President Bush just outlined basically some points to ease America's fuel situation:
1. Tax breaks on Hybrids and low-emission Diesels
2. Exploration and use of more US oil (including ANWR)
3. Investigate Price Gouging
4. Defer filling the Strategic Patroleum Reserve until Fall
5. Ethanol, Ethanol, and Ethanol
My take:
#1 = Good Idea, but Hybrids/Diesels are in short supply.
#2 = I have to decide on being an environmentalist with regard to the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, or perhaps the potential to cheapen our fuel. I see it as an excuse to drill up there for more profits to the oil companies.
#3 = Yeah, we saw what happened there with Katrina -- all show and no go.
#4 = So, then the prices will be high in the Fall when it's filling?
#5 = Maybe a good idea. The idea to remove a carcinogen (MTBE) from the air is good, renewable resources are good, homogenizing markets across the Country to one blend seems like a good plan, but is there enough capability right now to phase this in?
Plan B:
The President and Vice-President are both Big Oil guys. I don't trust either to manage our fuel crisis (which is what it is: a Crisis). I take back an earlier statement I made that gas prices should go higher. That will only hurt the middle- and lower-classes the most and won't quickly fix this rapidly growing problem.
We need to kick-it FDR-style:
1. Bush should hold a "Fire-Side" chat and call America to start Conserving. It's as simple as that.
2. Recognize that Oil companies are a collective Monopoly and take action as such. Open up those books and see what's going on in there.
3. Understand that our whole economy is effected by rapidly rising prices of fuel. Nearly everything you buy reached the store by Air, Land, Sea, or all of the above. Oil powers them, and the owners of these carriers have to raise prices to meet profit margins. The loss is passed onto you: the consumer.
4. Not only incentivize buyers of Hybrids/Diesels, but also the manufacturers. Maybe more will be made, and sold more cheaply.
5. Get your elected offical's attention -- on any side of the political spectrum. Simply e-mail them. You seem to have a computer, right?
Congress.gov
Everyone here is already taking some sort of action by simply reading these articles and/or participating. This can be accelerated. I don't think that we can do this alone, and the government is going to have to step in.
May the discourse begin...
RH77
rh77 
Hybrid Mode
