The tail end of hurricane Katrina hit upstate New York yesterday evening, as we got soaked with some pretty intense rain. But it was nothing like other thunderstorms we’ve seen this summer or anything like the terrible havoc that’s been wreaked on the Big Easy this week since the levees gave way.
The implications of this storm go way beyond submerged homes and thousands of people trapped in the Superdome or on buses to Texas or waiting on rooftops to be rescued. I’ve read and heard that anywhere from 10 to 30 percent or more of our oil reserves come from the Gulf Coast. As of yesterday, gas prices were higher than $3 per gallon, and they’re not going down anytime soon. With only 4.5% of the world’s population, we consume at least 30-40% of the world’s oil (about 20 million barrels per day). With Labor Day weekend right around the corner, I don’t see gas prices getting any better.
If we had a president who was a leader, he or she would start by asking us to do our part by staying home and not driving our gas guzzlers this weekend. They are going to need lots of fuel down in New Orleans because once they get those levees rebuilt they have to pump all that water out of there. It’s sure not going anywhere by itself – most of the city is six feet below sea level. A real leader would say, “We don’t need the French to bail us out. We can solve this problem with good old American ingenuity, hard work and sacrifice.”
The next thing an actual leader would do to save the economy from high gas prices is impose a gas tax. The Bush administration’s new fuel mileage standards exempted Hummers again, but a hefty gas tax might start to tame those beasts. Matthew Yglesias of The American Prospect proposes such a tax coupled with progressive tax relief so that only the biggest guzzlers end up paying.
1 response so far ↓
1 Phil // Sep 1, 2005 at 9:34 am
Yes, the economy could use yet another tax! The trickle down effect of HIGH fuel prices is yet to be seen. What we need are price controls. Why don’t you look at BIG OIL’s financal reports. PROFITS are through the roof. What we need is a LEADER that has the courage to tell his big oil buddies enough!