To: RetiredNow who wrote (325885 ) 2/15/2007 4:09:41 PM From: tejek Read Replies (1) | Respond to Toyota's high mileage, gasoline-electric Prius sedan was once so popular that the carmaker had only a three-hour supply. Buyers had to get on waiting lists, and frustrated would-be owners bid the price of used Priuses above the new price or paid thousands above sticker for new ones. This is great news for producers, who try to extract as much money as they can without causing oil addicts to kick the habit. But it's a crazy way to make national policy. But when prices drop, the urgency melts away, as if everything will be fine. This is the way children think. Adults should know better. The logical thing is to keep prices consistently high. The most straightforward way to do that - a gasoline tax that would rise when world prices fall - would push the nation away from oil and help fill the gaping federal budget gap. But it also would be a drag on the economy and particularly burden the working poor who have long commutes. Politically, it's a non-starter.
