The Price of Gas is too low....

Last night Larry King (CNN) had a small forum concerning energy costs and availability. It was very good for one-hour TV including commercials. His guests were two congress people (a Republican and a Democrat), the CEO of Chevron, a guy from an energy research organization, and Sir (?) - the CEO of Virgin airlines. It was very civil with no shouting and in fact, considering the different points of view, they were in surprising agreement that we need an energy policy in this country which includes a massive investment in alternative fuels and energy sources.

However, where I live with my home backing on a major secondary road leading up to the Hualapai mountains, I have to conclude that the price of gasoline is far too low!

Every day (not just weekends) I sit on my southern porch and watch muscle cars and pick-up trucks racing each other at sixty and seventy miles per hour up the two-lane 4%, 40 mph grade. There has been no reduction in that behavior - in fact, it may have intensified in the two plus years we've lived here.

It seems that the big hobby here are ATV's. The young couple with two small children have four of ‘em in their garage along with her sleek black SUV. Even with a three car garage, his two pickups have to stay outside.

The Transwestern pipeline passes about 100 yards east of us, crosses under the road and its dirt service road can be seen going off to the horizon. It is a favorite ATV destination with whole herds of them racing across the desert raising huge clouds of dust with no destination - just a place to drive ‘em.

In the parking lots here, my old Ford Explorer is dwarfed by Excursions, Toyotas, and even the Cadilac SUV's. If big is good, then bigger is better and gigantic is best! ... and I won't even talk about all of the Humvee's around town.... No, gas prices aren't even close to what they should be. Americans may bitch about them, but it seems they're still able to waste the stuff.

Hmmmm.... wonder where all of those ecological hybrids are?