[boaby]

Originally Posted by TurboState

They are conditioning us for $3.00 a gallon.. They are using the oldest mind trick in the world.. You slowly condition people to pay more, over a period of years, and eventually, you can charge anything you want.

Just a couple years ago there would have been anarchy over $3 a gallon, but now people almost expect it, and are willingly paying that price. Honestly, $5 a gallon isn't more than a year away.

My wife and I planned for this.. She works less than 2 miles from home.. I now work out of the home.. At BEST we use 1-2 tanks of gas in the whole household per month these days, a trivial amount. I now use a gas-less lawn mower (reel mower) to cut the grass, so I don't need any gas for lawn and garden stuff.

We learned last year to combine trips and buy in bulk. So we buy staple products in 2 months supplies, our meat in 1 year supplies, and only go to the store every other week for fresh fruit. This cuts off a tremendous amount of useless trips and cuts down gas.

I recommend people make lifestyle changes and hit these guys where it hurts - in the pocketbook! It doesn't matter if your vehicle only gets 20MPG, if you use it smartly, it won't cost you much. The real loser are the big three and their gas hogger cars they are still trying to sell.. Our friends in the UK can purchase 50MPG minivans, while we are still stuck in the stoneage with 20MPG minivans. We're due for a newer car in a couple years, but our benchmarks are high - we want no less than 40MPG in a minivan.. If Detroit can't provide that, we'll go to Toyota or Hyundai.. GET WITH THE PROGRAM DETROIT!

Whilst it is true we get 40 - 50 mpg in our cars we are being charged almost £6.00 ($12.00) for a gallon of petrol, so I think you are still better off than us. However the only way to protest is as you say reduce your usage and buy more economical running cars, even if this means buying a foreign car. In the UK we are sick of the drivers being used as another method of taxation by this government, either by increasing fuel costs or by the erection of millions of speed cameras and ruthless parking attendants. The cameras they say are purely for safety reasons which frankly is a load of bull, we all know they are money raising schemes and it is one of the reasons I hope this lot don't get re-elected at the next election.

[Siberia]

Originally Posted by boaby

In the UK we are sick of the drivers being used as another method of taxation by this government, either by increasing fuel costs or by the erection of millions of speed cameras and ruthless parking attendants. The cameras they say are purely for safety reasons which frankly is a load of bull, we all know they are money raising schemes and it is one of the reasons I hope this lot don't get re-elected at the next election.

I think I'd take the sneaky camera ticket traps over a hostile President on an out of control course to destroy what good name America has left in it... Plus, America has plenty of hidden taxes, you can't even have an air conditioner installed without a "mechanical permit"...which they say is for "safely", yet conviently allows the re-assesment of your home and an immediate increase in property taxes.

And IMO $5/gallon gas would be the best long term thing to happen to Americans. Only the almighty dollar gets our attention to change for the better, and the 100 year old internal combustion engine is due for retirement very soon as companies realize the profit potential of new, more efficient automotive technology. Time to move past 1895...