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.