[Fat Charlie]

I swear I posted this this morning, but somehow it didn't stick. I'll summarize.

Arragonis- I know places where you can wander all day without seeing anyone. We call that normal here. Over your way, the land was developed before transportation existed, and the land is quite finite. The US grew with the idea that land was cheap, and everything since the 1940s was with the idea that not only was land cheap, but gas was cheaper- so the scattered towns became scattered themselves. Every small town doesn't have everything you need anymore, and delivery doesn't exist.

metromizer- Yes, the cost of everything goes up when gas goes up, but that's because our whole economy is based on the idea that gas is basically free. It's not the oil companies' job to research AE. They are there to make a profit from the production, distribution and sale of oil. The only way any of our gas money is going to get reinvested in RE or efficiency is if the gas gets taxed more. We never wanted gas to cost anything because we loved burning all of it that we could find. If we had made it cost more (taxed it more) then we'd already be more efficient and we'd have had more funding for research and mass transit.

slowmover- Thank you for being so thorough.