I have a confession to make — I’m glad gas prices in the United States, as elsewhere, are rising. And I’m quietly hoping they’ll keep going higher because there may possibly be no more effective way to promote conservation and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Higher pump prices might be the only way that we Americans will ever even begin adjusting our driving habits and reducing fuel consumption — when it hits you in the pocketbook. The price of gas in the United States may be cresting at over the $4 per gallon level but it is still far lower than it many other countries where fuel taxes are much higher.
In Germany, gasoline is now up to about 6 euros ($9) per gallon. German think tanks have forecast that it would take prices of 10 euros ($15) per gallon to radically change driving habits.
Certainly there are fewer mass transit options in the United States than in Europe and elsewhere. And higher fuel prices are especially problematic for people with low or no income. What’s nevertheless disheartening in the United States is that any suggestion of alleviating the price squeeze in the United States through the conservation of fuel by driving less or by driving smaller, more fuel-efficient cars or by using public transportation seems to get drowned out by a strange political debate about temporarily suspending the federal fuel tax for a few months during the summer holiday season.
That seems to be sending the wrong message to Americans, who already use about one quarter of the world’s gas. It’s a wasted opportunity, in the age of climate change, to help a global campaign for conservation.
I spent an illuminating week recently driving around in California. It was amazing that so many people are still driving enormous SUVs even though fuel prices are high and rising. It was also amazing that people drive their enormous SUVs and other gas-guzzling cars at such high speeds and with such jack-rabbit acceleration.
I was in my mother’s 10-year-old sub-compact and tried to keep to the 60 mph speed limits on the freeways. It sometimes felt like I was standing still. Speeding cars, trucks and busses were passing on the left, on the right and some wanted to run right over me (it seemed). Even at 60 mph I was evidently a traffic nuisance. 
Some especially fast cars can go from zero to 60 in 10 seconds or less. Admittedly I’m a bit obsessed with saving fuel. It takes me about 40 seconds to get to 60 mph. Even getting to 30 mph takes about 20 seconds. To save fuel, I try to avoid braking and never step hard on the gas. I got nearly 50 miles per gallon with that car.
A relative who lent me her mid-sized car was amazed when I went twice as far (600 miles) on a tank as she does. She wanted to know the secret. It’s no secret. It’s just common sense. But with political leaders tripping over themselves with promises of a summer fuel tax holiday, few in America seems to be getting that message.
What do you think about high gas prices?
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WHY AMERICA IS DEPENDENT ON FOREIGN
FOREIGN TAX CREDITS
In 1977 Representative Benjamin Rosenthal of New York produced secret Internal Revenue Service documents going back to 1950. They showed that the tax laws of Saudi Arabia were drafted with the help of Aramco to call the added price of oil not a “royalty” or “cost of doing business,” as was proper, but an income tax.” The Saudis did this knowing that income tax paid to a foreign country is deductible from the income taxes an oil company pays the United States on all income received in the United States by the parent firm. From Pgs 61-64 The Media Monopoly by Ben H. Bagdikian 5th edition
“Since that time the major multinational U.S. oil companies have paid hardly a penny of U.S. income tax on their foreign income.” page130 Banks Borrowers and the Establishment
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT
The United States agreed to transfer jobs and technology to developing countries under the Algiers Declaration in March of 1975:
A major portion of the planned or new petrochemical complexes, oil refineries and fertilizer plants be built in the territories of OPEC Member Countries with the co-operation of industrialized nations for export purposes to the developed countries with guaranteed access for such products to the markets of these countries. [sections 10-11]
HOW TO DECLARE INDEPENDENCE
SYNTHETIC FUEL FROM COAL
Oil was $127 a barrel recently.
Germany fought WWII with synthetic gas from coal. America, with 1/3rd of Earth’s coal, can be energy independent for an estimated $55 a barrel, including the infrastructure and labor force necessary to operate plants. It is proven technology. Visit http://governor.mt.gov/hottopics/faqsynt hetic.asp
Synfuels are cleaner burning than gasoline and they do not increase the cost of food by diverting corn to ethanol.
Furthermore, reducing our trade imbalance keeps jobs in America. Every billion of trade deficit costs 13,000 jobs. $400 billion for oil last year: do the math.
And we stop sending billions to countries that sponsor terrorism.
- Posted by Michael LewisWell, Mr. Kirschbaum, as you travel along in your little car that gets stupendous gas mileage in your state of elation over gas prices I suggest that you think about something.
Many of the people being hurt the worst by high oil prices are the very ones who work from dawn until after dark to put food on your table.
We are the ones living in rural America where it’s often a necessity to drive 30 miles or more just to go to town for supplies. We are the ones who don’t have the options of public transportation, and even if we did how would we transport a week or a month’s worth of supplies on public transit?
Do you happen to have children, Mr. Kirschbaum? I do (although not very many at all), and it’s everything we can do just to keep a roof over their heads, nourishing food in their tummies and used clothes on their backs. We have no money for eating at restaurants or going to a movie. The only form of entertainment we haven’t cut yet is our internet service.
I agree, something must be done to conserve fuel and alternatives need to be found. However, in the meantime, there are many of us who still need to get from one paycheck to the next. A person can only cut back so far to make up the extra costs before there is no more to cut. We’ve already reached that point.
- Posted by AgWifeThis Erik Kirschbaum must be a person who is not in touch with reaity, or cares about his fellow man. If he cannot get out in rural America and see what these high gas prices are doing to our economy and businesses of America. Some air lines have already went out of business. These high fuel prices are cutting into most businesses revenue, except for the Big Oil Companies who are making BILLIONS of dollars in profits. This is a shame and disgrace to our working people of this nation, who are so many now getting laid off. Brazil about to come on line next year could be the next Saudia Arabia. Oil field in the midwest, Alaska, Gulf, and on the coast, that could be even bigger than Saudia Arabia, not to mention Canada, who is finding new oil fields. The price of oil is nothing but big oil companies and governments gouging the prices up. This nonsense has to come to a end very soon before our economy is destroyed more than it is right now. This is really hurting the average Americans.
- Posted by GrannyAll the mess started by the baby boomers.The spoiled generation did not know how to use resources effectively.Its a domino effect you live in east ,west or midwest doesnot matter.We have been using all our natural resourses at a speed greater than nature can reproduce.Also all city county and government workers are abusing big time running around,ideling and not doing much work.Bush has done agreat job teaching Americans a lesson.Those who dont know how to walk will learn after few stumbles.If you dont know how to live within your means remember Bush He is the Master Teacher.Remember no child left behind no American either
- Posted by MikeI do not believe that gas price increases will change many habits. The people who buy and drive SUVs, Hummers, and other gas guzzlers can generally afford the gas they put in. To afford such cars, one probably has enough to feed it and does not worry much about a budget. The price increase, instead, damages those who can’t afford gas. Yes, the increasing prices will affect those people who are tight for money, but the largest of the consumption problems come from those who are still unmoved by the rapid increase. What we need to start looking at is alternative fuels, more sustainable methods, and possibly some government regulation on what kinds of cars we have on the roads. I mean, who really needs a Hummer in a city?
- Posted by ClayI’m an American expat living in Tokyo. Things are getting a bit pricier and gloomier here as well, but what’s going on back in the U.S. is shocking.
Mass transit here so efficient that a lot of people (myself included) opt out of owning car. Not only that, it is *standard* for employers to reimburse travel costs to and from the office — I don’t spend a dime commuting to work. On weekends, all our shopping is at local stores within walking distance.
Someone above mentioned insurance; I pay less than half what I was in the U.S. to keep me and my family insured in the national insurance system *and* supplemental plans that even return a percentage of our premiums for the year. I’m not on some fat expat package either: I’m a penny-pinching, medium-income office worker.
The fact I had to move to a place as “expensive” as Tokyo because I couldn’t afford to raise my family in the U.S. anymore boggles my mind.
Somebody needs to fix America, because it looks to me like something is seriously broken.
- Posted by JackIt is distressing that people are essentially having propriety hit them in the pocket books to tell them that the american dream is a sham. This is going to cause a lot of grief all over the world before it is finished.
There are three reasons why gas prices are going up so fast:
-Supply: The world is running out of cheap oil. Peak oil is part myth and part reality. There will be oil for a very long time, but we have tapped all the easy-to-use stuff. The rest is in hard-to-access locations. Oil shale, Tarsands, deep sea, wildlife refuges, and the like. Oil is getting harder to make: price goes up.
-Demand: 6.666 billion people now want to have 2 cars, 2.5 kinds, a 4 bedroom ranch, a picket fence and all the fixings. The natural resources to supply this to the worlds population simply do not exist. And then we keep having more babies… More people bid for oil: price goes up.
-Inflation: We have been outsourcing our jobs to foriegn countries for years, then sending those countries our money to buy the things we used to make at home. Now those countries have lots of american dollars to buy oil with, and well paid workers who want it. At the same time, we’re printing more money to pay them. This decreases the value of the dollar on the world market because the USA is not making anything (besides weapons, video games, and movies) that the rest of the world wants. A dollar buys less oil: price goes up.
The price of oil is going up because your money is increasingly worthless and there are ever more people who want an ever decreasing resource.
Things will never be as they were before.
Gas will never again be cheap.
Food will never again be cheap.
We need to change, or we will all be doomed.
- Posted by Mr. KarlThis is a big SCAM…tell me something..how can price of something could increase by 400% in 3 years….you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to tell that some people are making big money and noboby can point why….they blame developing world for increase in consumption but if you see the numbers, world consumption has not increased by big margin….
- Posted by HPThis is what I think is happening…when price of oil is high these big refenires reduce production to help the price go even more highr…when the price is lower they increase the production to make more profit…I might be wrong but I would be happy if someone can bring things to normal….
The price of gas keeps going up and up. Now we see that food prices are also going up because it costs money to produce and haul food to it’’s destination. Food staples like wheat, rice and corn are getting expensive and fuel costs are partly to blame for this. It’’s a vicious circle. Do the gas companies really think this will not come back to bite them. As public trust of oil companies continues to diminish, they may find they could be facing a strong consumer backlash. It’’s true they hold the oil and gas but we hold the dollar and remember, it ain”t called the almighty dollar for nothing.
Oil companies sell gas and carmakers sell cars that use gas so it’s a mutually beneficial situation for both of them. The solution is to stop buying new cars for a year until carmakers start building 100% electric or hydrogen powered cars, not hybrids. This would send a message to both the carmakers and oil companies that they understand. Sorry carmakers but you brought this on yourself by not speeding up the conversion. No pain no gain. Problem solved. Visit our website and take our gas price poll at http://www.nbtv.ca
The results of the poll on NBTV indicate 76% of the public believe that the gas companies are fixing gas prices. 93% believe they are price gouging. 68% believe the gas companies and carmakers conspired to prolong our dependence on gas powered cars. 53% believe the gas companies and government conspired to keep the price higher than normal and sofar our new trust poll it shows that 100% of respondence DO NOT TRUST the oil companies. These are all the results up till now 12:49 pm Sunday May 18, 2008 You can check out the results yourself on http://www.nbtv.ca if you like
- Posted by Ted McKeownI couldn’t agree more with James MacCrossman.
- Posted by B. MillerEvery time this subject comes up with these environmentalists, Europe always somehow gets into the story line whether its gas or politics. This country was started to get away from the Europe mentality and now they want us to go back to it, what elitist snobs.
The American spirit was born of the ability to move about the country in an economical way when and where we wanted. It’s what has made us unique in the world. We have cut pollution dramatically in the last 20 years but other countries have not (India, China, Russia etc.) could it possibly have more to do with anti-capitalism than with the environment, me thinks so.
We don’t have to get off oil because of co2 (greatest hoax ever pulled on the world) but because we can’t be dependent on countries who want to see us dead.
Maybe it is time for the West Coast and East Coast to give our country back and move to their heaven on earth Europe.
A fellow luddite.
Are you crazy? Some folks cannot make it now, and you want gas prices to go higher?
- Posted by David WadeI am not happy about high gas prices, nor was I happy about them when they hit $2.50 per gallon. That is why for the past year I have been driving a Plug-In Hybrid that gets over 100mpg. I plug-in using just 4kwh (60cents) of Clean Domestic Wind Energy to offset the amount of Dirty Foreign Oil I have to use.
- Posted by HybridPlugs.comWhat I am trying to do is to take myself and my family out of the Oil industries “Consumer for Life” program as much as possible.
I now enjoy gas free weekends while driving my family around in a five passenger car.
When are you going to join me?
This article hit the nail on the head. For those of you not realising that life as you know it is coming to an end, please consult websites like:
- Posted by Poul Andreasenhttp://www.energybulletin.net
http://www.theoildrum.com
We can still turn the ship around. But time is getting preciously short.
Ha! How interesting.
Many people are living in a dream world where they evidently think that reduced carbon dioxide emissions and conservation actually matter to folks out there in the USA who are struggling just to get back and forth to a job right now.
Wake up please and realize that even though all of that is quite noble and necessary to some extent, it isn’t helping middle-class America keep food on the table and it SURE isn’t keeping Big Oil from making record profits.
As for Europe, they have much higher salaries than we do and their taxes are used for many public transportation projects and a host of other things like socialized health care so thats bull as well.
High gasoline prices are NOTHING to rejoice about and when people in US cities start riots over food and fuel in the future please…come back and read this post.
Good luck sheeple. Its disgusting what I see America concerned about when your mothers are sleeping in parking lots after losing their homes to variable rate mortgages.
Abolish the Fed, tax Big Oil HARD, curb futures trading with higher trading fees, prosecute banks for predatory lending practices, and impeach that joke of a president we have in office if you want to help the world.
- Posted by JS CallahanNo one has yet mentioned how messed up Nascar is and how much the sport of auto racing is wrong for a country trying to conserve fuel. Maybe Nascar is sacred and I am the antiChrist for suggesting such a notion.
- Posted by Tim Liaowhat I find interesting is that we still pay about HALF of what the Europeans pay for gas…I mean if it bothers you so much…buy a car that’s easier on gas..if you can’t afford it…carpool…walk..get off your butt, buy a bicycle. I’m a college masters student…I have a car to drive to far away places to, but I still walk and bicycle to work and class, and neither of those two destinations are close….all it really means is pack some deodorant and wake up earlier to get where you’re going..click my link, you’ll enjoy my piece on gas prices.
- Posted by Izzy Glass (writer)I am reading a lot of complaints here that in most parts of this country we lack decent public transportation, so driving is the only option. Why do you suppose this isn’t the case in most European countries? Partly because Europe is more dense as a whole, but partly because the citizens there have promoted, largely by voting for elected officials, investment in mass transit. The cult of the car in this country feels like a birthright for most of us, and the realization that it has put us in this bind is clearly hard to swallow. There are lots of solutions here, but no quick fixes. Changes in infrastructure take time, and political will, which starts with the people, which is all of us. It’s only through feeling the pain of high prices that a lot of us are going to act to push our leaders, and our business communities, to promote greater efficiency, including improvements in mass transit infrastructure. Complaining about the predicament we are in, pretending that we can drill our way out of this situation and continue consuming oil at the rate we are going, and calling the messengers of this reality “elitist”, is a waste of time.
- Posted by Jon WetherbeeBelieve me, if I could car pool or take the city transit, I would. Public transportation is in the next state; the closest bus station is 15-20 minutes away or three hours of walking. The tranisits do not run at the time I need to be at work- it does not run all night long or continually (begins at 6 am and ends at 1145 pm). I have a small car and I don’t have a choice but to drive. Most of my miles are highway and I try to ensure all the maintenance is done so it does not eat up gas. No speeding tickets, my driving record is excellent. Work is over 64 kilometers away, and it would be 30 km more if I rode a bike(cannot ride bicycles on the highway). It is not practical for me to car pool, use public transit or ride a bike to work. I’m doing all I can here, but what is being done about the gas prices that is availble to be implemented now?
- Posted by shanteOh and by the way, if I were to pay for my health care outright without any insurance, it would cost me over a thousand dollars a month. I have resorted to better resources for my medications, as some has been proven to cost less, so it is not like people like me are not looking for alternatives. I certainly don’t drive anywhere I do not have to, combine as many errands as possible, use coupons for food whenever I can and make cuts where I can. The high rise in gas prices came at a time of world politics and as an opportunity for people to do it saying it is justified. Someone made the demand the way it is- it is not that the supply is not there- No, this is not a case where the resources are not there- no one is rationing gas or saying we can only fill up once as week as in the late 70’s. The gas prices of today are not out of need, but greed.
- Posted by shantePlease don’t get me wrong — my heart does go out to anyone feeling the squeeze because of higher prices who doesn’t have alternative ways of getting to work (but I do also wonder: aren’t smaller cars available or car pools?). It’s also not ‘Schadenfreude’ that makes me glad that fuel prices are rising. It’s the bigger peril of climate change. I’ve got 4 kids and wonder what they or their children are going to be thinking 50 or 100 years down the road when they look back at our generations — “What those people knew in 2008 about the dangers of global warming and yet you kept driving your big gas guzzling cars at high speeds?” Believe me, I’ve felt the squeeze of higher fuel prices too. But I’ve tried to negate that by cutting my fuel use (and CO2 emissions) — by biking to work (40 km per day), selling our second car, driving slower and driving less, taking the train and public transit on business trips, using the fireplace most evenings instead of the natural gas heating, taking fewer and shorter (and colder) showers, and putting solar panels on my roof. In short, I’ve turned into a zealot about avoiding emissions. It’s a personal obsession and I wouldn’t dream of forcing it upon anyone else. But after seeing so little change in the way Americans use fuel despite the growing evidence of global warming, I’m just hoping that the higher gas prices might finally encourage a change in sentiment about the use of fossil fuels.
- Posted by Erik Kirschbaum