freesSpeech: Mike Rutherford

(CBS)  Sorry America, but if you believe you're paying too much for the fuel you put in your automobiles, you're not living in the real world.

In the States today, you're enjoying pump prices that are among the lowest on the planet. So what, exactly, are you complaining about?

Here in England, the average price of a gallon of regular fuel is almost four pounds fifty, which equates to just over $8 in your money. And you're complaining? How come? You don't know how lucky you are.

Europeans take vacations in the States partly because the gas is so cheap.

Still not convinced? Then let me tell you that I've just checked pump prices in 24 nations throughout Europe, including a few impoverished countries, and in every one, drivers are paying considerably more than you.

The problem is not what you're being charged for your gas. It's the fact that many vehicles driven by Americans boast large engines that drink too much.

I drove a colossal SUV in a remote part of North America recently and its gas mileage was so poor that I ran out of the stuff before I could reach a station to refuel. Forty miles to the gallon isn't unusual in Europe. And we achieve that by settling for smaller, less powerful cars. Some have diesel engines and actually do nearer sixty to the gallon.

The price of fuel is out of your hands. But the type of car you drive is not. On sale today there are American and foreign made cars boasting much-mproved gas consumption figures. Buy one and your annual fuel bill will drop massively.

America, I offer you a final thought. Think smaller. If only for the sake of you wallet, stop buying gas guzzlers!

---

Mike Rurtherford is a freelance auto journalist who writes for a number of publications. He is also a founding member of the Uk based Motorists Association.

[usawatchman]

Maybe we should TAX
the WATER
THE SOCIALISTS DRINK

[freespeech3]

Come on! Let's talk apples to apples. Europe chose a more "Social" program of taxes and benefits than we have. Their high gas prices are primarily due to taxes which they used and continue to use to subsidize their other transportation systems such as rail, buses, street cars and water. All of which cost users less than the real cost of operation. These systems work well in countries whose populations are more centralized and their geography is more compact. In the US we have made wrong choices by buying big gas guzzlers seen as status symbols. We can make different choises - compact, energy efficient autos are available but it's not *** enough for most Americans.

Maybe we need to have a surcharge on gas pumped into cars and trucks which get less than 40 miles per gallon.....

[ukpeaches1]

Americans REALLY don't like to hear that there might be a better way to do things than they way they're doing it.

Our fuel prices are not higher because we drive less. Our prices are higher because we pay more tax because we have universal healthcare. And I'm happy to pay #4/gallon and know that my ailing parents don't have to choose between buying their prescription medication or buying food to eat. So I'll carry on driving my 2 litre deisel people carrier that gets 60mpg. Why do you need to drive huge vehicles? Is this making up for something that's lacking elsewhere?

[borntwice-2009]

Proverbs:

10: - 2 Tainted wealth has no lasting value, but right living can save your life.

11: - 2 Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

11: - 14 Without wise leadership, a nation falls; there is safety in having many advisers.

12: - 1 To learn you must have discipline; it is stupid to hate correction.

12: - 18 Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing.

[frb01]

I got tired of hearing our politicians say the same things they said in 1973, we need an energy policy, we need to rid ourselves of foreign oil etc. We are going to have a new Congress, let's see them draft some incentives to get this done. Expand the tax breaks for certain kinds of vehicles, alternative energy in the homes in business etc, and get it done and end our slavery.

[jims47]

What complete rubbish from Mike Rutherford! Apparently he has an agenda either putting Americans down, or is on the grand Global Warming bandwagon. What he fails to mention in his price comparisons is that most European countries are smaller then Texas. You can drive across the whole country in one day compared to 2 days in parts of Texas. Americans computer further then Europeans to work, most use mass transit not because of oil prices, etc. but because their antiquated cities are not large enough for a large number of automobiles. Their prices are higher because they drive less. The same result would result here in America if 70% of the population parked their autos in favor of mass transit. The politicians would be wringing their sweaty hands over the lost tax revenue. I for one, am getting tired of hearing so called experts from other countries define what Americans "should do", they are not even close to comparing Apples to Oranges, more like Skateboards to Automobiles. Every time I hear their indignity I always detect that green monster" Jealousy"!

[usawatchman]

WE PAY THE SAME AMOUNT
FOR OIL AND GAS AS THE REST OF THE WORLD

We have a different TAX SYSTEM
if we had to pay $8 a gal and continue to pay our
OTHER TAXES
like we are now..

In My Humble Opinion...(IMHO)

There would be RIOTS
and BUREAUCRATS and POLITICIANS
would be hanging from the (proverbial) lamp posts

If EUROPE want to be SLAVES
to the GOVERNMENT and POLITICIANS
that is EUROPE'S prerogative...