I don't know much about Australia. What is their average vehicle mpg? I have never been there. All I know is the croc hunter drives an SUV :D

My point is that to try to "Force" change via gas prices will only HURT those that are poor and don't have much choice. I will repeat myself, "It will not make people change their vehicles when they don't see a more "efficient" option that still meets their needs. Instead they will just have less money for other things like food."

P.S. Now that used Diesel trucks are becoming "affordable", the guys in the country are jumping on them like no tomorrow! It is still hard for a farmer to drop $50k+ on a new one though...

I think i pee'd a little laughing at that!!

Australians drive a range of cars from the "V-8 Supercars" (better models than GM or Ford produce here), to the typical SUV (9 times out of 10 with a diesel engine) to Toyotas and Ferraris. The typical pickup is a "ute" comparable to our pickup but with a fuel efficient diesel engine and a wide bed with very low sides. It's based on a more compact cab and chassis and works just as well or better than the oversized F150 or Chevy equivalent.

Their gas prices run around $6-7 per gallon. They pay a huge dividend to buy a "foreign" car (anything other than a Holden or Ford) and yet BMWs, Toyotas and other cars sell very well.

Those who need a pickup other than a "ute" also have a choice that we once had in the states- a modern version of an El Camino or Ford Ranchero. With engines ranging from four cylinders to eight. In diesel or gas.

Their less fortunate get by the same way ours do- they drive older versions of the cars or they use public transportation.

Food prices are a little higher than here but not on everything- sugar for example, is cheaper. Meat is a little higher. Seafood is the same or cheaper. Most of their food is delivered by truck.

Higher anything could "hurt" the poor. But we shouldn't govern our society by what's best for them. Denmark and Norway have poor people too. And some of the highest taxes and gas prices in the world.

BTW, I don't get real upset when people call me excessive for having too many vehicles. It's not like more than one of them are ever being run at the same time. What's thr difference if it sits in my garage, in a museum or in a junkyard? If I'm driving one car or bike, I ain't driving the others.

Rick,
You have too many vehicles.

:D This is what makes OT great! :D

Now I'm upset.

Re: Re: Highway Rapery - how high will they go?
 

NO YOUR WRONG..Its Bush and his cronys jacking the price of oil so that they all can get rich. While they just don't care about the American people.

Re: Re: Re: Highway Rapery - how high will they go?
 

Uh, they took about a 99% paycut, gave up their private lives forever, were already filthy rich beforehand and did it all just to help their friends. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I have a lot of rich friends too and have never thought about a career change to help THEM get richer while taking a pay cut for myself.

Tabs you can't be serious....I hope.

If you are...well..let me tell you the real truth:

There is a secret underground white house swimming pool filled with Saudi light crude....

...when Cheney isn't shooting puppies and children he and George have a regular bacchanalia down there. With the Saudis and Osama Bin Laden.

They've got hot tubs full of money there but the real loot is stored in underground bunkers in Wyoming and Texas. This is how they secretly bought Austria. They also bought Switzerland and Colombia. They were going to buy Canada but George was so stupid he thought he already owned it and Cheney said it was too cold.

The really sad part is George Soros is down there with them. He converted after he met Tom and Katie and they showed how much fun it was to drown New Orleans and blow buildings up with airplanes.

Paris Hilton sometimes drops in with the Pope. That guy is one party animal.

Rick, please, for the love of puppies, sell some of your vehicles!!!

You could give them to me. I'm just across the river.

Actually he's not. I started that rumor.

I thought she went down on the Pope. Boy did that get garbled in the translation...

Soap not Pope.

Didn't Father Guido sell Pope, on a rope?

98 octane Shell

£3.16 December 2001
£3.22
£3.40
£3.41
£3.45
£3.91
£3.86
£4.09
£4.36
£4.68
£4.63
£4.54
£4.27
£4.26
£4.36
£4.50
£4.50
£4.59 today


2 dollars to the pound

So the same today as 9 dollars 18 cents to you

Welcome to the real world.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Highway Rapery - how high will they go?
 

Let me clue you in in a little secret, Rick. Once you have Dick Cheney or George Bush-type money, money is no longer your sole driving force in life. Power and influence is, for most people anyways. They did not run for office out of the goodness of their hearts, like starting a soup kitchen or something. But you already knew this. Why do you insist on still posting that lame strawman? :)

Denis, show me a Dem who ran out of the goodness of their heart, not for power or influence. Must be Hillary, right? She's a real idealist who wants to help everyone and sacrifice herself, right?

Where did I say that Democrats were a bunch of Mother Theresas? You have a strawman problem, my friend. I was simply responding to your (repeated) assertion that because Bush and Dick took a pay cut they must be altruistic and not in the power business or helping out their friends in the power business.