  D_mcc Member Username: D_mcc Post Number: 533 Registered: 12-2007 |
This is from the Economist: http://www.economist.com/displ aystory.cfm?story_id=10903316 | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 2898 Registered: 04-2006 |
With the exception of maybe Canada, none of those countries are nearly as reliant on personal automobile usage as Americans. | ||
Johnnny5 Member Username: Johnnny5 Post Number: 714 Registered: 06-2005 |
Also many of the countries on the list use their gas taxes to supplement other government services. I would not mind paying $5 a gallon in fuel taxes if the government was picking up my health insurance bill. Apples to oranges. | ||
Cinderpath Member Username: Cinderpath Post Number: 468 Registered: 05-2006 |
-as Iheartthed writes, in again many of those countries, and in many large metro areas of even Canada, you can do just fine without a car- Here,, it is a necessity verses a luxury. If viable transit alternatives don't exist, yes gas should be cheaper. | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1095 Registered: 01-2007 |
Why do we compare ourselves to them? Should they be comparing themselves to us?? | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1096 Registered: 01-2007 |
Johnnny5, why don't you do that now? Why wait for the government to take your money at the pump, and then buy your insurance for you? Are you not able to care for yourself? Can any one tell us what the taxes are on a gallon of a gas today. What do the gas companies make in pure profit on a gallon? | ||
Kevgoblu Member Username: Kevgoblu Post Number: 74 Registered: 02-2007 |
the latest i heard...pure profit is somewhere around 10% http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshe lf/brochures/gasolinepricespri mer/eia1_2005primerM.html | ||
Jonnyfive Member Username: Jonnyfive Post Number: 116 Registered: 03-2007 |
"Johnnny5, why don't you do that now? Why wait for the government to take your money at the pump, and then buy your insurance for you? Are you not able to care for yourself?" First of all, his argument never favored nationalized health insurance (which is not to say he doesn't, he just didn't argue that.) He simply pointed out that the prices aren't comparable because added taxes and resulting services are completely different. Don't be an idiot. Two Jonny5s in one thread... weird... | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 2899 Registered: 04-2006 |
quote: Only if they want to devote a significant portion of their personal income to transportation. That's what we do... | ||
Jonnyfive Member Username: Jonnyfive Post Number: 117 Registered: 03-2007 |
Wow, you're a clever one. Rant about people not being able to care for themselves some more. | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1099 Registered: 01-2007 |
Johnnny5: "...his argument never favored nationalized health insurance" Jonnyfive: "I would not mind paying $5 a gallon in fuel taxes if the government was picking up my health insurance bill." Maybe you should learn to read. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 1188 Registered: 12-2006 |
A high fuel tax is like a high cigarette tax; it is partly a source of income but partly a form of social engineering. If you provide good transit and make gasoline expensive, more people will choose transit, and overall energy use will decrease. If you make gasoline expensive and don't provide good transit, you get metro Detroit. | ||
Cinderpath Member Username: Cinderpath Post Number: 469 Registered: 05-2006 |
Bullet writes "Why do we compare ourselves to them? Should they be comparing themselves to us??" -I think they do that, and have come to the conclusion that they don't want to be "like us", especially when they have invested in other forms of transit, besides cars and highways, and their economy and citizens will be far more mobile in the future, and it will be a competitive disadvantage when gas hits $8 a gallon here, and then we decide to build mass or other forms of transit. Our economy's competitive edge for a long time has been cheap energy, so we have never really had to become efficient, and build more efficient means of moving goods and people. But energy cost because of increased demand will not be cheap in the future, so we too will have to be more efficient, and our former advantage (cheap energy being used in an inefficient manor) will be an extreme disadvantage in the future. Let's see here, high-speed rail across Europe, at speeds of 180mph, in many cases powered via nuclear, and hydro energy. What is not to like about that? Opec can cut production, but it won't put their economies' in a depression, like it could ours. The price of gas is not eve $4 a gallon yet, and look at the how bad the economy is around here, and in the rest of the country, think about what it will be like at $8. Individual commuting in a car in the US in the future could possibly be a luxury the masses may not be able to afford. The problem is- they (other countries) built their transit systems, when diesel only cost $1.50 a gallon for the cranes, cement mixers and bulldozers, and materials cost less. We get to do it when it will be $8 a gallon, making such things even more expensive, and we are paying off trillions from the Iraq war to boot. Yes- they have compared themselves to us, and they apparently took a different route than we did. Economics 101: There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you can pay now, or pay more later- America's politicians we elect, prefer the latter of the former so we can "Pay less" in taxes, which is a joke, because in the end we pay a lot more. (Message edited by Cinderpath on March 25, 2008) | ||
Jonnyfive Member Username: Jonnyfive Post Number: 118 Registered: 03-2007 |
"Maybe you should learn to read." Touche. That was my attempt at defending him while avoiding a threadjacking argument about the merits of national healthcare, which I happen to support. Apparently I scanned too quickly. I'll take my hit and hang my head. "If you make gasoline expensive and don't provide good transit, you get metro Detroit." Couldn't agree more. | ||
Johnnny5 Member Username: Johnnny5 Post Number: 716 Registered: 06-2005 |
As Jonnyfive mentioned the intent of my post was simply to show that it's pointless to compare the fuel taxes in Europe with those in the U.S without taking into account what the tax money is used to pay for. I'll just leave it at that, as I'd prefer to keep my posts in this thread somewhat on topic. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 2409 Registered: 10-2006 |
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0 ,2933,339589,00.html Some may get their wish soon! |
