Just read this MSN MoneyCentral report regarding soaring gas prices, and how the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina will add to them.
There are too many factors at work raising the price of petroleum products. Some, like the hurricanes, are beyond anyone's control. Others, like the rise of China and its increasing appetite for oil, were to be expected; if Americans can guzzle gasoline in their Hummers, why not the Chinese (at least the wealthy ones)? But others, like the Iraq war and its resulting increase in terrorism, could have been completely avoided. Getting rid of Saddam did NOT result in Iraqi oil flowing into the world market and paying off the reconstruction costs. (Well, there is no reconstruction, period.) Just as silly is driving a big Suburban or Exploitation alone with a yellow ribbon magnet stuck on it; well, you DO need those yellow ribbon magnets, because our troops are dying in Iraq just to enable you to fill up your useless dinosaur. I would rather carpool, or fill up two smaller cars and get double the use out of the same gallon of gasoline.
This nightmare was supposed to happen if America voted for John Kerry and his supposed 50-cent gasoline tax; now that I think about it, the price of gasoline has gone up more than 50 cents (now closer to a dollar) since Bush's re-coronation, and all of that increase is going to line the oilmen's pockets. I would rather take the Kerry tax any day, and see that money invested in better highways and mass transit.
How stupid have we become. And people still think I am nuts when they see me want to spend $40K on a fuel-efficient BMW, instead of a gas-guzzling Suburban, because the moronic American tax code allows me to write off the Suburban as a "work vehicle" even if it's not. Encouraging me to buy a useless monster is NOT patriotic. Forcing Cadillac and Lincoln to build a sporty, luxurious, yet fuel-efficient car to compete with the likes of BMW and Lexus is what a true patriot would want.
Perhaps if the $3/gallon gasoline can finally put a huge damp in Suburban and Exploitation sales, that would be one good coming out of the whole madness.
