On Tue, 7 May 2002 12:36:18 +0100, you wrote:
Snip!
> By now you're probably thinking petrol priced at about 77p a litre
>is super cheap. Me too! It is currently 79p - 83p for regular
>unleaded in some towns. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC
>nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is
>CHEAP at 77p-80p, we need to take aggressive action to teach them
>that BUYERS control the marketplace.... not sellers.
Just to offer an alternate viewpoint.... :-)
According to the Consumer Price Index <stateside>, the real price of
gasoline has remained about the same for at least 30 years. I can
remember paying $0.30 per U.S. gallon back in 1971 which works out to
$1.33 in today's dollars. The oil embargo of '73-'74 and the
aftershock in 1978 saw two short term price hikes but overall gasoline
today is no more expensive.
I know this to be true because here in the states, SUV's and Pickup
trucks now account for 50% of new vehicle sales for personal use.
When these vehicles are included in the CAFE calculations, we find
that as a nation, our vehicles average fuel economy has slipped all
the way back to what we were getting in 1980. This can't be a good
thing.
And the other issue is their large size. I feel now that the largest
of this breed are as large as the gargantuan Cadillacs and Chryslers
that roamed the streets when I was a kid. But at least those cars
were low enough to see me. When I drive my Spitfire convertible I
have the impression that I'm pretty much invisible in a very large
blind spot around these PU's and SUV's. Popular options such as
tinted glass, powerful sound systems and cell phones make matters
worse.
Anyway, I realise you folks across the pond pay far more for gasoline
then we do and I'm sympathetic. Perhaps you've seen a genuine
increase in petrol prices that has outpaced inflation. But I'm not
interested in joining a campaign lower prices over *here*. It's a bad
idea environmentally, it misdirects foreign policy, and as a Triumph
enthusiast it increases the chances that I'll get squashed. :-)
Cheers!
Tom O'Malley
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