OMFG! I'm having flashbacks to the 70's!
Look at what's happening. Gas prices have gone up and (shock!) people are actually doing sumpin' about it. Just like in the 70's people are getting rid of their gas guzzlers. Back then it was big cars, now it's SUVs.
On a side note, back in 1975, my girlfriend wanted to get rid of her 1973 Monte Carlo for some little dinky piece of crap. It was a Mercury Capri. I bought the Monte Carlo from her. 18 MPG on the highway. 14 MPG in the city. I had a good job. I didn't care. It was royal blue. It had 28,00 miles on it. I drove it from St. Louis to California and back once and to Kingston New York and back twice. Drove it to and from Lake of the Ozarks many times, sometimes towing a boat. Only problem I had was with the transmission, but that was common with the '73 Monte Carlos. I loved that car! I sold it to the daughter of a friend of mine in 1982 when it had 130,000 miles on it. A year later she sold it to one of her friends who didn't check the oil and, as a result, blew the engine.
So back then there was a lot of hand wringing and whining for the gummint to "do something!". Let's see. What did they do?
Increase mandated CAFE standards. Guess what? People got rid of their gas guzzlers and bought smaller cars. The market place forced Detroit to make fuel efficient cars. They actually exceeded the mandated standards. Let's hear it for the free market! Kia just announced that their new plant in Georgia is gonna change from producing SUVs to producing small cars. Prices have dropped dramatically for new and used SUVs.
Windfall profits tax against the eeeee-vil oil companies. Here comes the law of unintended consequences that seems to occur every time gummint tries to "do domething!". The windfall profits tax actually made the oil companies import more oil rather than produce domestic oil. So the windfall profits tax actually increased our dependence on foreign oil which it will do today. Care to guess which party ran Congress back then?
55 MPH speed limit. Crapola! I hope to crap they don't do that again, but I've already heard some rumblings from Congress about that.
Price controls. Oh yeah. Those really worked back in the 70's as long as you liked spot shortages and gas lines. We've even had one member of congress suggest "socializing" (she meant nationalizing) the oil companies. Oh yeah. That's worked everywhere it's been tried. Let's see how long it will take Hugo Chavez to destory Venezuela.
Jesus H. Christ! Does anyone even know what happened in the 70's? I was there. I remember every thing the buttheads did back then. Yeah they wrung their hands and worried about "the poor". Fuck the poor! That's what mass transit is for.
And now we have two candidates, McRINO and Thunder Rodent Thighs saying we should suspend the gas tax for the summer. Oh yeah! That makes sense. Let's drop the price of sumpin' we don't have enough of. Pandermania.
Y'know, this is why we created the Department of Energy. They've done a real good job haven't they? Another useless gummint bureaucracy just like the Department of Education.
And guess what else the gummint is doing? It's not letting the eee-vil oil companies drill in ANWR or off the coast. Tell me again. What party is running Congress? And don't give me any crap about the Republicans and Bush. They tried but the Dims and RINOs in the Senate filibustered it. Fourteen years ago BJ vetoed drilling in ANWR. What party is he a member of?
And now the Dimocrats have a new solution. They're gonna sue OPEC. I can't make this shit up. But why not? Every time Dimocrats don't get their way they sue. And once again, we will see the law of unintended consequences that seems to bite politicians over and over. My friend Michael pointed this out. Let's say it looks like there might be some sort of financial settlement against OPEC. Guess what the OPEC countries will do? They'll pull all of their money out of the US. Great idea dickwads!
The best thing for the gummint to do is absolutely nothing other than removing the ban on drilling in ANWR or off the coasts. Tell the ecotards to STFU and take a hike. Don't even think of a windfall profits tax. Let the oil companies do what they do best: drill for oil, refine it, and sell gas and other petroleum products.
In the meantime, higher oil prices will spur American ingenuity into developing more fuel efficient cars and new technologies. Gummint will not do it. The private sector will.
Update: I left off people stealing gas.
Posted by denny at May 28, 2008 12:09 PMto steal some of erica's vernacular, youse a genius! did you make up pandermania? that is a jewel.
and you are alright today! agree with every word.
one of my clients said something great to me. he said: some people just need a tap on the shoulder, but others need to be hit in the head with a 2X4. the nice thing about you is that you are a tap on the shoulder type of person. bad thing is, you are living in 2X4 country.
truer words?
Posted by: supergurl on May 28, 2008 02:29 PMJesus H. Christ! Does anyone even know what happened in the 70's?
Well, let's see, I was there during the 70's but I don't remember much about them!! *L* I pretty much agree, tho,,,keep the govt the hell out of it!
supergurl - I think I made up pandermania. Don't remember reading it anywhere else.
Posted by: Denny on May 28, 2008 02:52 PMI was around in the 70s and I remember it well. My folks made darn sure who was responsible for all that crap going on.
Posted by: Tina on May 28, 2008 05:03 PMWell, that last part explains the one part of the 70's that I had yet to see return...
The infamous locking gas caps. (y'all remember the guy at the pumps at the head of a looong line that suddenly realized that he lost the key to it...)
...and let us not forget JC's (no, the killer rabbit victim...) answer to the long lines...
Even and odd fill up dates dictated by your license plate number. (no vanity plates back then)
Posted by: Strnj1 on May 28, 2008 06:41 PMIf I was running an OPEC country I would say, "Go ahead and sue us. By the way the price for the oil your buying just went up. Sue us again and it will go up even more."
Posted by: Deathknyte on May 28, 2008 07:25 PMYeah, but I can't believe the number of Canadians I still see driving honking huge motorhomes and fueling up here. You'd think gas guzzling was a strictly US phenomenon. No, they all have BC plates.
Posted by: PeggyU on May 28, 2008 08:20 PMI grew up in LiberalLand. During the '70's, I heard
rumors of vast tankers out at sea, full of gas, that the oil companies
didn't want to land so they could create gas shortages.
I remember the gas lines very well. My dad used to send me out
to get in line. We used to push the car rather than start it back up once we were in line.
Remember the Ford "WIN" buttons (Whip Inflation Now)
that you could get if you mailed a letter to the white house ?
Many valuable muscle cars went to the crusher
because they got poor gas mileage.
Short sighted people...
Posted by: Bill on May 28, 2008 10:25 PMThomas Friedman yesterday's column in NYT is interesting : to accelerate the private sector reaction, he proposes a “price floor” for gasoline. What do you think ?
sorry Denny, it seems you and a NYT's coumnist share some point of views! ;)
This candidate would note that $4-a-gallon gasoline is really starting to impact driving behavior and buying behavior in way that $3-a-gallon gas did not. The first time we got such a strong price signal, after the 1973 oil shock, we responded as a country by demanding and producing more fuel-efficient cars. But as soon as oil prices started falling in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we let Detroit get us readdicted to gas guzzlers, and the price steadily crept back up to where it is today.
We must not make that mistake again. Therefore, what our mythical candidate would be proposing, argues the energy economist Philip Verleger Jr., is a “price floor” for gasoline: $4 a gallon for regular unleaded, which is still half the going rate in Europe today. Washington would declare that it would never let the price fall below that level. If it does, it would increase the federal gasoline tax on a monthly basis to make up the difference between the pump price and the market price.
'Locking Gas Caps?' Forget about that. The latest craze sweeping the country is poking a hole in the bottom of your tank and draining the gas.
Posted by: Anthony L. on May 29, 2008 08:51 AMProsper......
As to whether we are sheep who respond to the dictates of a Government or an Economist....most of us are not , unfortunately some are,they are called Environmentalists & Democrats.
The important issue....Energy Independence,many experts in the Oil/Gas industry are of the opinion Ae have the proven & probable undeveloped reserves to be independent of Middle Eastern oil if we were to develop them. The very real question`s are ....Why have we not done so & when will we?
I know it is standard procedure for a politician to propose taxation,price controls or some other feel good solution which never work but why would a European such as yourself entertain such an idiotic approach to a problem which has an obvious common sense answer.
I was really glad to see one of our most socialistic legislators "Maxine Waters" threaten the oil companies with socialism as an answer...."Her exact Words not mine"..... further stating the Government would nationalize the oil companies,take them away from them & run them. I would imagine our liberal media will choose to ignore her comments hoping most people did not catch her error revealing the Liberal socialist agenda she follows as do so many other liberals.
As other Socialists in our government emboldened by public apathy speak up to reveal their true beliefs, maybe just maybe more Americans will wake up to the dangers posed by these Liberal Socialist Traitors to what this country stands for.
Posted by: dudley1 on May 29, 2008 08:59 AMWe're talking about a tax that will force private sector to find a solution. Don't jump from your chair every single time the word tax is pronounced.
Posted by: Prosper on May 29, 2008 09:24 AMProsper, the private sector has been working on solutions for years you moron. Fuel cells have been in development since the mid-1800s and only recently have made engineering strides due to advancements in high-temperature ceramics. Oh gleaming light of intelligence, why don't you find us a platinum substitute? Solar energy is used more and more with each passing year. The world's largest manufacturer of solar-grade polysilicon wafers (REC Silicon) is tripling its manufacturing capacity in its Moses Lake, Washington facility. Cars are becoming more fuel efficient than ever. Citizens are yelling at their representatives to increase nuclear energy usage. Tankless water heater sales volumes have quadrupled in America over the last two years. I could go on and on. The private sector is working you asshole, and the public sector has fucked us enough so shut the fuck up with your gay tax bullshit. I don't see France doing anything to help solve the problem.
Oh and Prosper, I've been reading up on history. It turns out that Napoleon's French Revolution was merely an experiment in Fascism. You French are the most disgusting animals on earth.
Posted by: Paul on May 29, 2008 11:26 AMProsper.......
It is the PRIVATE SECTOR which wants to develop the oil reserves in ANWR & Offshore.....It is the GOVERNMENT SECTOR & their environmental moonbat friends like Al Gore who are preventing the PRIVATE SECTOR from doing what they do best ....solving problems & serving their customers.
You see if the GOVERNMENT SECTOR would mind the business of serving the people instead of meddling where it does not belong not only would the problem be solved, no tax would be necessary & the cost of refined gas & fuel oil would go down.
This is how a free society is supposed to operate....without interference from the GOVERNMENT SECTOR.
It is really that simple as any time the Goverment gets involved , nothing gets done, the cost goes up & more Federal employees are loaded on the backs of the taxpayers.
Posted by: dudley1 on May 29, 2008 01:19 PMDudley: Well put. Taxes don't offer an incentive to find alternatives. They just drain off money that could be used to research and develop alternatives. People still have to live in an oil-driven world while this is happening. No, taxes would just reduce the $$$ available for research and investment.
Posted by: PeggyU on May 29, 2008 02:46 PMProsper - Unlike Mr. Friedman, I do not support a floor for gas prices. I believe in letting the market set the price, so you are wrong about me agreeing with Mr. Friedman. In my current post I have EUropean gas prices. Holy crap! You guys sure pay a lot for gasoline. Maybe you should start an ethanol program. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Posted by: Denny on May 29, 2008 04:43 PMNuke Their Ass And Take Their Gas.
Kills two birds with one stone.
No more rich muslim states financing terrorism and Buck A Gallon gas.
Posted by: FORGER on May 29, 2008 10:32 PMPeggyU.....
Yes, there is an endgame for the heavy reliance for fossil fuels......it just is not in our lifetimes or in the relative forseeable future for succeeding generations.
Recognizing this ,plenty of time exists for the discovery/development of alternative energy sources in conjunction with the industrial /commercial fossil based economies now in existance.
Unfortunately the hysteria which drives the green movement of the liberal environmentalists does not recognize this or our need to maintain the reliance on fossil fuels at this time.
I suspect that as emphasis shifts to acceptance for the reality of where we stand in our energy requirements & a co-existance with that need as well as serious exploration /research for new energy sources.....the result will be breakthroughs to sources or types currently unknown. This is almost a given as all current alternative hot prospects are seriously flawed with the possible exception of Solar Power.
Is a space based solar grid with a developed method or capacity to download for human consumption on the horizen?.......not soon as little research or development is underway at the present time. As I said our best discoveries lie in the future probably to be discovered almost by accident.
Posted by: dudley1 on May 29, 2008 11:49 PMThe 70s may be back, but I'm not wearing plaid polyester bellbottoms or platform shoes. You can't make me!
Posted by: Jerry on May 30, 2008 12:13 AMPaul said : "moron (...) asshole (...) gay (...) fascist"
that really made a point !!
BWAHAHAHAHAHA...
Posted by: Prosper on May 30, 2008 05:02 AMPerhaps it is time I made peace with you, Prosper. I've been pretty ugly to you for the past two years and for what? We don't see the world the same. So be it.
to be continued...
Posted by: Paul on May 30, 2008 10:18 PMPaul! WTF?? Is old age and Crown mellowing you out these days?
Posted by: CharlieDelta on May 31, 2008 07:41 PM