High Gas Prices

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5273264.post-38158683657114028272008-05-10T20:45:00.000-07:002008-05-11T18:22:36.289-07:00High Gas PricesThere's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/business/10transit.html?em&ex=1210564800&en=71ccc0af876bd293&ei=5087%0A">an article in the New York Times</a> about how high gas prices have pushed many from cars to mass transit. I know I should be all "rah rah, go mass transit" but I'm not exactly feeling it. The high fuel prices might directly hurt our pocketbooks with gas prices, but it's also nickel and diming us, too, as pretty much every product we use now costs more to manufacture and ship. So while I like that more people are using mass transit, the high gas prices right now are not to be applauded. Instead of getting us into a fix, I wish that we'd been able to make this work on our terms--I wish that on September 12, 2001, George W. Bush had called for a $1.00/gallon gas tax (phased in over at least 5 years). Now that I could have gotten behind. Slowly increasing the cost of gas before the market forced the increase on its own would have helped us out a lot. First, oil-rich despots would not be flexing their muscles right now, they'd be hurting, because they wouldn't be getting the money off high gas prices, we--the US--would. That gas tax could have been a national security measure and I would bet that Americans had the political will to go for it after September 11. The easiest way to send a message to states we don't like is to weaken their biggest source of revenue. Second, with a 5 year steady increase in gas prices, car manufacturers and consumers can plan ahead a little bit more. Knowing gas is going to be expensive in advance means that people start making decisions based on that knowledge, and they buy homes closer to bus lines, buy hybrids, etc. Those are decisions some will start making now, but more slowly. It's those big choices that will actually influence how much gas an individual family uses--the location of the house, the car they will have at least 5 years. Switching to mass transit is all well and good, but it's small potatoes compared to these other choices. Third, the price of gas would probably not be $1.00/gallon more than it is right now, despite the tax. I'm not an economist, but I'd wager that the slow shift in 7 years would mean that gas would be perhaps only $0.50/gallon than it is now, which means that $0.50 stays with the US instead of going to the countries and companies who own the fields. ... I think high gas prices will be with us for awhile. And it's going to hurt us all, which makes it hard to be excited about ridership gains on mass transit, even though that's something I really want. I just wish we had chosen the path rather than been forced in to it. Sunday Update: Paul Krugman, not a man I normally agree with, <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/sick-transit-and-all-that/">makes the point</a> that as of 2005 only 4.7% of Americans get to work using public transit. Figure then that if mass transit ridership went up across the board 10%, you're still only pulling about half a percent of drivers off the road. He concludes: "The point isn’t that nothing can be done — it’s just that serious reductions in driving would require a lot of long-term rearrangement of the way we live. It will come — but not quickly." Exactly.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5273264-3815868365711402827?l=www.erikemery.com'/></div>Erikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08448401616156887602noreply@blogger.com2