Whatever Happened to Concern for Foreign Oil Dependency ?

Funny how major issues just fad away. Concern for Foreign oil dependency was the rage a year ago.

Now even with gas around $3 a gallon we are hearing little about it.

Is it no longer a problem?

 

Gas is nowhere near $3 by me.. more like $2.40

 

Part of reason why issue has died. Our state puts a huge tax on which accounts for most of difference.

I always load up when I visit your lovely state. Best part is the smiling gas attendants that must by law do the work for me.

 

I don't know that it's died. I'm sure the economy has bumped it from people's minds. Just in the last couple days, I saw an NYT story on Obama increasing incentives to investors to develop new nuclear reactors, as well as a story about concern that China is going to take the lead in green energy manufacturing (solar panels, wind turbines, etc., etc.), shifting our foreign dependence on energy from the Middle East to China.

 

When gas was $4 it was top of mind. When it cratered to $1.50 it ceased to be so. When it goes back over $3.50 again it'll return to the front burner.

 

Didn't you watch the SoTU? Obama's going to increase nuclear power, "clean coal', and drilling.

Even the Republicans gave him a standing o when he said, "drill baby, drill." Boy, that was a great line.

Jersey's always had some of the lowest gas prices in the country. And still no self serve, right?

Used to always fill up the tank anytime I went to Jersey. Even the stations just before the tunnel have good prices.

Of course they get you with tolls, car insurance rates, etc.

But in Chicago, I'm paying well over $3.00 per gallon. It's cheaper in the burbs -- mostly because of lower taxes -- so I try to fill up when I'm out there.

I wish gas stations had to advertise their price for gas & show you what the taxes are. People would freak out.

 

Having driven through that region a couple times, I noticed that the prices in Illinois are significantly higher.

 

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but most states have a tax of a certain number of cents per gallon on gas at retail.

But New York's tax is a percentage, so as the price goes up, their revenue goes up. No much incentive there for lower prices.

 

I think only Honolulu -- for obvious reasons -- is more expensive than Chicago.

 

Drilling won't do shit in the long run. We're running out of these resources and pretty soon it's going to catch up to us. I'd hate to sound like a Peak Oil doomsdayer, but when you've got natural gas and oil companies openly saying "we've got more than a 100 year's supply left" that should definitely be a cause for concern for the future of our civilization. One hundred years is nothing.

 

And yet a hundred years ago, automotive technology was just a smidge behind where it is now. Who's to say where it will be in another 100?

 

Obama is too busy reading teleprompters and giving silly speeches about college student loans and taxing banks to realize he's already won the election and at some point he's going to have to, you know, actually do something, anything that resembles productivity.

After one year and some change in office he is well on his way to becoming the biggest disappointment among presidents in the history of the United States.

I say disappointment because he came in with so much hype and so many, including me, had high hopes that he was indeed a different kind of politician who is really interested in changing things -- instead he's proven to be just another clueless partisan foof who is more interested in passing legislation to claim hollow victories than passing legislation which will actually change or fix problems.