Comments on: OK, I'm glad we got hosed at the pump

There, I said it. In fact, I was quite ecstatic if that would lead Hummer Nation to rethink its ways.

[subslug]

So many miss the point, there is a need for larger vehicles. Large families do have that need and that's not the problem.
It's the little 5 foot blond trophy wife sporting around in her giant H2 with one baby strapped into a car seat in the back that's the problem.
I work for a school that teaches children/babies so most of the customers are pretty well off. I've never one time seen any of these children carried to our locations in anything that gets more than 15mpg. Our parking lots look like an SUV car show during the day. Keep in mind over half of these parents only have the one child yet they drive vehicles that would easily carry four children.
Maybe one of the reasons they drive such large vehicles is, if you've ever seen the 5 foot blond park one of these mammoths then, it's probably more for the child's safety. It's hard to park a car this size while holding a Starbucks cup and a cell phone.

[nicmart]

What crap. The world has immense reserves of oil and I'm glad that I got a good deal on an SUV while sales were down during the government-created oil price crisis. It doesn't take a lot of research to discover that the price of oil was low and stable for a long time, until spending and war went wild under Bush, and the value of dollar sank.

http://zfacts.com/p/35.html

[ledhead1962]

I agree wholeheartedly with the gist of the article. People complain about the price of oil and every morning you see them sitting in lines of idling cars in drive- thrus waiting for a cup of coffee. Put the price up to reflect what the rest of the world pays and leave it there and you will see a whole bunch of whiny,selfish, oil pigs change their thinking and wasteful ways. I am not talking about going back to the dark ages, just a show of responsibility by consumers would go along way. Unfortunately the average glutton only thinks about gorging in the now. I do disagree with the article on the point of consumers buy what is put in front of them - this thinking absolves the consumer of any responsibility for the current melt down of the auto industry etc. It is the chicken or the egg argument and I have to say that if we weren't buying their products then they wouldn't be making them. In a capitalist society (and maybe we don't technically live in one anymore) the ultimate power lies with the consumer, so instead of blaming the auto industry, big oil or any other corporation in an orgy of finger pointing take a good hard look in the mirror!

[2k12]

RE: F-150, I know that you might not like the fact that Ford makes large trucks.. But how do you expect farmers, delivery vans, construction companies, etc etc to do their job? You now that food you like to eat, well you can thank that fuel guzzling F150 for it. It moves the farm implements, carries the tools to keep the farm running and tows the trailers to keep the beef, pork and other farm animals coming to you every day.

Sure they could be more fuel efficient, like diesels which most farmers moved to years before the fuel conservationists did. Now diesel has soared in price as well.

Make you faces at them then go home with your better -then-thou attitude and tell your friends all about it over a nice dinner.

[Ron Geiken]

Gasoline is a commodity just like wheat and corn, and while the output of those grains can be increased much faster than the output of petroleum, they both tend to increase and decrease in price based on demand. I have a car now, 2003 Buick Le Sabre, that gets about 20 miles per gallon on average. Not too good, but affordable. When I replace it in several years, I will be looking at a Prius type vehicle with a battery that gets 45 to 50 miles in the city and also about that range in highway mileage. I have never owned a truck and never will, since I don't have sufficient use for one. We will have more fuel efficient vehicles in the future, but a smaller population in the USA would bode well for more moderate gasoline prices as well as other products. If people use common sense in the future, the USA should provide a welcoming place to live.

[LVTfan]

More Californians would be able to live within a reasonable distance of their work if California got rid of its perverse Proposition 13. This would reduce energy usage, pollution, time spent and dollars down the drain significantly. We could probably make a bigger difference this way than any other single thing we could do. (We would also be able to finance good public transportation, if we simply went to land value taxation -- and we'd have the density we need to make it really work well.) But the powers that be -- real estate interests, landed elderly folks being subsidized by younger, poorer workers -- like the current situation just fine, thank you! It keeps down the competition for existing businesses, keeps prices up, and suits parts of the business community very nicely. And they claim that it is the poor widow they are protecting. Neat trick!

[inspiritonly]

Sorry, it makes no sense to blame the car makers. No one was ever forced to buy an SUV and there are lots of choices for sensibly sized vehicles. And it's not only US car makers that are building mammoth SUVs. Many people buy SUVs they don't need simply because it's fashionable.

I drive a Civic BTW.

[unc0nn3ct3d]

Yep, I coudln't agree more. While I hate GW Bush sometimes I think we may look back on his run and while be digusted at his corrupt policies and flagrant disregard for human life, we may be thankful that he cut gas consumption by insane amounts, created economical reasons to dump billions into alternative fuel research and causes public transit ridership to reach the highest levels in history

[J. Blow]

"People drive what car makers serve up" - yet somehow you managed to drive a Civic and the most popular mfg in America is Toyota!

Do you ever stop telling yourself how much smarter/better/more "open to diversity" etc you are Charles?

The fact of the matter is people drove big cars because gas was cheap. Gas was cheap because it is a commodity and there is an abundance of it. When gas prices rose, demand for cars that where less efficient dropped. Then gas prices dropped as a result of a drop in demand. See? Not so hard to follow.

Btw, we drive a big huge mini van. Why? So my wife can trade car pooling duties with our neighbors. It turns out you can't take 7 people in a Honda Civic.

[noreg]

"In the meantime, though, you have to wonder what they're smoking in Detroit. Take Ford, which introduced a 3-ton, 16-miles-per-gallon pickup called the F-150."
Um Charles?
Ford introduced the F150 in 1975. Actually it introduced in 1961, it was just called the F100 then. And it may not have registered with you, but the folks who build your houses, bury your data lines and serve you a thousand other ways actually need those trucks to continue to do the thousand jobs that you don't actually perform yourself.

I'm sorry you are disdainful, or whatever the scowling emotion is, when you pull up to the pump and see the F150 that delivers your goods and services. But look on the bright side. At least it uses WAY less fuel than the private jets that shuttle Al Gore and the Google executives around.

NR