[Vwdiesel] Gas/diesel prices

[William J Toensing]

I agree with much of what Tom Krummell says except I feel nationalization of Big Oil is one of the answers. Maybe their are other answers. Why? It is the oil well owners that are making out like bandits, not the refineries & local gas stations. Also oil speculators are making out like bandits & should be taken out of the loop somehow. I agree that oil well drilling should be opened on both coasts & in ANWAR in Alaska. However, opening them will not lower oil prices or probably even slow their climb, as current oil prices are world market driven & OPEC is able to maintain these prices by controlling supply. We need to greatly decrease oil consumption in the USA. We should issue wavers from our DOT/EPA standards for any car that gets over 50 MPG (see www.40mpg.org) provided they meet equilivant European or Japanese standards which are almost as strict as ours, but current technical differences are keeping high mileage cars from our shores. Detroit knows how to build these cars as they do make them in Europe. We should also highly subsidize the plug in hybrids that are coming on line in a couple years, provided they have a battery range of 40 miles or more. It is understood that 80% of drivers drive less than 40 miles a day, 80 % of the time. Can you imagine what a dent in oil consumption this would make? The rising price of diesel is causing rising food & other prices. What will the cost of $10 or $12 a gallon diesel do to our standard of living? Think about this before condemning oil nationalization. But maybe there are other ways to control what will be the downfall of our nation & much of the world.