Gas prices up 110% since Barack Obama took office --but not enough yet!

His Highness the TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher

2011-05-07 22:59:22 UTC

<stupid cross posting deleted>
On 5/7/11 3:18 PM, His Highness the TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser

Post by His Highness the TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher

When Obama took office, gas prices were averaging $1.80 a gallon.
...
The average price of a gallon of gas has now doubled for middle income and
poor Americans.
How's that hopey changey thing working out for ya?

6 months before Obama took office, gas prices were over $4 a gallon.
Then the economy collapsed. If that is what it takes to get
$1.80/gallon gas, I think a lot of middle income and poor Americans
will be happy paying $4/gallon
Meanwhile, that hopey changey thing got bin Ladin, unlike Obama's
hopeless predecessor, so we have HOPE from some CHANGE in our
perpetual "war on terrorism".
Perhaps if the Republicans would stop fighting him on the other things
he's trying to change, he might succeed in all the rest of the hopey
changey stuff.
lojbab
---
Bob LeChevalier - artificial linguist; genealogist

Obviously not enough until supersized SUVs disappear from the road and
bicycles become commonplace around the community.

While riding in NYC, I saw a SUV driver hit a bike rider. The SUV driver
was making a left-hand turn and hit the bike rider in the bike lane. I
was about 5 m behind him. That easily could have been me. Fortunately,
there were only minor injuries.
We need to teach motor vehicle drivers how to drive safely and enforce
proper penalties for breaking the safety rules.

Post by His Highness the TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher
Has anyone thought bicycles can fight high gas prices?

No, they can't. How can you get a order of groceries or a new
wide-screen TV home safely on a bike? How are you going to take the
family to church on a winter Sunday? How are you going to to get the
kids to soccer practice? While using bikes instead of cars would help
(it will also help keep people in shape), for most people, that's not
practical.
Better ways to reduce gas usage is to have more efficient vehicles,
drive smartly (no jack-rabbit starts, brake slowly), generate
electricity in an environmentally friendly way and then use electric
vehicles (now, coal is used to power electric cars instead of oil),
combine many trips into one so that fewer miles are driven and the car
is driven when it is more efficient (that is, cars are more efficient
when warmed up than when cold) and keep tire pressures at the
appropriate pressure. Doing these things, and similar things around the
house (cut off electricity to TVs, computers, cell phone chargers, shut
off lights when not using them and during day light, keep the hot water
at a low temp (120 F), keep the A/C off when you're not at home (a lot
of people leave the A/C - particularly when they don't pay the electric
bill), don't waste water (e.g., go by the if it's yellow, let it mellow,
if it's brown flush it down rule when practical; take shorter showers,
only wash dishes in the dishwasher and clothes in the washing machine
with a full load), etc., we would decrease our energy consumption.
These are things all of us can do (though not all of us can do them all).
Of course, using public transportation would also save gas, but, for
most people, that's not practical.
Of course, replacing gas-guzzling vehicles with more efficient vehicles
should happen, but, it won't happen over night. All of the energy saving
measures can happen today.
The real problem is not high gas price; it is using too much energy.

High gas prices are a STRONG motivator to save energy.

I won't claim that you can do 100% of LOCAL TRIPS on a bike, but a
good 90% of them --depending on your family size-- can be done on a
bike. You use TRAILERS to multiply your capacity, and one of mine
carries a big dog --which I don't have-- or close to 100lbs.

I rarely use it though as I look forward to do lighter, more frequents
trips.