Sunday, April 24, 2011

Columnist Gets It Backwards

As usual.

Cynthia Tucker wants to know why Uncle Sam hasn't made you ride the bus -- and why he lets you live so far from work. When Congresscritters wanna let our own oil companies drill for oil within U.S. territory, she fumes there isn't enough to make a difference, anyhow.

...And then caps it by sighing, "A dime [more] a gallon can break the budget." She thinks maybe "we" -- by which she means Teh Gummint -- will get serious when gas reaches $10.00 a gallon.

Um, I've got news for you, sweetie: higher gas prices are the single bestest way to get people to find more efficient ways of using the stuff. One reason I put in several evenings getting my motor scooter going was the rise in gas prices: that thing takes me to work on a couple of tablespoons of petrol.

High prices also make the harder-to-get to sources economically viable.

I don't think we're "running out of oil" any time soon, especially not in a solar system where globs of kerogen are out there for the taking. But thanks to the very Wonders Of Economics she decries, any such crash is self-cushioning.

Oh, and if Mr. Obama's government was serious about controlling oil prices? They'd stop printing more and more dollars. Every time the printing press goes 'round, the dollar(s) in your, mine and Ms. Tucker's pockets are worth a bit less.

I wonder how long her commute is -- and if she takes the bus?

5 comments:

Joseph said...

I keep seeing where the problems of today are blamed on "If the gov't in the 60's/70's/80's had adopted so and so a policy..."
Well, they didn't. The US uses a lot of energy because we are far larger than many countries and because we produce a lot. Not because we all drive muscle cars with huge engines to waste gas.
I am all for conservation, because I like the outdoor. And I don't want to live in a poisoned world. Wind and solar energy are never going to supply our needs; work on coming up with solutions instead of bemoaning what we didn't do in the past.

Ritchie said...

"and why he lets you live so far from work."

That would most likely be the gummints very own zoning regulations. Plus those awkward "liberty" and "choice" thingies. Plus the unpopularity of massive Moscow style residential monoliths.

WV:ingiess-down goes the piston, ingiess the mixture...

John B said...

y'know if it weren't for rectal oriented types like her, in and out of goverment! I'd have quit smoking, drove my bike to work, and probably arranged my life to where I'd be paying higher taxes for much less gubbermint!

Ken said...

I wonder how long her commute is -- and if she takes the bus?

If you have the breath to ask, you're not working hard enough, kulak.

Rip VanBullwinkle said...

HEH, to top it off the GDP only grew by 1.8% last quarter. Ready for QE3?