Fine, so do as you are led to; put two and two together and come up with five and start imagining the worst. Or not.
However.
For those Americans that are truly worried about the price of oil, I have these few little pointers for consideration:
- The price of petrol (gas) in your country remains way below the price anywhere else in Europe; you've always had it easy and have always been encouraged to take this finite resource completely for granted. Iran didn't do that to you, someone else did.
- Because of the incredibly low prices, your car manufacturers have responded to and encouraged the desire for bigger, broader, gas-guzzling vehicles, camper vans, trucks and so-called muscle cars with an average mpg thats something like half that of a European vehicle.
The answer is easy - throw away your american vehicle and get something like a Volkswagen, you could find that you travel just as far, yet only have to fill the tank half as often.
Don't believe that'll help? This US Gov site says different. I'm not having a go - whatever size vehicles we use in the UK we still pay way over the odds for our fuel, compared to you. I just thought I'd point that out.
7 comments:
Jolly well said!
You're surely not suggesting that the American people are being misled...?
My late Father is from Bulgaria where people buy gas by the pint! I am not joking here. Yet, you see Mercedes Benz's being driven everywhere. Here, I have already purchased a gas friendly vehicle. I agree with you not only about gas guzzling, ego-driven SUV's, but our speed limit should be retrned to 55 mph with 60 mph max. If you drive over here 80 mph and vastly increased fatalities parallel one another. Kudos for making a valid point, indeed!
Ugh, I have to watch on TV everyday the conflict between Bush and Iran heat up over little more than paranoia.
Such is life in the US. :(
For my part, I hate SUVs, and watching people sucks up tons of gas in those monstrosities. My wife and I own a tiny little Japanese car, and we love the fuel-efficiency (not to mention my wife's Japanese, so she naturally likes the cars...ha ha ha).
Anyways, yeah, we've had it good. I have to say though that Americans are finally getting the picture. People are selling their SUVs in droves, and getting hybrids, which are pretty cool cars. Biodiesel's becoming very popular too.
Maybe this will all work out in the end. :)
In northern Michigan, we're up to $2.89 per gallon this week, Cheryl. I will not tolerate the belly-aching, especially after the near $6/ gallon we paid in Scotland to fuel a car we found too wide to navigate narrow streets, and too long to park, but was still smaller than any vehicle our American friends drive.
Four words, my fellow Americans:
1) downsize, NOW
2) shank's mare
(A little more walking would be good for our fat asses as well, by the way)
Couldn't agree more! 96.5p per litre for unleaded yesterday!!!
I hear you, Cheryl.The Man and I both drive fuel efficient small cars and HATE SUVs, Hummers and all the other ridiculous vehicles people seem to feel they need for taking two toddlers to the grocery store and the mall!
And I know we pay a lot less than Europeans do for gas. Thing is, around my neck of the woods(and in a lot of the rest of the States), EVERYTHING is a car trip. Several miles for groceries, several miles to work, miles to everything else. Public transportation is given lip service, but doesn't do much--the Man commutes AWAY from the city and there's nothing built in for opposite commutes! Even the poorest of the poor try to have a car--otherwise you're very limited in where you can live and work.
There is definitely price gouging somewhere along the line. When you see prices in the same area ranging from $2.99 to $3.25, you know someone in the food chain is trying to sneak in some extra profit!
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