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Originally Posted by Dr House
Of course not. Liquid fuel is used to the extent it is because driving has been too cheap for decades. I suggest transferring the cost of road use from taxes to tolls. That way people will bear the full brunt of the cost and will do what's cheapest for them, which is in the case of private individuals to drive less (move closer to the workplace, carpool, use public transit, etc) and in the case of commercial carriers to use trains and ships instead of trucks (thereby reducing their fuel consumption by a factor of 5). Of course, even if we don't take that wise course of action, rising fuel prices will do it for us.
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We are in agreement on most of the above, although your formula would seem to strongly favor the rich and punish the poor when it comes to driving. I would be inclined to spread the pain more evenly.
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I know. I blame environmentalists for putting the kibosh on nuclear energy when it coulv'e bought us energy independence. I blame the government in general (and those who demanded it of them) for heavily subsidizing road use and liquid fuels. Roads are choked and Americans are going into debt because driving has been way too cheap for decades.
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I believe you are wrong re: environmentalists preventing the U.S. from being energy independent. Most electricity in the U.S. is produced by using coal and nuclear power. Environmentalists have not measureably suppressed the production of electrical generation. The real issue is energy intensive liquid fuels, particularly gasoline and diesel. Nuclear energy has virtually no influence on the production of oil. Nuclear energy will play a bigger role in the future, but it will not avert an oil supply crisis - which we are already seeing take place.