Originally Posted by BodhiBenz1987

The increasing global demand for diesel is one thing driving up prices. Another thing that's happening is the global demand for gasoline is DROPPING compared to the demand for diesel ... leaving the U.S. the opportunity to import more gasoline for less, comparitively, and therefore helping to keep gasoline prices from growing at the same rate as diesel. My guess would be as the global demand for diesel increases, the global output of gasoline will decrease and eventually we'll see the prices of the two products equal out. They'll be equal at a really, really high level, though. I do think that when that happens, diesel technology will gain some appeal in the U.S., whether alone or applied to hybrids.

One of our problems in this country in terms of attenuating this problem is that the actions taken both by government and consumers tend to be much more about feeling like one is doing something positive than actually DOING something positive. E85? How could anyone possibly think that would be a good solution? Biofuels are of a course a legitimate possibility ... but E85 is among the least sensical biofuel option to the point of being a little embarassing for our country. We're doing a similar thing with hybrid technology. Hybrid technology is a fantastic option for city-driving applications and has a lot of potential. But what are we doing? We're putting hybrid systems in big, dumb, physically inefficient SUVs and then calling ourselves "green." The problem is this: We're trying to use new technologies to maintain, without sacrifice, our current way of life. There is nothing that will sustain our current way of life. It isn't possible for everybody to have everything, to have it now, and to have it the way they want. The fact is, new technologies can leave us with a very good, sustainable and even fun transportation system. But it won't work if we try to make it exactly the same as our current transportation system. It's going to require changes, some of them unpleasant. The government doesn't want to venture into that unknown, because, in their defense, it will be met with so much resistance from our population's pampered, ignorant sense of entitlement that it will never fly. So they feed us weak, designed-to-fail, half-hearted alternative programs that can only cause loss to the transportation industry and eventually consumers.

I love the US, and think we're so far ahead of most of the world in well, pretty much everything. But when it comes to the automotive/transportation world, we've sort of embarassed ourselves, and continue to do so.