Is the gasoline tank half full or half empty? For a more optimistic take on the energy crunch, see Time magazine’s “10 Good Things About $4 Gas.”
Among the positive trends in higher gas prices:
Globalized jobs return home. “In more industries, such as steel, lawn-mower batteries and upscale furniture, doing business in the U.S. is starting to look slightly more feasible.”
Home buyers are moving closer to cities, putting a brake on urban sprawl.
Cleaner air. As fuel use drops, so does air pollution.
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19 Comments
Did anyone ever publish the ‘upside’ to high gas prices in the Carter Admin? And look at how quickly the automakers at that time responded to the need.
Funny thing … CONSERVATION OF ENERGY SOURCES such as gasoline, electricity, natural gas and, yes, even coal would accomplish all of the benefits listed above AND reduce the price of gasoline to the public at the same time.
Obviously, using less of these energy sources by conserving would save on energy costs, air pollution and wear and tear on roadways, airports, etc.
Moving closer to work sites could be part of that conservation effort.
Chances are conservation of the energy sources SHOULD bring down unit costs of energy UNLESS energy producers think like Wichita’s non-competitive WATER DEPARTMENT: use more water (and energy sources) and they will raise your rates; use less water (and energy sources) and they will really raise your rates!
Unfortunately, the cost of production of the utilities and energy sources is a small part of the formula … it’s rapid rising people costs, salaries, benefits, health costs, overuse of computers and sufficient snaks.
BUT, IN ANY CASE, CONSERVATION OF ENERGY SOURCES SHOULD BE FIRST PRIORITY OF THE PEOPLE AND THEIR REPRESENTATIVES IN GOVERNMENT.
I’ve been conserving by adding a nightlight to my bathroom. The low wattage bulb consumes less energy and I find the comfort of darkened atmosphere when I conduct my constitutionals. :)
“Regular” exposes himself –
“I find the comfort of darkened atmosphere when I conduct my constitutionals.”
Well that’s a mental image I really didn’t want to wake up to this morning.
I always suspected you were too stupid to find your ass in the dark with both hands. I suspect your night light helps.
Time magazine is a leftist piece of junk. The main focus is to control people.
Moving manufacturing to overseas has become very expensive. For one, labor costs are rising, which is a good thing; more money=better living conditions. The cost of shipping goods keeps getting higher and higher, which makes sending parts back and forth a deterrent to the bottom line.
So the bottom line may be manufacturing’s bottom line might justify bringing jobs back home, so those poor people, who don’t exist according to the cons, could get well paying jobs and insurance. Seems a winner to me.
Man you said it Monkeyhawk!
TMI there “Regular”. Too much information.
I’d say the higher gas prices are a good thing. They encourage people to conserve and invent and think differently.
I just don’t like who it is getting filthy rich gaming everyone.
There IS no shortage of gasoline or we would SEE shortages.
But ya take the good with the bad.
“BlueJay” –
Yeah. This blog took a particularly disquieting turn last night when “Boxlock” started posting homo-erotic love notes to “American_Way.” First thing “Regular” could talk about this morning was his bowel movements.
I’ve noticed that “Regular” soon left this forum. Perhaps I ran him off. More likely, he was heading off to church.
But that scenario raises the question:
What happens to “Regular” if he has a “constitutional” accident during a church service?
Answer: Depends.
Actually, the price of the dollar has more to do with manufacturing jobs staying in America, and with manufacturing jobs returning to America.
The exchange rate was too high.
Now, the exchange rate is too low.
If we really want to encourage more manufacturing jobs, in America, regardless of fuel prices or the price of the dollar, we should cut corporate tax rates.
The United States of America has some of the highest corporate tax rates of any industrialized nation on Earth.
“Franklin” tropes out stale CON boilerplate –
“The United States of America has some of the highest corporate tax rates of any industrialized nation on Earth.”
Yeah?
So why should it matter?
Another part of your CON boilerplate proclaims that “corporations don’t pay taxes; their customers do!”
So why should corporate taxes make a difference?
Unless, of course, they do.
I’m pretty confident that McDonald’s Incorporated figures in their tax bill when they establish the cost of a Big Mac. If I don’t like the way McDonald’s does business, I can drive across the street and buy a Whopper and indirectly pay Burger King’s corporate taxes.
The whole CONservative agenda depends on compartmentalizing issues; not realizing (or not recognizing) what happens in one part of public policy affects other issues.
Read slowly.
Take notes.
I know this is hard for you but I think you can understand it if you try to apply yourself:
This thread is, partly, about MANUFACTURING jobs.
You bring up Burger King and McDonalds? OK, reduction of corporate tax rates might help, in that area as well, but I was concentrating on areas of the economy in which the end user and the producer would often be in different locals, even in different countries.
We all have to eat. The income tax rates, on fast food companies, do slow the economy. Every tax has a negative effect on the economy. However, EVERY restraurant must deal with the SAME tax rates, in the same city. There is no competitive advantage or disadvantage.
Yes, we ALL pay the very high United States corporate tax rates.
However, if we are trying to sell more U.S. produced MANUFACTURING goods, either domestically or overseas, there is a COMPETITIVE DISADVANTAGE to the United States corporate tax rates.
We currently import from countries with lower, or no, corporate tax rate.
On the other hand, we try to export goods, from this country, even though those goods are burdened by one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world.
There is more to it, than this, but I will wait for you to catch up. I know this will take some time for you to understand.
What have I been saying all along?
We need $5.00 a gallon! Bring it on.
The sooner we reach $5, the sooner people will switch from driving to work to using mass transit.
The sooner people will stop buying SUV’s and big pickemtrucks - and start buying lower price tagged energy efficient cars (decreasing gas used and consumer debt).
The sooner manufacturers will start gearing up using more efficient plants (like Ford just announced selling EU little fuel efficient cars in America).
The sooner alternative energy sources will become more cost effective to develop and use.
The sooner drilling in America in costly small oil deposits (like in Kansas) will accelerate.
The sooner mass transit will expand to use and develope rail alternatives.
The sooner truck commerce will move to rail.
The sooner Americans will start buying energy products from light bulbs to home windmills and solar.
The sooner Americans suffering from high energy bills will turn off lights, appliances (like those that drain even when off), cut the thermostat, and cut personal waste.
As a side effect, it will help those of us invested in energy stocks (both green and not so green) like XOM. Millions of Americans own these equity stocks and funds.
Yes - it will be painful. But we have delayed this pain for too many decades now.
It isn’t about being green or global warming.
It’s always been about it affecting Americans personal pocket book$.
Much was learned about living conservatively during the first great depression. The old timers we all know are now dying of old age. But we all know them - and their eversion to waste has stayed with them a lifetime. Conservation and conservative fiscal ways can be learned for energy too.
Like I said, bring on $5 a gallon. Keep those democrats voting NO to expanded oil drilling.
Having seen what NAFTA has done for exporting American made products, I am of the opinion it is not fair in any way. Protectionism is still the key word, and not corporate taxes. For instance, to export a shirt made in this country to Mexico, the shirt costing around $20, cost roughly $200 in import duties. That makes the shirt cost over $200 for the Mexicans.
That duty is in place to protect the garment industry in Mexico. So while other countries may have less or no corporate taxes, it has little effect on products we export, nor does NAFTA protect our exports. Nor, do I believe, will corporate taxes be the deciding factor in bringing manufacturing jobs back to this country; the bottom line will.
the shirt costing around $20, cost roughly $200 in import duties. That makes the shirt cost over $200 for the Mexicans
I don’t know about shirts, but USA products are available in the markets at slightly higher than USA prices, as are most of the products in Wal-mart.
“Yes, we ALL pay the very high United States corporate tax rates.” — Franklin
I proved to you yesterday with a chart of corporate taxes and value added taxes that U.S. corporations are taxed at a lower rate than most overseas corporations, yet you are still spewing the same crap. I know you’ll find that hard to grasp.
I see the higher prices as having some good benefits. Like driving us to figure out a way to become energy independant, like Brazil. As China comes out of the stone ages (it hasn’t even begun yet) petrolium is not going to be a feasible energy source.
I don’t buy the environazi’s story, Mother Earth is emits it’s own greenhouse gasses in quantities we couldn’t even dream of being able to do on our own. I’m more of a T Boone Pickens guy. Our reliance on foreign sources of energy is a national security issue. If gas prices drop back down to $3 or less, the drive to change will go away, and we will still be forced to tip toe and tap dance around a bunch of 3rd world animals who sell us oil.
These hybrids look good! Plug in hybrids are coming. Soy diesel can be instituted immediately, and the US has invested heavily in teaching Brazil how to grow soybeans. Between them, and ourselves, we can supply enough soydiesel to power our diesels without straining the food prices.
Wind is looking good too. It can be added slowely as demand rises, and is cost effective. We need 100 new nuclear power plants. What’s crazy is the enviromentalists opposing this are the cause of 40 power plants staying on line that are nowhere near the latest and greatest in safety, and whose waste is more harmful than will take longer to become inert than the new breeder reactors they have now.
The ethanol looks like a joke though. It needs to be sugarcane based to be feasible. We would need to rely on foreign sourses, as we would with soybeans, however, they are friendly countries, so it’s not that bad.
We are OK, we are going to pull through this better than when we started. But that doesn’t help the families who commute an hour to work every day. That part isn’t going to be easy! We need to incentivise them temporarily through tax credits. Give them 3 years to find their own solution.
SEMPERFIGUY posted July 27, 2008 at 11:06 pm
“I don’t buy the environazi’s story, Mother Earth is emits it’s own greenhouse gasses in quantities we couldn’t even dream of being able to do on our own.”
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Thank you for again proving Godwin’s Law.
Nature emits GHG’s. . . AND also absorbs those GHG’s. Nature had a equilibrium established, until humans caused CO2, methane, and other GHG’s to rise.
A graph of CO2 and temperature over the last 1000 years,
http://www.koshland-science-museum.org/exhibitgcc/historical03.jsp
‘Before Fossil Fuels, Earth’s Minerals Kept CO2 in Check‘
http://www.ciw.edu/news/fossil_fuels_earth_s_minerals_kept_co2_check
“Over millions of years carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have been moderated by a finely tuned natural feedback system — a system that human emissions have recently overwhelmed. A joint University of Hawaii/Carnegie Institution study published in the advance online edition of Nature Geoscience links the pre-human stability to connections between carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the breakdown of minerals in the Earth’s crust. While the process occurs far too slowly to have halted the historical buildup of carbon dioxide from human sources, the finding gives scientists new insights into the complexities of the carbon cycle.
[snip]
Carbon dioxide is added naturally to the atmosphere and oceans from volcanoes and hydrothermal vents at a rate of about 0.1 billion tons of carbon each year. Human industrial activity and destruction of forests is adding carbon about 100 times faster, approximately 10 billion tons of carbon each year.
“The imbalance in the carbon cycle that we are creating with our emissions is huge compared to the kinds of imbalances seen over the time of the glacial ice core records,” says Caldeira. “We are emitting CO2 far too fast to expect mother nature to mop up our mess anytime soon. Continued burning of coal, oil and gas will result in long-term changes to our climate and to ocean chemistry, lasting many thousands of years.” ”
More at link.
“But after two years Porcius Festus took the place of Felix, who, desiring to have the approval of the Jews, kept Paul in chains.” (Acts, 24, 27).