weekend on an Amtrak train to and from Boston, I couldn't agree more with investing in mass transit! Good Lord-- Amtrak is like riding on a freight train and I could walk faster than that regional train! You can get between Lyon and Paris in under two hours on the TGV in France and no person in their right mind would rather drive the grueling 5 hrs. Investing in that sort of infrastructure here in the U.S. (especially along the East Coast!) would benefit everyone. And yet Congress is once more dragging its feet on Amtrak funding... sigh.
Claire -- I could not agree with you more! I was recently trying to plan a trip sans-car to Lexington Kentucky -- nearly impossible.
How though, to create the infrastructure before there is a demand for it (besides me) when no popular appetite for public transit will ever be whetted if there is no alternative?
Answer: Our government needs to be bold and take a risk. But could that actually happen?
Also -- I feel you on the train from Boston to New York. At least the Northeast corridor line is civilized. I took the train from here to Savannah, and the trip was decidedly less than enjoyable.
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