Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (588)	7/7/2008 2:03:22 PM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

If 7 years is the average turnover of our vehicle fleet, it means half of our cars are staying on the road longer than 7 years. I generally drive a car 10 yrs at least myself. And I'm sure the 10 yr old cars I've traded in still have years of life in them. You realize, I assume the CAFE standards adopted last year are supposed to achieve an avg of 35 mph by 2020 - that is 35 mph for the new cars sold in 2020. I'd assume that is what is achievable. Well, didn't you know that fuel prices in Europe are higher because the governments there have enacted very high taxes to drive precisely that behavior of more conservation? Yes. I read today that gasoline costs $10 in the Netherlands and over $5 of that is taxes. I hope you can get Obama to run on $10 gasoline for the US. If the company I worked for would act like you are recommending our government act, then my company would pay each individual to just go out and work on the best ideas. We'll give you bonuses if those ideas pan out. However, the company would have no unifying strategy or vision, no goals or metrics to judge people by. Sure. But there are differences between the federal government and your company. A company doesn't monopolize the economy. There are lots of companies out there and they have to compete with one another and survive by selling goods and services that people want. They can't tax people and force people to buy their products and services on people. Your recommendation that our government does not lead on the biggest issue of our day is the dumbest idea I've ever heard of. We elect leaders to lead and that means develop national strategies for the issues that we care about. Leadership isn't just hoping for the best. It is PLANNING for the best and pulling out all the stops to make sure it happens. As I said to John Fowler earlier, this attitude toward government you and he have is a big difference between me and youall. I just don't have the faith in government.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (588)	7/7/2008 5:52:07 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

Actually, it would take approximately 7 years, which is the average turnover of the American fleet of cars. If the average car turns over in 7 years, that almost certainly a lot of them have not turned over in 7 years. Its a mean not a median (if it was a median than half of them would not have turned over), but I don't think the mean would be too far from the median here. Some cars do last for a very long time, but with as large of group as the total number of cars in the US, and with very few cars on the road more than 50 years, you don't get much of a "Bill Gates walks in to the bar and the average person in the bar is a multi-millionaire" effect. It is obvious that our government needs to get involved and help channel this country's desire for energy independence into a national strategy. You say your against central planning but then you seem to argue for it. Perhaps your not for harsh and total planning, but you definitely seem to want a lot of economic decisions decided politically.