But I don't buy 10 gallons of bottled water or coffee per week. Although...I've probably come close on the coffee a few times.

 

Youre missing my point Matt.

 

No, I don't think I am. I was just making a joke. I agree with most of the points you have made. I would love to see Americans start to drive smaller, more efficient cars. I would also love to see us improve our public transportation systems. And I would LOVE to see Americans start to exercise more! Obesity is almost at epidemic levels in this country. But like I said earlier, I wish we could make those changes without being forced to by super-high gas prices. Unfortunately, that might be the only way it will happen.

 

If you want to control behavior, you reward people for doing things you want them to do, and punish them for when they do something you don't want them to do. The easiest way to exercise this control is by manipulating their bank accounts.

 

So THAT'S how that works! I've been doing it backwards all these years with my son. No wonder he's such a rotten kid!
j/k He's a good kid.

I understand the logic, but I don't want to be "manipulated". I'd rather make the changes on my own....as I already have.

 

OK....thanks for clarifying.

Too bad more people here didnt think the way you do, then we wouldnt have to be forced to make changes. But this change, no matter how it is implemented, is a change for the better.

Theres been a buzz on local news about employers raising health insurance rates to obese people. Many dont like the idea of being "forced" to be fit. As you might have guessed, I think it is a great idea.

 

That's a tricky subject. I personally believe that 99% of people who are overweight could do something about it if they tried hard enough. And I don't mean some half-hearted effort where you expect a fad diet or a pill to magically make you thin and healthy. I mean seriously eating healthy and working out at least 4 times a week. But with that said, there is that 1% who honestly can't help it. They either have a legitemate madical condition or whatever. I'd hate to see those folks punished with everyone else.

 

If they have a condition, shouldn't they pay more to cover their extra office visits? They would be lucky to get covered as it could easily be defined as a pre-existing condition. Seriously tho, this is one of the problems with American health care. A single payer plan where everyone paid for their own insurance from a heavily regulated insurance provider is the best option and would help spread costs out because of the larger insurance pool.

If everyone were like you, three'd be little need for law makers, lawyers, judges, and cops. Why you trying to put everyone out of work? ;-)

 

LOL...nah, just the lawyers.

 

Um, what made you think that I thought Global Warming was a good thing. I simply pointed out that higher gas prices are not a good thing. Especially as housing values have dropped significantly.

No, it isn't. But then again it doesn't hurt that the Pound is way stronger than the Dollar. I believe the current exchange rate is around $2.10 per Pound. So considering the respective minimum adult wages ( US$5.85 ,UK £5.52), who does that six dollars sound better to? (Minimum wage figures from Wikipedia.)

True, but not all of us can afford to do that.

Very true. Paying a dollar more for a gallon of gasoline will not break me. But it might affect other people. And when those people stop buying other things to pay for their gasoline, people like me get hurt financially. I cant help the fact that I live in a country with clearly incompitent leadership. I didnt vote for them, but enough idiots did, so Im stuck (for now). If any of our "leaders" had any leadership, we would not be in quite as bad of a situation as we are in now. I do my part. The vehicle I drive is more efficient than others I looked at, and suits my needs better. It also gets better real-world mileage than any other car I have owned.

Getting back on topic, if a diesel version of what I have now became available when I look at my next automobile, I would definitely consider it. I have read CAR for several years and have seen how much better diesel engines have gotten. In fact, I recieved (through a former co-worker) the brochures for the 2005 Ford UK line. And the performance and economy figures of their diesels are incredible. If an affordable turbo-diesel was available when I bought my car, I might have bought one.

Not trying to insult anyone, but I wanted to clarify things.

 

a diesel turbo with teh 1.5 displacement would be awesome. as much as i dont like VW's i would like a MKIII golf diesel

 

As much as I'd like to pin this on incompetent leadership, it's not quite that simple. A lot of Americans borrow heavily and simply live beyond their means.

http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/Issuebrief203

Because of this, and the ridiculously stupid trade deficit (what does the U.S. produce anymore?), the dollar has been losing value quite rapidly. For all intents and purposes, people will be paying a lot more for gas, and there isn't anything anyone can do about it (because of the aforementioned debt). A barrel of oil is $90, not because oil has gone up in cost but because the dollar has devalued that much (incidentally, an ounce of 24K gold is now $700. It was $300 several years ago).

Iran, Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, Japan and China are all considering to start using the euro as the defacto standard. Sadly, our european friends will have to bear the brunt of a de facto standard until the dollar readjusts (if ever?).

---

There are a number of issues with MPG caps, but for what its worth, our emissions levels are a lot more strict than the most of the world.

 

Touche!



But everything costs twice as much in the UK as it does here, so that is basically a wash.

We all make our beds that we must lay in...

 

I would like to make one further clarification. When I bashed on "leadership", I did not have any individual, entity, or organization in mind. I simply meant that several little changes in the way things are done, over a period of time, could have minimized the situation we find ourselves in. Using a material other than petroleum to make plastic bags, for an example.

I would also like to make another point. The current rise in oil prices is said in the media to be caused by commodities traders concerns over "tension" in the middle east. Im no history major (or any major for that matter ), but hasn't there been "tension" there sence the beginning of civilization? I think the current line of excuses is starting to wear thin.

Maybe now people will start to buy what they need, not what they want to see themselves in. When everyone all at once decided that they needed off-road capability, when they never use it, thats human error not mechanical error. But I dont want to see someone with a legitemate need for a higher capacity vehicle punished for their use of one.

I hope I didn't waste too much of your time. And I apologize for being defensive in previous posts, but I hate seeing automobiles unfairly demonized when people make bad decisions.

 

Where there's oil, there's tension. The U.S. and Russia in particular have been messing around in the middle east for decades now, in the name of stability. At no point did I personally think you were referring to any president, congress or authority figure in particular. There's only so much you can do in 4, 8 years - but it's a continuance of the same stupid policies over 10, 15 years that make a difference.

As for the off road capability - the auto makers are just as culpable. Seriously, why do pick up trucks need bluetooth and rear seat dvd players? They should be of a certain utility, right? But instead, I'm seeing more and more of these super duty trucks with not a spec of dirt on them. Yeah, I guess it's easier to buy an SUV / truck instead of refinishing the driveway, right? :D

There's no need for 200+ horses under the hood for these suburban assault vehicles, either. It's only to get these huge vehicles at top speed in the shortest amount of time. Legit utility vehicles need lots of low end torque, not a high redline and a max speed of over 100mph, right? When you're hauling heavy stuff and/or people, stopping is also a concern, right? But these new vehicles aren't designed that way.

It's as though car makers have zero social conscience and are enabling people to buy the biggest, baddest vehicle on the market.

I understand capitalism, free market, and all that. I'm not begrudging them of building a product that people clearly feel that they need. I'm just pointing out that there's plenty of blame to go around. People are sheep. They'll buy anything if they can rationalize it. Car companies frame it as 'do you want to get stuck in the snow?' when at least around here it snows no more than three times a year. Yet, people need their SUVs for the snow. Snow chains? shovel? of course not.

 

Hell, I'd go as far as 20 to 25 years.

I enjoy a vehicle with performance as much as anybody, but things have gotten out of hand lately. And the biggest problem is the classic cost-complexity-weight spiral. Im not advocating that everyone needs to drive around in a tinny death trap, but cars have gotten way too heavy. Most of that heavyness is due to the fact that when cars are redesigned or replaced, they get bigger. The current Civic is bigger than the Accord of 15 years ago (inside anyway). The current Sentra is considered a mid-sized car by the EPA. Part of the reason for mass is safety. A heavier structure generally means a safer car.

Hopefully technology will become affordable enough to replace quantity with quality, regarding car bodies.

Regarding trucks, there are lots of people who work their trucks hard, but I can relate to the "Heavy Duty" trucks not bieng used for any type of duty (except maybe "mall duty"). But someone who can afford a $50,000 plus vehicle probably isn't concerened with pump prices, are they? Gradually those people will (hopefully) buy for their needs, not their egos. Makes my 3000 lb, 161 hp, 28 MPG tC look green doesn't it.