We're stuck -- $4 gas and steadily rising pump prices. So McCainand Hillary say let's lower or eliminate the modest 18 centsfederal gas tax, which pays for road repairs and mass transit. Thatonly would serve to discourage conservation behaviors and keepdemand up, which ends up increasing prices anyway. But most peoplein this country depend on their cars to go anywhere and do anything-- work, school, shopping, recreation, kids play dates. That's howwe developed our metropolitan areas over the last half century,building roads and more roads to farther flung subdivisions,separated from strip shopping centers and office parks. About 80%of us live totally car dependent lifestyles. Cheap gas andlow gas taxes (one-tenth of many Euro countries) made it allpossible. Now those days are over and it begins to hurt...bad.
We had ample warnings in 1974 and 1979 of oil dependency'sconsequences, including inflation, recession, and gas lines. Butback then the U.S. still was a major oil producer and countrieslike India and China were not competing for fuel stocks. Althoughour supplies were tapping out, other countries, particularly in theMiddle East had many decades worth of reserves. Back then, onceMiddle East tensions calmed, oil flows resumed. But today oilexploration struggles to find new reserves. Odds are gas pricescontinue to rise rather than track down appreciably, especiallygiven rising world demand. And what happens if terrorists or someconflagration shuts down a major oil supplier nation? We're introuble.
Actually, we need to raise gas taxes more to maintain our agingroads so people can get around and pay for more mass transit. Andas I have noted before, more tolls and other user fees will hitdrivers' wallets in the future as we cope with paying for essentialand costly infrastructure improvements. Over time theeconomics will force changes to our lifestyles and encouragedevelopers and planners to create communities, which reduce cardependency. It's going to be tough medicine. Car makers, meanwhile,will grudgingly accept higher fleet fuel efficiency standards andreduce car sizes. And maybe we will finally focus on alternativeenergy sources and technologies. We wasted 30 years, ignoring thewarning signs. The idea of lowering gas taxes just perpetuates badhabits that got us into this fix and offers no remedy. Let'sface the reality -- driving costs will continue to increase.
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