Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2000 20:57:34 -0700 From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: Dennis <dennis@etinc.com> Cc: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>, Mark Newton <newton@internode.com.au>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG, "Koster, K.J." <K.J.Koster@kpn.com> Subject: Re: Great American Gas Out Message-ID: <38C1DB2E.C2BF7F66@softweyr.com> References: <20000304101212.A384@internode.com.au> <38BFEEA8.1A465CFC@softweyr.com> <59063B5B4D98D311BC0D0001FA7E452201313909@l04.research.kpn.com> <38BFEEA8.1A465CFC@softweyr.com> <200003041741.MAA15002@etinc.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Dennis wrote:
>
> >This week, I traveled from Wyoming to California and discovered that
> >gas prices were 25% higher in the Golden State than in the Cowboy
> >State. Why? Because Californians "tax" themselves by requiring that
> >everyone buy fuel with high concentrations of MTBE, an oxygenating agent.
> >MTBE was supposed to reduce pollution, but in fact is a worse pollutant
> >than oxides of nitrogen ever were. However, since only California
> >refineries make gas with a high enough concentration of MTBE, Californians
> >are locked into buying from these few sources and the price goes up.
> >WAY up. Los Angeles will have $2.50 gas this summer.
> >
> >It's the same the whole world over. Energy policies and fuel costs aren't
> >driven by markets or even common sense. They are controlled by big
> >cartels, big government, and politics.
>
> I think you've been reading too much of that commie literature they have
> out there on the West Coast. Gas taxes are designed to pay for roads and
> highways, and you have lots more infrastructure in LA than you do in
> Wyoming. The more you drive, the more you pay. Makes sense to me.
What doesn't make sense is that Los Angeles has a LOT less highway
per person than Wyoming. You've obviously never been to Wyoming.
It's a big state with a population at 475,000 and falling.
> As for clean air...Im all for it. You might disagree with specific things
> being done, but if nothing were done 20 years ago you wouldnt be able to
> breath in LA at all. Same here in NY.
>
> As a staunch Republican I usually disagree with big tax government
> programs..but the gas tax is very reasonable in this country. Now if we
> could just do something about those union guys making 100K to put up
> signs.......does it really take 6 men to fill a pothole?
That's just peeing into the wind compared to the amount of damage
done to the highways by big trucks. Ending the subsidies for the
trucking industry, in the form of making the people of states like
Wyoming pay for highways when the trucks don't even stop in Wyoming
would go a long ways towards putting the frieght back on trains
where it can be moved with less fuel and less human lives lost.
Now would the rest of you idiots PLEASE trim -hackers from this
thread?
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
wes@softweyr.com http://softweyr.com/
To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?38C1DB2E.C2BF7F66>