Time to rant, screw big oil and/or their retailers

[RightTurn]

Ya. Nobody seems to care that the govt's cut is twice as much as "big oil."

[CIWS]

Originally Posted by Stingroo

If I may ask, what would you suggest CIWS? No flame intent here, I'm just curious.

For someone to show the right leadership and do something similar to what Kennedy did in 61 to get a man on the moon. To set the will of the U.S. in industry and university toward the goal of developing alternative sources to power our vehicles and implement more wind power to help generate electricity. As with then set the goal to a decade ahead, and then with just as much dedication seriously work on the multiple alternatives available. The initial goals should not be to get the country off of oil, but to reduce our use of oil to the point we do not have to import it from foreign sources. Besides the fact we depend upon oil to produces a myriad of other products we use a lot of like tires and plastics.
But right now we are hardly doing squat to change our ways and only seem to care when the fuel prices get jacked up for whatever reason(s).

[orconn]

Originally Posted by RightTurn

Ya. Nobody seems to care that the govt's cut is twice as much as "big oil."

What are your state taxes on gas in Texas? How are the roads? Here in Virginia our gas taxes are relatively low and our roads are inadequate and in poor condition. I quess you get what you pay for!

[RightTurn]

I believe state taxes are about 20 cents/gal in TX. I certainly can't speak for all of Texas, but the roads in Harris and surrounding counties are in relatively good condition considering the volume of traffic. Seems like freeway construction is a way of life in the Houston area, as with most large metropolitan areas.

[RightTurn]

This is semi-interesting.

http://www.api.org/statistics/fuelta...ap_10-2009.pdf

[RightTurn]

Oh..and in the "WTF" department, check out Oregon's plan for gasoline revenue.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan...on/na-gas-tax4

A state task force will look at equipping every new vehicle in Oregon with a Global Positioning System to record every mile driven and where. Motorists would pay at the gas pump based on how much they drove, no matter how fuel-frugal their vehicle.

The plan still requires legislative endorsement and the full details could take several years to work out, but state analysts said the governor's endorsement is a crucial step toward solving what has become a problem in many states: dependence on a gasoline tax.

[orconn]

From experience the roads in California and West Virginia are really quite good. The roads in Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey are not very good. I don't know what Maryland's excuse is given their gas tax, probably corruption! Virginia it seems to be no money and the inability of the legislature to make a decision when their is money available. When visiting the Old Dominion think twice about crossing any bridges!

[The Tony Show]

I've commented several times on here how the Federal Government's sudden love affair with hybrids, plug-in cars and alternative fuels is hilariously self defeating. By endorsing these kind of cars and tossing billions of dollars at the "problem", they're effectively cutting out one of their largest revenue streams- the gas tax. At some point, someone in Washington is going to do a Macauly Culkin impression, and the scrambling will begin to figure out how to replace the income.

This Orwellian nightmare is just one of the possible outcomes.

[RightTurn]

They'll just follow Oregon's lead and put a GPS in everyone's vehicle. Big Brother is watching ewe drive.

[orconn]

Remember the days when diesel fuel was a lot cheaper than gasoline? If there is much of an impact on gas taxes you can be sure there will be an adjustment somwhere to make up for the shortfall. In most states they already have a record of your annual mileage per vehicle because of the annual vehicle safety and emisions test. If your locality doesn't have these annual checks be sure you will in the future. Trucks already fall into a weight mileage category for road taxes.

[hardrockcamaro@mac.c]

Originally Posted by RightTurn

Oh..and in the "WTF" department, check out Oregon's plan for gasoline revenue.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan...on/na-gas-tax4

A state task force will look at equipping every new vehicle in Oregon with a Global Positioning System to record every mile driven and where. Motorists would pay at the gas pump based on how much they drove, no matter how fuel-frugal their vehicle.

The plan still requires legislative endorsement and the full details could take several years to work out, but state analysts said the governor's endorsement is a crucial step toward solving what has become a problem in many states: dependence on a gasoline tax.

They want to do this in the UK, they call it "road pricing".
They would scrap fuel tax and base the tax on a price per mile scheme that takes into account the road you use and what time of day you use. So congested main roads during peak hours would cost more than a country road at quiet times.
But if they do that I may as well drive a big engine right?
Unless thy also factor that into the pricing...

[submariner409]

orconn, Where Maryland ("If you can dream it, we can tax it !") roads are horrible in Montgomery, Charles, Baltimore, and Prince George's counties from the sheer overload of traffic, over here on the Shore we're fortunate to have great roads - not so much Rt. 50 (again, traffic load) but the back roads are smooth, banked properly, and a pleasure to drive. Over near the Delaware border the population is sparse and some roads allow you to see 3 miles ahead and behind in a straight line, which allows room for conservative road testing of vehicle maintenance procedures .

[ewill3rd]

I have heard of insurance companies encouraging GPS mileage tracking to reduce rates, a sort of "by the mile" thing.
No thanks.

[Stingroo]

No thanks indeed. I can just see it now where someone has a long commute and they couldn't even afford to get to work. That idea is fatally flawed.

[CIWS]

Originally Posted by ewill3rd

I have heard of insurance companies encouraging GPS mileage tracking to reduce rates, a sort of "by the mile" thing.
No thanks.

Originally Posted by Stingroo

No thanks indeed. I can just see it now where someone has a long commute and they couldn't even afford to get to work. That idea is fatally flawed.

They have this here. For the driver who hardly drives it can be better than paying the normal rates they will be charged when having conventional insurance. My grandparents were lucking to put 7000 miles a year on a car.