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Oiloholics

The Economist has a telling cover this week:

Here's what The Economist had to say:

"The best long-term solution—for America as well as the world economy—would be higher petrol taxes in the United States. Alas, there is little prospect of that happening. America, unlike Europe, has preferred fuel-economy regulations to petrol taxes. But even with those it has failed abysmally. These regulations have been so abused that the oil efficiency of its vehicles has fallen to a 20-year low. This week, the Bush administration announced proposals for changing the fuel-economy rules governing trucks and sport-utility vehicles, but failed to close loopholes that allow these gas guzzlers to use more petrol than normal cars, a shameful concession to carmakers.

America and China, in their different ways, are drunk on oil consumption. The longer they put off taking the steps needed to curb their habit, the worse the headache will be. George Bush once learned that lesson about alcohol. It is time for him to wean America off oiloholism too."

Quelle surprise . . .

Source:
The oiloholics
The Economist,  Aug 25th 2005
http://www.economist.com/printedition/displaystory.cfm?Story_ID=4316744

Sunday, August 28, 2005 | 07:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (1)
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Comments

In America, unlike Europe, there isn't a train running every 20 minutes from where you live to where you work.

If the US were the size of England and had a similar level of land development, these smug statements might have merit. Unfortunately it is not and they do not.

Posted by: Idaho_spud | Aug 28, 2005 7:34:17 AM