From owner-freebsd-hackers Sat Mar 4 9:22:29 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from lariat.lariat.org (lariat.lariat.org [206.100.185.2]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1D57A37B838; Sat, 4 Mar 2000 09:22:23 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from brett@lariat.org) Received: from mustang (IDENT:ppp0.lariat.org@lariat.lariat.org [206.100.185.2]) by lariat.lariat.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA22524; Sat, 4 Mar 2000 10:22:10 -0700 (MST) Message-Id: <4.2.2.20000304091423.040b5590@localhost> X-Sender: brett@localhost (Unverified) X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.2.2 Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2000 09:20:09 -0700 To: Mark Newton , chat@FreeBSD.ORG From: Brett Glass Subject: Re: Great American Gas Out Cc: "Koster, K.J." , "'FreeBSD Hackers mailing list'" , Wes Peters In-Reply-To: <20000304101212.A384@internode.com.au> References: <38BFEEA8.1A465CFC@softweyr.com> <59063B5B4D98D311BC0D0001FA7E452201313909@l04.research.kpn.com> <38BFEEA8.1A465CFC@softweyr.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG At 04:42 PM 3/3/2000 , Mark Newton wrote: >Our prices are held *up* by the fact that over 50% of them constitute >State and Federal taxes. Same in the US and Europe. Driving is a sin that must be taxed, y'know. 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. --Brett Glass To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message