You have a way of cutting to the chase, kat.

-----Original Message-----
From: Salkin Kathleen [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2002 10:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: 911 was Tomorrow

Because we'd vote any legislator who'd vote in higher gas taxes out of
office, that's why.  Cheap gas is a sacred cow in the US, unfortunately and
we're paying for it in increased imports and energy.

Kat

----- Original Message -----
From: "Deri James" <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.c-palsy
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2002 8:10 PM
Subject: Re: 911 was Tomorrow


> On Wednesday 11 Sep 2002 7:58 pm, Kathy Salkin wrote:
> > I agree, but tell me, how are we going to convince millions of
> > Americans to give up their gas-guzzling cars?  We tried 25 years
> > ago and it didn't work then, and won't work now. The number of
> > mammouth SUV's out there on the road is BIG.  We Americans have too
> > much of a love affair with our cars to give them up.
>
> It's quite simple, you tax it. The polluter pays right. I do not
> understand why the richest country in the world has one of the
> cheapest gas prices. Sure you can have low price petrol for
> commercial/public service vehicles, but slap a whacking big levy on
> it for private use. UK petrol is about $4.50 a gallon at the moment.
> The effect of this is that there is pressure on car makers to
> research more efficient smaller engines. UK "Road Tax" is based on
> engine size. Why do people need 3.5 litre engines (sure it "sounds"
> gorgeous) but an efficient multi valve 1400cc engine can blast out
> the same bhp.
>
> > I drive a Ford Festiva, a tiny bug of a car which gets 33 miles to
> > the gallon even with automatic transmission.
>
> 40 is more normal for a small automatic here.
>
> > Also, the impact of the loss of revenue from the US would be made
> > up in shipments elsewhere.  We may be a major importer of oil, but
> > we are not the only customer.
> >
> > Kat
> >
>
> I'm with you Kat.