[Leanan]

From the American Enterprise Institute:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he goal of energy policy should not be to pressure consumers to buy less. Market forces alone will see to that. The policy goal should be to constrain the most dangerous producers to sell less. Over the longer run, policy should seek to alter the behavior of those dangerous producers.

For ultimately it is not America's alleged addiction to oil that threatens the peace of the world. It is the Persian Gulf region's all too genuine addiction to authoritarianism, extremism, violence and terror.

[lutherquick]

when it says "CHANGE", this asumes taking 6 quarts out, and putting 6 new, clean quarts in...

So change isn't the correct word...

Anyway... I love how that article says that American economic output doubled since 1980... and many economists like to talk about GDP growth... yet what so many miss is that much of the "extra" output is more like waste heat. Like a motor engine that puts out more heat than touque...

America has increased her oil imports, and we claim that the economy grew more than those imports, elusing that there is an increase in effeciancy...

it's all fairy tales, delusions and majic tricks using dollar hegemony... nothing has gotten better in terms of effeciancy of the US economy...

[Falconoffury]

The GDP is a highly flawed calculation. I think it's more important to watch all those companies hiring thousands of workers in foreign countries, and those job cuts in the USA.

I think taxes on gas should increase in the USA. It might allow the government to pay down debts and help those market forces out a bit.

[Leanan]

The time to tax gas was when it was cheap. Now, it would politically be a no-go.

[Ancien_Opus]

The gains in efficiency are not completely smoke & mirrors. After the oil shock of 1980 a lot oil fired boilers have been replaced with natural gas. The average mpg of vehicles increased. Smoke stack industries have been outsourced and replaced with service industries. It cracks me up that this is assumed to be less dependence upon oil. Oil consumption has actually increased so it's just a lot more people dependent upon proportionately less oil.

You got to wonder what's going to happen to all those outsourced industries when they're too far from the market to cost effectively ship raw material and finshed products? That is of course if anyone still has a job.