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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (228961)	4/12/2005 5:32:36 PM
From: neolib	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1572877

If gasoline gets to $6/gallon, perhaps I'll not drive as much. As of today, higher gas prices haven't affected my driving one iota. And I would wager your's haven't been affected, either. Dead right. Supply/demand curves are too simplistic wrt to status quo. There needs to be some sort of hysteresis function about the familiar range to more correctly describe consumer behavior. Once price pushes the bulk of consumers past the hysteresis step, then demand changes. It is generally not the nice smooth curve they show in economics textbooks.

To: i-node who wrote (228961)	4/12/2005 5:41:27 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572877

re: And we will, as soon as the price of gasoline gets high enough to make it worthwhile. Yes, the recession and inflation will certainly slow down consumption. And the 16% of the trade deficit that is the result of oil imports will certainly have an impact. re: Hell, hybrids alone could be sufficient to creat a glut if even 5 or 10 percent of drivers used them. No, it would make a slight dent. Look at the increase in consumption in India and China. re: If the price of gas gets where it should be, at $4-5-6, then perhaps people will be motivated to take action. As of today, we're getting the cheapest gas in any developed country I'm aware of. We can get it where it should be tomorrow, just raise the tax as the rest of the "developed countries" have. Use the proceeds to invest in efficiency and conservation. The ancillary benefits from lowering consumption: We will not be lining the pockets of the ME regimes we are trying to politically undermine. How many oil dollars do you think end up in the hands of "terrorist" groups? ~16% of our current accounts deficit is due to oil imports, and the record deficit puts our prosperity in the hands of other countries that do not share our interests. Very dangerous. Oil and gas spending are non-productive. By lowering consumption those dollars can generate more economic activity (satellite radios?) New conservation industries and technologies will create jobs and investment opportunities. Frankly, I think we should have a sliding scale of taxes and credits on vehicle sales, depending on EPA mileage estimates, instead of the economic drag of higher gas taxes. I think we should support solar and wind power installations with higher tax credits. We need to invest. But first we need political leadership that isn't beholden to the energy companies. John