Is the assumption that all people live in climates conducive to biking. Ever try riding a bike in winter, with below freezing temperatures and wind chills? And in Northern Minnesota during the hot humid summer, the bugs will pick you up and carry you along (maybe some benefit to that, if you don't mind the biting). <snark tone="dripping sarcasm">Oh, ya, bug spray. Now that's green.</snark>

Okay, all semi-angry kidding aside, I am not opposed to higher gas prices due to increased tax, it servers a purpose vis-a-vis money going to the government to help with policy, etc., which I find wholly more palatable than profit going to Orca fat oil executives.

Politics is the control of wealth and power. You are being conditioned to condemn politics as petty and boring, thus granting all the more control to the powers that be. You are either a part of the problem or a part of the solution. The choice is yours.

PS: Don't think I have anything against biking, since I am the proud owner of a Specialized Bike with front and rear disc brakes, 27 gears, front shock absorbers, and a shock absorber in my seat stem. If you've been to my blog, you'll see I am semi-serious about riding.

Is this one of those progressives you are talking about?

Carib :)

... because rising costs are painful. They go crazy about 'gouging' because it is, well, gouging, which is another way of saying 'unfairly fleeced'. Anyone would complain about that.

Price controls for a systemic problem like dependence on fossil fuels is doomed to failure and will cause much economic pain for very little gain. People gotta do what they gotta do, and we want them to. Consumer spending is the only thing proping up the entire house of cards.

You can't price shop gas, you can't stock up on it. There is nothing you can do but pay the man. That is what has to change. Until it does we will not make any meaningfull progress. IMHO, of course. :P

The price of gas should be high because of a carbon tax, not because the oil majors feel like grabbing all the profits they can.

The "real" price of oil, once externalities are taken into account, is probably around $10 a gallon at this point. But the "real" market price of oil, if the majors were not manipulating it, is somewhere around $2.20.

Right now, the difference between $2.20 and $3.20 is going into the pockets of Cheney's croneys. They are using it to do things like re-elect Republicans, and fund disinformation campaigns to prevent anything from being done about global warming.

The difference - together with another couple of dollars - should be going into a carbon tax, which gets divided between tax relief to low income drivers, and a Manhattan Project push to achieve energy independence.

The presumption of Neo-liberalism is that market value is the true value (true cost plus reasonable added value as incentive) rather than one that is in anyway regulated or otherwise managed. This is a total hoax on the public, since the real cost of petroleum includes the DOD budget as a protection service and the the huge cost in terms of lower quality of life, including the very measurable quantities of pollution cleanup, healthcare for the disease caused by pollution and most of all, global warming. Then, petroleum is also a necessary ingredient in many things that are really vital to survival and progress, other than being wasted in gas guzzlers. (Have I forgotten anything?) Factor all these in and the true value of a bbl of petroleum is through the roof.

People yak about hydrogen, butanol, ethanol, etc. But I have discovered an alternative fuel that beats the others hands down: lessanol.

Lessanol is composed entirely of a quantum soup of virtual particles that flit in and out of existence very rapidly. It was once dubbed "ether," but then lost favor for many years. Now its time has finally arrived.

Lessanol has been proved to help your car's engine last longer than any other fuel. It's completely clean, lightweight and costs are minimal. Best of all, with lessanol in my tank, I know I'm helping America break free of its dependence on foreign oil. Also, it's great for the environment. Using lessanol, I know my car is cleaner than anybody else's around. Using lessanol lets the whole world breathe easier.

The time is right for lessanol.

"Death before being dishonored any more." - Col. Ted Westhusing