(Untitled)

[mr_quackenbush]

Open Letter to Representative Adam Smith and Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray

Comments

[lormagins]

I agree on increasing public transportation infrastructure, but tax credits for hybrids and EIC people? No way. Americans need to grow up and join the rest of the world - we're the 45th cheapest place in the country to get fuel. I think that fuel should be cheaper in proportion to the distance one lives from a city. Rural workers, truckers and cabbies are the only people, really, who should get assistance on fuel costs. I would love to see gas prices soar to $8+/gallon in-city and in the suburbs, and see it at $2/gallon in the middle of BFE farming country. There is no need for a hummer in the city or the suburbs, and we all know this. We need to be discouraging that kind of wasteful spending by consumers on status objects. If you want the expensive gas-guzzler, you pay more - a lot more. Put all the tax money into improving public transport infrastructure across the country - there are public transport systems the world over that are suitable for any city's geography. Our country isn't as big an unwieldy as we assume. But

[mr_quackenbush]

tax credits for hybrids because purchasing hybrids instead of a non-gas car reduces demand, thereby making it cheaper for the people that need to use it. give it to the EIC people because they're going to be hurting probably for the next year due to increases in essentials prices due to higher delivery charges for those essentials. by making it a 100% refundable credit, you give them more money to spend on essentials. anybody making the EIC probably is too broke to drive when it's absolutely necessary with gas this high, so the credit isn't so much for their fuel usage, but to help them out moving forward as long as the high relative fuel prices last in order to help them offset inflation. I also think that there should be an increase to WIC and EBT eligibility for the same reasons.

[lormagins]

Hybrids aren't better, though. Neither is biodiesel or most of the alternatives we've come up with, except for full-electric cars, which are questionable only because of the potential source for the electricity (coal-burning, nuclear, hydro-electric, etc etc). This is what deserves a tax credit. No infrastructure necessary, carbon-neutral. Due in the U.S. in 2009-10.

[mr_quackenbush]

no Hybrids are better. They have lower emissions and greater fuel efficiency than other vehicles in the same class, which means they're both reducing emissions per mile driven, and they are reducing dependence on gasoline. i don't know where the late paranoia about hybrids is coming from, but it's basically nonsense. emissions on the CAV, which I'd note aren't on a production vehicle that can be independently tested, are only about 50% less than what current production Honda Insights are producing, and they won't be available in North America for another two years. While the MPG on an Insight aren't nearly 106 mpg, I'd note that 64 mpg is nothing to shake a stick at. And again, that's a car you can go out and buy today. Who knows what the 2011 hybrids are going to look like compared to this vehicle when it's for sale? This thing looks like an awful lot of green marketing hype, and they're going to have to come up with something other than a 13 x 6 six seater if they expect anyone to buy any of them. That's the same size as an old

all morning, huh?

[somerled]

I think it's a really good letter, except for the "all morning" thing, which comes off a bit unintentionally naïve.

It is going to be very hard to get parts of the country that have built up post 1945 onto public transportation; infrastructure as well as attitudes are a huge barrier. But it's worth doing.

Re: all morning, huh?

[mr_quackenbush]

not as unintentional as you might think. i was going for earnestness.

[cowboyjesus]

I thought that "gas tax holiday" was John McCain's idiot idea. Hilary wants to tax the oil companies even more! Meanwhile our two Colorado senators Allard and Salazar profess desires to see us strong arm Saudi Arabia into some way of pumping more oil than they are doing now. Allard, at least, under the assumption that "stabilizing Iraq" should be worth something to their regime.

There was a neato TV show with Tom and Ray Magliozzi (The Car Talk radio hosts) all about alternative cars. They went to Iceland and rode on a Hydrogen-powered bus. It was way cool.

Have you renamed your car yet? I was thinking "Iron Man", which should be sexy enough...or you could go for Pontius Pilate's best fwiend from "The Life Of Brian", Biggus Dickus.

[afanesvoltaje]

Good thoughts.

I'm especially a fan of the public transit money. Every time I head back to Seattle for a visit, I find myself annoyed all over again about how crummy the public transit is compared to what I've now gotten all spoiled and dependent on here in St. Louis. And when I went to LA for a month... ack! I think people get used to what's available to them wherever they happen to be, and don't realize just how much they're missing out on, often... but, boy life is better with a train commute!

And if a train can be such a hit here in St. Louis, with revenues-to-cover-initial-costs coming in in less than half the estimated time for the first line, such that a second line was completed years earlier than initially expected and the planning of a third line being fast-tracked in parallel.... then it seems to me it can work anywhere.

[icarusancalion]

-a fully refundable tax credit based on an average gas taxes spent by families who receive the EIC.

This is a particularly good idea.