Gas prices too high? Try Europe.

[steve2470]

http://tinyurl.com/bhdls

By Peter Ford, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Fri Aug 26, 4:00 AM ET

PARIS - When Guy Colombier pulls his economy car up to a Paris pump, he allows himself just 15 Euros ($18) worth of gas - barely enough for three gallons. Since prices started rising rapidly earlier this year, says Mr. Colombier, a printing press worker, "I drive a lot more slowly ... and I'm looking for a place to live closer to where I work."


Colombier's pain is shared by drivers all over Europe, where fuel prices are the highest in the world: a gallon of gas in Amsterdam now costs $7.13, compared with just $2.61 in America. The contrast in prices and environmental policies - and the dramatically different behaviors they inspire - signals a widening transatlantic energy gap. And it raises the question: Does Europe offer America a glimpse of its future?

Indeed, while Europeans have learned to cope with expensive fuel (mostly due to taxes), there's scant evidence yet that US drivers are adopting their conservation tactics.

"Societies adjust over decades to higher fuel prices," says Jos Dings, head of Transport and Energy, a coalition of European environmental NGOs. "They find many mechanisms."


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[DaveJ]

1. To be honest gas prices don't bother me per se....

I'd personally prefer to depend less on my car. Both my wife and I can take the bus to work. What bothers me is that freepers are so incredibly stupid that they voted for * thinking that gas prices would skyrocket under Gore. If only that single lie, out of all of them, had not been perpetuated we probably would not be living in this nightmare world of Bu$h today. That being said I realize the U.S. depends on low fuel costs so I'd like to see more reliance on alternative energy.

[johnaries]

2. How about Iraq?

Drivers in Iraq pay as little as 5 cents a gallon for gasoline, according to the International Monetary Fund's first assessment of the Iraqi economy in 25 years.

Thanks to generous government subsidies on petroleum products -- which the IMF criticized as a threat to the country's fragile economy -- Iraq has some of the cheapest gas in the world.
http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=214581&source=r_science

[Selatius]

3. I'm not bitching.

I look at Europe to remind me just how spoiled Americans are with oil. No bitching with me. If anything, this should spur the development of more fuel efficient vehicles as well as force a national debate on the issue of energy policy and investments in solar, hydrogen, wind, etc.

[jmatthan]

4. Gas prices are high all over the world

other than the US as we all pay taxes to take care of the environment, develop alternate fuel sources for the common good, etc..

The oil companies are not gouging us for their bottom line.

Our high gas prices pay for better roads, control of emissions from cars, better mileage out of cars, automobile recycling laws, etc.

There is a vast difference as to where the high price is going!!

[Conservativesux]

8. It not going into a national healthcare system like it does in Europe.

We pay through the nose for what exactly?

[Touchdown]

5. Europe? You mean that Continent 5000 miles away?

The one with trains on time, subways in almost every city over 1M, efficient light rail systems, efficient bus lines, truck bans on Sundays annd early mornings, shopping plazas that are in the middle of town, instead of strip malls on the outskirts, grocers around every 3 corners, bike paths for miles, or kilometers...you're talking about THAT Europe, right?

Right.

[theHandpuppet]

7. He scores a touchdown!

You hit the nail on its proverbial head.

[CatWoman]

10. I was thinking in the same vein

however, you said it a lot better than I could have :thumbsup:

[matcom]

6. paid around $4/gallon in Germany when stationed over there

you just do it. BUT you don't have to drive NEARLY as much. everything is right there (whatever town you are in)

[ComerPerro]

9. I hate this bullshit.

Europeans pay more in gas per gallon. I know.

But they also actually get something for what they pay. The prices are in taxes, not just profits.

[pitohui]

11. try looking at a map of europe

they are small, have no place to park anyway, need to discourage driving to keep the roads flowing

we are large, need to encourage driving or people can't get to their jobs, fuel & food & necessities can't be transported, business goes flop

i am tired of having apple & oranges comparisons shoved in my face by idiots, pete ford has just been elected my new idiot of the moment