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May 03, 2008
I Feel Like Arianna Huffington
Or at least, I feel like the portrayal of Arianna Huffington on the Tracy Ullman Show.
I am lounging in my bed at my villa in Minneapolis clutching to my laptop. And I am feeling very opinionated right now.
It all boils down to the gas tax and gas tax holiday. I need to say this here because if I do not, I will literally burst in frustration. Gas tax holiday. Gas tax holiday. I hear a lot of people saying we should suspend the tax. Currently, the federal tax on a gallon of gasoline is 18.4 cents.
Let's do the numbers:
I have approximately a 20-gallon tank, and I estimate that if I were to burn through a full tank I would last about 2 weeks, give or take a few days. In a month that would amount to 40 gallons (I will make it an even 50 gallons spent a month).
At today's price of $3.50, that's $175 spent on gasoline, $9.20 goes to the federal tax, and approximately the same amount goes to the Minnesota state gasoline tax.
So I get an extra $9.20 every month that the gas tax is suspended. Who wants to go to the movies!? Wait, I can't get there because I busted my tire on one of the many potholes.
I do not have a problem with the gasoline tax, and neither should you. All the money raised in this tax should be going to funding transit projects, correct? This builds our roads, bridges, other mass transit solutions. Sounds simple enough. Take away this flow of cash, and either our infrastructure will deteriorate or we will divert money away from other government projects.
I don't think anyone is willing to allow another bridge disaster like the 35W Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis happen again. This is still an event very fresh in the memory of Minnesotans. No one is suggesting allowing our transit infrastructure to fail again. Although, I should note apparently John McCain isn't expecting to get Minnesota's electoral votes this November. He needs to reword what he said, he's out of line on that one.
This is what really needs to be said, and no one is saying it: we need a gas holiday. The price of gasoline will never come down. Chopping a few cents off the price of gasoline is not going to help us. Reducing our demand for gasoline, however, will help us. The problem is, gasoline is seen as a necessity. We need it to get to work in the morning. We need it to get home. We have to buy it.
No one wants to be told that he/she fucked up by buying a house 50 miles away from their job. A lot of times, people don't have a choice. We often take whatever job we can get. I know that was my case. However, choices need to be made that will reduce our demand on gasoline. Not just for our own economic benefit, but for the creation of a sustainable economy.
While we might not be able to employ all of these suggestions, it is a place to start:
1) Live closer to work.
2) Work closer to home.
3) Work from home.
4) Alternative Fuels.
5) More sophisticated mass transit.
6) Get a fucking hybrid.
Some of these are next to impossible for the average person. It simply does not make sense for a person to take their spouse and children out of the suburban town they grew up in and move into the city. I myself am not going to ride a bus for two hours to get to work in the morning when it takes me fifteen minutes by car.
Now, if I did not have to transfer more than once, and the ride was under 30 minutes, I would have been riding it a long time ago. However, I only see a short commute via public transportation ever becoming a reality if there were something more sophisticated than bussing, such as extensions of the light rail system. Unfortunately, that's just a dream. Speaking of dreams... I dream of a day when I will never see another Bush/Cheney bumper sticker. I hope today was my last encounter, but I know another one will cross my path at some point.
Posted by piep0058 at May 3, 2008 01:36 AM | Society
Comments
I like what you're saying. This has stuck up a huge debate it seems, and for good reason.
BTW, you're Arianna-Tracey Ullman comment cracked me. Blogs and kissessssssss. xoxoxoxoxo lol.
Posted by: A at May 3, 2008 05:32 AM
I like what you're saying. This has stuck up a huge debate it seems, and for good reason.
BTW, your Arianna-Tracey Ullman comment cracked me. Blogs and kissessssssss. xoxoxoxoxo lol.
Posted by: A at May 3, 2008 05:32 AM