Mav--
I don't know where the 52% insider share figure comes from either. It seems that we could find out from Roberta. I'll send her an email.
I don't understand why people get so exercised over the price of gas. Americans (and Europeans and most everybody) consider their cars very important to them. Average cost of ownership is roughly $5000/year ($.32/mile x 1500 miles/yr). Average car uses 750 gal/year (15000 miles @ 20mi/gal). If gas goes up a dollar a gallon higher than prior price, the cost of driving increases by 15-20%. While not trivial, experience teaches us that the price hikes are not permanent. The cost of gas is variable, not fixed, as insurance and depreciation, and can be controlled to a degree by driving less, driving slower, or using a more efficient vehicle. Maybe that's what your point is. Gas in my town is $1.65 now, up 80 cents from the lows of a couple of years ago. This costs me $11/week more to drive, all else equal, and nobody expected 80 cent gas to last very long. Inconvenient, but not a major deal. It it were major, you can be sure that there wouldn't be a fuss about drilling in the ANWR, a place that 99.99% of Americans will ever see.
Re: safety. Go to iihs.org./sr_ddr/sr3507_t2.htm#4uvvl
It shows that the notorious Ford Explorer has a lower driver death rate than most large sedans (Olds 88, Taurus, big Buick, large Chrysler cars). Higher rate for rollover crashes but overall safer in all crashes. Weakness of these figures is that it's based on death rate per million vehicle years, not miles driven, and of course not corrected for who is driving (hot rod teen vs. little old lady). |
