Proposed tax on fuel efficient vehicles?

[Varn]

Increasing fuel tax is just another way to take money out of our pockets and give us less control of our future.

I downloaded a spread sheet file a couple of years ago from the GAO. The department of homeland security alone bought 47 limosines. Guess it was money well spent.

For those who believe that the government is an all seeing all knowning God, look carefully at how they spend our money.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Varn

For those who believe that the government is an all seeing all knowning God, look carefully at how they spend our money.

Well, the government is not one omniscient being, it is made of a couple of million people like you and me. Hopefully, for each person that is less efficient, there is someone more efficient, throwing the average.

Supposedly, pessimists claim they are realists.

When I was Active Duty, I usually seemed to be the only one working. I was in supply. Now I am in Military Intelligence, although we literally never do our job, everybody works--one lousy weekend a month.

[Varn]

As far as being MI, Been there done that, what is your MOS?

Originally Posted by Xist

Well, the government is not one omniscient being, it is made of a couple of million people like you and me. Hopefully, for each person that is less efficient, there is someone more efficient, throwing the average.

Supposedly, pessimists claim they are realists.

When I was Active Duty, I usually seemed to be the only one working. I was in supply. Now I am in Military Intelligence, although we literally never do our job, everybody works--one lousy weekend a month.

[jakobnev]

The single mom driving the $1500 Chevy Astro van toting her kids around at 13mpg, shouldn’t.

Was it not her own choice to have more kids than fit inside a 40mpg-car?

[niky]

It's funny how things we third worlders consider ostentatious signs of wealth, such as a big, powerful, V6-powered "mini" van are markers of poverty in the land of V8s...

Here, if you can't afford high-priced gas, you don't drive. You take public transport or a motorbike.

And if you happen to have a lot of kids...

[Xist]

Well, that beats carrying a baby on a bike.

Yes, in your arm.

[GRU]

Originally Posted by Xist

Well, the government is not one omniscient being, it is made of a couple of million people like you and me.

It's made up of greedy people who only look at what benfits them and their interests, not people like you and me

[pete c]

I think for the time being, fuel taxes alone are the way to go. You use the road more through either heavier vehicles or more miles driven, you pay more. And it gives an incentive to drive more efficiently.

A few years down the road, when EVs become more prevalent, this will have to change. Then we should go to some sort of mileage charge as it is impractical to use a fuel tax on watt/hrs.

[Varn]

I have been to the far east and to central and south america. You are certainly right about the status of people in the US.

In Illinois you can get up to 53,000 dollars a year if you apply for it. Free. No need for a Social Security number. I have seen the web page published by Illinois.

I commute on my bicycle when the weather is decent. Welfare families pass my wife and I in their SUV's.

Originally Posted by niky

It's funny how things we third worlders consider ostentatious signs of wealth, such as a big, powerful, V6-powered "mini" van are markers of poverty in the land of V8s...

Here, if you can't afford high-priced gas, you don't drive. You take public transport or a motorbike.

And if you happen to have a lot of kids...

[pete c]

Originally Posted by GRU

It's made up of greedy people who only look at what benfits them and their interests, not people like you and me

They are greedy, just like you and me. It is the human condition, unfortunately.

It would be nice if this were not the case, but, it is. It is why socialism is a nice theory, but it fails miserably when actually put to use. It is why government should be treated as a necessary evil and limited as much as possible and be kept as local as possible. The reason being that it is a little more difficult to steal from your neighbor than it is to steal from someone on the other side of the country.

A bunch of old dead white dudes a few centuries ago understood this perfectly. Too bad our current crop of politicians and today's braindead voters don't.

Well, I guess that is enough libertarian ranting for now.