Would like some gas with that Lap Dance?

You know gas prices are high when a brothel is giving it away to get you come in the door. A BROTHEL. 

Come for the free gas, stay for lap dance!

Smart Car Has Gas Singing The Blues

Smart: The Gas Can Blues
by hourigan

Dodging the (Gas Price) Bullet

I find few sales pitches more abhorrent than the Dodge/Chrysler promotion to actually subsidize the cost of gas for new buys for the next THREE YEARS. In case the ads haven't penetrated your living room, Dodge is willing to guarantee you 2.99 gasoline for the next three years if you buy a new car during their promotion.

Here's a quote I read in Thomas Friedman's NY Times column today, attributed to Tim Shriver, head of the Special Olympics, "So Dodge wants to sell you a car you don’t really want to buy, that is not fuel-efficient, will further damage our environment, and will further subsidize oil states, some of which are on the other side of the wars we’re currently fighting. ... The planet be damned, the troops be forgotten, the economy be ignored: buy a Dodge.”

Friedman goes on to explain what a mythical truth-speaking presidential candidate would call for. I would prefer to stick with Dodge/Chrysler here. This promotion runs completely counter to what the United States needs economically, and some would say morally. What we don't need is auto manufacturers subsidizing the cost of an outmoded fuel model for the sake of short term sales. Dodge's attempt to revive and resuscitate its flagging brand with the offer of cheap gas appeals to the lowest in our consumerism.

Americans are better than that, our free markets innovate their way out of problems. Consumers organically change habits as the economies of scale take hold. For a corporation to defy that basic law of the market is wrong.

Are You Having a Bad Fuel Day?

From 5 Blogs Before Lunch, Urban Dictionary has coined the term "bad fuel day." It's defined as: The mood or feeling one experiences after having just filled his or her vehicle with $4.00+ per gallon gasoline. (Usually consists of a sense of great economic despair, impending doom, anger, frustration, depression and/or a combination of all the above)

EXAMPLE: "Leave me alone. I'm having a bad fuel day!"

Looks like we're in for many a bad fuel day ahead. And, unlike a bad hair day, you can't hide your pain in a hat.

Gases Prices are Going Up...and that's a good thing

I've blogged on this before. Gas is getting more expensive, there isn't a damn thing the government can do about it, and it's a good thing. Nothing more expediently creates change than rising prices. Last summer Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth was exalted as the kind of national call to action we finally needed. It won an Oscar and a Nobel prize for its merits. While we are still seeing its effects on our culture, what is really motivating people to change their behavior are prices at the pump. High gas prices are forcing Americans to change their behavior in ways that Al Gore cannot. Don't believe me? Check out this article in Time about families cutting back their vacation plans and getting more local this summer. The article describes the beginning of a shift in lifestyle choice by average Americans.

But we need action on the federal level. As global demand for energy increases we need local governments to begin funding mass transit initiatives. Cities like New York, Chicago, and Boston went through a mass transit renaissances long ago. We need to foster the same in cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Miami, and yes Los Angles.

Follow Up-I've still got gas

One of our readers took minor umbrage with my post on gas-tax holidays and why I thought they were a bad (very bad) idea.

I think she was with me until my last paragraph, which I have included here to save you the scrolling:

I am extremely disappointed in Senators McCain and Clinton for supporting such a measure, when what is required is raising taxes on oil-based energy products to drive consumers to green alternatives. Bumper-sticker policies like this one are election year gimmicks, and I thought these two senators were better than that.

My point here was simply this. The government largely influences behavior through the tax code. The most blatant example would the be the cigarette tax. The states and the federal government have been raising taxes per pack to raise government revenue and steer people away from smoking with prohibitive pricing.

It's my contention that a similar method could be used to steer drivers away from less efficient vehicles. Essentially, create a sliding tax scale, the higher the fuel efficiency of the vehicle bought or leased, the less the driver will pay in taxes. It would force Detroit to compete and and level the playing field between costlier hybrids and electric vehicles and their gas-guzzling brethren. These currently alternative vehicles could then achieve scale, and begin to drive down their own costs.

Instead, our candidates are offering drivers a $28 tax break, which won't end up actually happening because the fuel companies will simply raise their prices.

I've got Gas

Policythought is not the first blog to jump all over the gas-tax holiday fiasco. Senator McCain came up with this terrible idea, then Hillary Clinton supported it. I must say it has tremendous bumper-sticker appeal. Unfortunately, it won't provide any relief from high gas prices this summer. 

I am no economist (I use that phrase nearly every post), but I understand supply and demand. Gasoline prices are rising because world-wide demand for oil-based energy is rising. Prices rise because there is but a limited supply of oil/gas in the world, so as more people want/need it the commodity becomes more expensive. Eliminating the tax is a simplistic way of removing about 14 cents of cost from each gallon bought at the pump. But take that one step further and what happens is as gas gets cheaper demand goes up. As demand goes up the oil companies raise the prices for the commodity again, effectively wiping out any cost savings of the gas-tax holiday. By the way, if you don't believe me check this out. 

I am extremely disappointed in Senators McCain and Clinton for supporting such a measure, when what is required is raising taxes on oil-based energy products to drive consumers to green alternatives. Bumper-sticker policies like this one are election year gimmicks, and I thought these two senators were better than that. 

McCainenomics?

John McCain thinks we should take the summer off from taxes...well one tax specifically, gas-taxes.

Ok, that's not fair, the heart of McCain's economic plans are based on sweeping tax reform. I take specific umbrage with the idea of cutting gas taxes. Energy needs to get more expensive if the market is going to move to alternative fuels. Basic economics of supply and demand dictate that as the need for fuel grows and the price goes up the market will start looking for alternative sources of energy. It won't be a "green movement" just a simple reaction to market conditions. the government doing anything to reduce that cost only retards our nation getting away from burning fossil fuels.

Introducing The $5 Gallon of Gas

Don't think the "myth" of global warming is enough impetus to seek out alternative energy sources? Then how about the fact that gas prices have reached their boiling point.

Two summers ago, I pitched an ad campaign to a client - the nation's leading provider of commuter benefit programs. The campaign was titled "Fight The Five." The concept: a fervent movement to turn back the potential of an impending $5/gallon gas price by encouraging more people to use mass transit (and save a considerable chunk of change on commuting) with tax-free commuter benefits. The client loved the idea, but passed. (It's all good...we won an APTA Award for the ad they chose).

While the concept of a $5 gallon was very real, as suggested by research, the reality of it seemed too distant to resonate with employers or their employees. Now, fast-forward 18 months: today, I saw this article on The Huffington Post about a California town charging over $5 per gallon. And, statewide, the price of regular gas is 58 cents higher than one year ago with a 20 cent increase expected in the weeks to come. Continuing to give oil companies record profits by paying through the nose at the pumps is only hurting Americans. Now, if that's not an inconvenient truth we have to start accepting, then I don't know what is.