I've heard this rehtoric over and over. Add taxes, add taxes, add taxes.
If you look at gas in NC when it was $1.60 a gallon, take out the federal and state taxes the actual cost of a gallon was $.85. Humm, rekon we are being taxed enough?
Ok, add a $2.00 a gallon tax. Better be ready for that gallon of milk to be over $10.00 a gallon. Your bottled water? Roughy $5.00 and so on. Food would go out of sight, as would pretty much anything. Diesel is what moves freight in this country, period. Wether its by train, truck, plane or slingshot you can be assured diesel had something to do with it being there.If nothing else the raw materials were shipped by diesel power in one form or another.
Typical liberal rehtoric. Add more taxes, make 'em pay. Have they not figured out that it cost them more as well? My standard of living continues to fall as prices go up. If the trend continues I'll be charging more for my services. That costs you more.... and the circle continues.
Hybrids are a good idea however dependable, clean mass transit if a better one. I would welcome a mass transit system that would allow me to drop my kid at school, park the car and ride in. Whats missing from this picture is convience. I can live with that providing it doesn't take longer than the current commute. I rode a bus in Charlotte, swapped jobs and it took 5 buses and 2 hours to get to work, not efficient at all. Thats what I miss most about Europe, mass transit that was clean, affordable and efficient.
If everyone would at least ride in with one other person daily to work, it would remove 40% of the cars from the road during rush hour and drop fuel useage about 25%. These are rough figures and depend on your geographic location. You dont need over-priced, over-complex hybrids to accomplish a geat deal just using common sense.
Something the world seems to have lost touch with.
Joe