Ain’t Gonna Do What We Should, ‘til the Economic Finality Axe Chops Our Silly Heads — Why an Increased Gasoline Tax Would Boost National Security

© 2010 Peter Free

 

30 December 2010

 

 

Gasoline-swilling American sheep on rumble-dum wheels

 

Just a short while ago, Americans were moaning because gasoline prices were high.  A bunch sold off their low-miles-per-gallon SUVs and whiningly compromised Entitlement Lust in favor of slightly more fuel-efficient cars.

 

No longer.

 

 

SUVs are back — along with “no new taxes” and an uncontrollable budget deficit

 

From the Washington Post:

 

With the end of the recession, bigger vehicles have made a comeback, sales figures show, and it has come at the expense of smaller, more-efficient cars.

 

Leading the growth were sales of midsize sport-utility vehicles, which jumped 41 percent through the first 11 months of the year, led by vehicles such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Honda Pilot, each of which get about 18 miles per gallon.

 

Sales of small cars, by contrast, remained flat despite otherwise surging demand for automobiles. Sales of the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic declined, and even the fuel-sipping Toyota Prius, the hybrid darling of the eco-conscious, dropped 1.7 percent.

 

© 2010 Peter Whoriskey, SUVs lead U.S. auto sales growth despite efforts to improve fuel efficiency, Washington Post (29 December 2010)

 

When gasoline prices fell, we trotted Denial right back in the front door and parked it proudly in car-lust’s fireplace.

 

“Dependence on foreign oil?  Who cares?”

 

“National security?  I don’t think that’s connected to oil importation, is it?”

 

“We can always fight another war for fuel.  My neighbor’s kid can go.”

 

 

One insider’s comment sadly sums it up

 

"You have about 5 percent of the market that is green and committed to fuel efficiency," said Mike Jackson, the chief executive of AutoNation, the largest auto retailer in the country.

 

"But the other 95 percent will give up an extra 5 mpg in fuel economy for a better cup holder."

 

"As long as you have cheap fuel, it's hard to get people to do what's good for them and good for the country. . . . It's been the same for a decade."

 

© 2010 Peter Whoriskey, SUVs lead U.S. auto sales growth despite efforts to improve fuel efficiency, Washington Post (29 December 2010) (extracts)

 

Cup holders and no self-discipline — that’s us in a nutshell.

 

 

Too gutless and too entitled to do what’s right

 

It’s been obvious for decades that U.S. national security would benefit from a significantly increased gasoline tax.  But given the lack of self-discipline and forward-looking courage that we Americans mostly share, that’s not going to happen.

 

Instead, we’ll continue digging the economic hole we’re burying ourselves in.

 

 

The moral?

 

American Consumer-Entitlement Democracy seems to be an experiment in social extinction.