Great gas out!

[Mike Arman <armanmik@n-jcenter.com>]

>In message <3704CE30.32B533C2@ptc.com> Paul Luevano writes:
>
>>> From the NMA list.  I'm always for cheaper gas....
>
>>>> APRIL 30, 1999!!!!!   APRIL 30, 1999!!!!!
>
>Might I profess a certain lack of sympathy?
>
>I just filled up the ur-quattro.  The tankful cost $96.47
>
>- --
> Phil Payne

Phil, you have only your very own government to thank for the absurd
gasoline prices you (and many of our other continental listers) pay. (But
take solace that you are buying Imperial Gallons, which are 1.2 times the
size of US gallons - so the "price per gallon" is skewed.)

Venezuela is a member of OPEC - big fuss because they are selling gasoline
to fishing boat operators for (the equivalent of) 17 cents per gallon, and
US-operated fishing boats can't compete while paying fuel costs five times
higher. The gasoline itself costs 17 cents a gallon - anything more is
TAXES!!!!

Here in Florida, over half the price of a gallon of gas is taxes, excise
fees, etc., which I suppose is OK since it goes back into fixing
infrastructure, filling potholes, etc. (or at least it is supposed to).

Governments everywhere (and especially European governments) should worship
at the grave of Gottlieb Diamler on a daily basis - his invention has
produced a virtually unstoppable source of tax money because people want to
get to where they need to go - gasoline taxes are a "mobility" tax, and we
auto drivers fund all sorts of things for our governments by driving around
in our cars.

Many governments would simply collapse without the rivers of cash from
gasoline taxes.

The complaint for the "gas-in" is that the oil companies raise gas prices
instantly, and they subside only very slowly - that is, of course, their
perogative, since they are businesses organized for profit. WE, however,
don't have to like it, and since we have not been able to figure out how to
run our cars on anything else, can only show our unhappiness by refusing to
buy the product for a day, and messing up their cash flow a little.

What might be more effective is if everyone simply refused to drive for one
solid week - can't go to work, won't go shopping, no deliveries, no taxis,
no motor vehicles on the road PERIOD for a solid week - now THAT would get
EVERYONE'S attention.

Best Regards,

Mike Arman

(And just to be perverse, I'm not buying any gas on April 30, either!)