[thechat] gas prices..

[Bruce Heerssen]

> >From: Joe Crawford
> >
> >San Diego -- $1.75 or so per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline.
> >
> >Check this out. Looks like the range is up to $1.99 here in town!
> >http://www.fueltracker.com/ccc.html
>
>
> Hey, that's pretty cool.
>
> I'm just waiting for our overseas friends to start telling us off for
> bitching about these prices... ;p
>
> David
>

Yeah, well... I'll tell you what. I, for one, *could not survive* without my car -- well, it's truck, but at least it's got a
relatively efficient six-cylinder). I live 35 miles from work, 1 mile from the nearest grocery store, and there is *no* public
transportation within 6 miles of my house (with the expensive exception of taxi cabs). There are many, many people here in the US in
very similar circumstances. So, taken in that light, it would be disastrous to levy the kinds of taxes on gasoline that Europe is
accostomed to. Most of us simply can't afford it. At $6.50/g, I would spend at least $6,500 per year on gasoline alone. (figured at
25 mpg for a very conservative estimate of 25,000 miles/year - I drive a lot)

BTW - yeah, I'd like to live downtown (closer to work), but circumstances won't let me :(

-Bruce
(Who wishes Houston would finally do something real about the dismal state of it's public transportation)