This blog printed on 100% recycled electrons.
At the beginning of the week, AP offered an explanation of why gas prices were inching up even as oil prices appeared to be dropping (main reason: reliance on overseas crude). Another reason gas prices might go up: increased demand. It's not a big surge, but the Wall Street Journal reports we're getting piggish again, with demand inching up above last year's levels for the first time in a while.
Now I want to say, "People! Have you forgotten last July already? $4 a gallon?" But WSJ points out the demand increase is tiny and cites an energy analyst (Tom Bentz, BNP Paribas Commodity Futures, New York) who says "A return to $4 a gallon is probably not something we're going to see anytime soon."
Well, far be it from me to stoke fear and pessimism in the midst of a recession.
But near be it to me remind you that conservation is a good idea, no matter what numbers go up on the big green BP sign. Spring is coming: put down the keys, wire that basket onto your bike, and ride to the grocery store. Parents, park your teens' jalopies and tell them they can walk the mile to school. Spend your money on something that will last, like a nice windmill for your house.
Drinking Liberally Update (11/15/2024)
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In Politics: Nationally: The Election is over and the wrong side won. I
have nothing to contribute to the barrels of ink being used by Pundits to
explain a...
3 days ago
Have you read the latest: the gov't is getting ready to tax you for every mile you drive. You will be required to put a GPS tracking device on your vehicle. The tax rate will increase with weight with trucks paying more than cars.
ReplyDeleteCan we say Big Brother is watching you?
Yup, have heard that. Don't like it. Another good reason to travel by bicycle.
ReplyDeleteOh, the life here in import nation. We drive ginormous SUVs, vans, cars, & pickups and send our money to buy gas from the folks who don't like us - thus our enemies figured out a way to make us fund them.
ReplyDeleteThen we send our manufacturing overseas so we can send what's left of our money to buy stuff that we used to make - and provide funds so our competitors can contract for future resources - out from under us. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/business/worldbusiness/21yuan.html?_r=1&hp . With the Chinese contracting for future oil development and delivery we have two options: 1) future servitude, or 2) self-reliance. I'm betting that our Wall Street banksters want us to be in servitude.
Conservation is well and good. But so is making use of the resources we have within our own borders and in our part of the oceans. The fact that you and so many libs refuse to let us use our own resources actually makes me want to drive more, not less.
ReplyDeleteAnon 6:23 p.m.: Want to do it more because I say you shouldn't—ask my three-year-old how well that logic goes over at our house.
ReplyDeleteHave you read the latest: the gov't is getting ready to tax you for every mile you drive. You will be required to put a GPS tracking device on your vehicle.
ReplyDelete--(Anon 9:17)
Just read an article on this topic when I looked at my Yahoo e-mail. A Republican proposed this. The Obama administration is against it. Lots of citizens are against it too, even in the "liberal" states where it seems to have received the most attention (Massachusetts, for example).
I think this is a stupid idea. It would cost a lot of money, would increase bureaucratic red tape, and could even be subject to hacking and other abuse.
Playing the devil's advocate, however, I am willing to note that it wouldn't be an altogether bad thing for citizens to have records of their vehicle whereabouts at all times. It would amount to a "LoJack" for everyone. It could also be useful if it were ever necessary to prove one's whereabouts at a particular time, for example, if one were accused of a crime one did not commit.
Overall, I think this notion is indicative of a general trend toward more bloated, arrogant, intrusive, and burdensome government, fueled on both sides of the aisle by politicians with too much time to waste. Maybe I should build my wind-and-sun-powered house on the island of Dominica. I wouldn't need a car there, nor any home heating equipment. Just a hurricane-proof bunker.
Go ahead, Big Brother. Make my life. Get me going on the Free Nation Project. It'll be your loss.
Developing a way to Block the Gps system will be a money maker for someone. What a joke of an idea...GPS trackers in our cars....when does the human implants start?
ReplyDeleteClueless, I'm sure that people are already working on it! It's all part of the same philosophy that we aren't smart enough to take care of ourselves or know what is best for ourselves, that we need Big Brother gov't to do it for us!
ReplyDeleteTo emphasize Stan's point, e.c., the implants (at least in our cars) won't be starting under the Obama Administration.
ReplyDeleteIf this is the case, then towns like Madison will die out because everyone will move to the bigger cities.
ReplyDeleteIf you like your small town life and want to promote growth, then this is not a good idea. Madison does not have a workforce that can support the people in town.