Originally posted by beet1e
The problem in America is due in part to American motorists cravings for sport utility vehicles or SUVs, which are disastrous in terms of fuel consumption. The problem is further compounded by the blinkered thinking that it is their "right" to drive whatever they like, and to hell with the issue of oil resources, which they consider to be "someone else's problem". We even see it on this board - someone posts a pic of the "best" car, which usually means fastest or (more to the point) faster than the car picture posted by the previous person in the thread.
Think of your gas prices as a wake up call. It's time to stop raping this planet for its natural resources. I'm paying at least twice as much for fuel as American motorists pay, but how often do you hear me complain about it? But these howls of anguish about US gas prices appear on this board all the time. Maybe if they would drive something that gets better than 18mpg the pain would not be as bad...
I don't often complain about road fuel prices, but I'm going to do it now. I am outraged that in Britain diesel costs even more than petrol, when diesel costs much less to produce, and less crude oil is needed to create an equivalent volume of diesel. In all the European countries I've driven in recently (Holland, France, Spain, Portugal) diesel costs about two thirds as much as petrol, reflecting its lower production costs. We have the most expensive road diesel in the world. (we also have a Labour govt)
So I'm glad I get 47mpg, and can do 500 miles on a tank of diesel. I do about 20,000 miles a year and spend about £40/week on fuel. At today's exchange rate, that's about $75.
Thats been the standard left-wing stance on US side of Atlantic, and apparently the east side of it as well. It's not fair argueing with liberals, they dont have to use FACTS in their retorts--The law of supply and demand says that the less something is available, the more it will cost. Apparently, about 27 MILLION -'gas'guzzling'SUV's' were sold in the US since last fall...bloody amazing work on the part of car salesmen. Now if you introduce economic reality, oil consumption by China has increased exponentially in last couple years, to the point where there demand is up there with current production rates. what's scary is that only TWO of every 50 chinese has a car, and that will change very soon.
