Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!

[Cory]

Originally Posted by SilenceNoMore

I know how to reduce gas prices (and it doesn't involve some silly boycott):

*Don't nationalize Iraq's oil. Right now we are turn Iraq into a Scandanavian Liberal Socialist state, which is absolutely silly. Privatize the Iraqi oil industry and let companies like Shell and Exxon come and pump that country dry! Think about it guys, we control more oil right now than any other country in the world (Iraq has second largest reserves, we have large reserves ourselves) and we are paying 2 bucks a gallon for gas? We should be paying seventy cents!

*Around 37-50 cents of each gallon of gas goes to the government (state, local, federal). Taxes are tyrannical and are driving up the cost of gasoline. Elminate them.

*Get rid of MTBE. Not only does it pollute water supplies, have carcingens, and threaten wildlife, it doesn't work! Get rid of it!

*Kill all the elk in ANWR and drill drill! This will take awhile, but it will help America's longterm energy future!

*Build more nuclear powerplants! I can hear all the hippies now: NUCLEAR POWER IS EVIL! No. No. No. Its the best source of power we have right now. Zero emissions, massive amounts of power, and little, easily stored waste. Even the French realize the benefits of nuclear power, they got seventy percent of their power coming from nuclear power. It will elminate competetion for oil.

*Allow the construction of more refineries. Duh.

*Get more oil from Mother Russia. A non-muslim, non-arab nation which isn't controlled by OPEC.

75 cent a gallon gas here we come.

ZINNNNG!

I could sit here and poke holes in your arguments for the rest of the day...

Here's the main points-

1) We don't control Iraq, we have already established a provisional government with members from all 3 sects of Islam, and are working with them so that they can run their country with full autonomy. If you're talking about military power, then sure, we have the ability to control their oil, but for all practical purposes, we don't.

2) What's wrong with Socialism? Look at Norway, and how good they live. They get paid for vacations in greece, EXCELLENT free healthcare, childcare, and the list goes on. There are some downsides, but it is not a system like communism that just doesn't work.

3) I don't know what you're referring to when you say ANWR, but I'm going to assume you mean Alaska. If you look at the facts, that oil overall will not significantly reduce our dependency on oil from the middle east, and will destroy pristine wildlife.

4) Wait, you don't like MTBE because it kills the environment, yet you want to kill a bunch of animals and irreparably destroy protected wilderness? Which one is it?

5) Unless you've figured out some way to put nuclear reactors in vehicles, nuclear powerplants will not eliminate our need for oil. Your argument that they produce very little, and managable waste is also untrue. We have tons and tons of nuclear byproducts, most of which are sitting in Yucca mountain, which was said to not be a safe place for storage in a recent study, I believe (It's sitting over a fault or something, I think...)

6) Have you ever heard how much Europe pays for gas? I believe the average LITER, not gallon of gas is something like $4. That is why the French government is trying to find alternate power sources.\, among other reasons.

7) People like you are the ones that make foreigners think America is full of ignorant biggots, which isn't an entirely false idea. Your entire argument is centered around only yourself, and not the larger picture. Since you like how France is handling their energy needs, why don't you move there, then try to get a driver's license, which will cost you something like $2000, and then have fun paying 2-3 times as much for less gas than you would get here. And you wonder why the middle east hates us so much when you make comments like that about arab nations...

I don't even know why I'm wasting so much time responding to the ridiculous claims of someone like yourself.

P.S. Yan- I remember my parents telling me about the gas shortages of the late 1980's. I dont know about back east, but around here you could only go get gas on certain days, and only some ridiculous amount like 4 gallons or something, for a ridiculously high price.

Cory