Hybrid Car Sales Down With Price of Gas--Are Americans So Short-Sighted?
Reader Comments
Hybrids Are Not There Yet
I am not a tree hugger by far, and I do believe someday we will have alternative ways to run our vehicles. I don't think oil is evil, but I think its being used in evil ways to hurt our economy. The truth is, hybrid technology is not there yet. The cost of buying one of these vehicles and the true savings / benefit to the economy and the Earth itself doesn't prove out. They should continue making better hybrids and less expensive ones too. However, I think we should spend more time trying to figure out how to use the oil we have more efficiently. Oil isn't the enemy; and we can be smarter about how we use it.
Wrong side on everything???
Bonnie, this is the third story I've read that has your name on it, and that's just today, basically putting down American values.
Seems you always like to take the "other" side of the story. You don't think guns are used for anything good. You lament the slow demise of Journalism. Now, you think America is wrong again, i.e. this story.
You don't feel or think this that or the other thing.
Do the math. At todays cost for a hybred car it would take more that 15 years before you see ANY savings. You didn't or don't know that Congress is looking into taxing based on milage to offset the loss of monies from not getting their cut from per gallon taxes. You don't "feel" or "think" that getting rid of old dead batteries would harm the environment. Never mind what science or actual costs says, it can't be cause Bonnie didn't think so.
As stated in another post.....you are buying into the "Global Warming" thing. Never mind that some 30,000 scientists have signed on to say the computer speculation was wrong. Perhaps you remember about 10 years ago, it was being said we are entering a new Ice Age. Forget that the past few years the winters have been the coldest on record in 100 years.
I suppose you'll say that it would be even colder if it wasn't for global warming, right!?!
Even the "smartest President ever" signed the law that limits the output of carbon dioxide.....
What will we have to do?????
Hold our breath until a new law is passed?
I'll take my V-8 F-250SD crew cab (4 door)....and I don't have a family, you can have the hybred and "feel"......whatever.
Oh please
Easier on the environment? If youve swallowed the tree hugger line on "global warming" I guess that makes sense. Truth is the global average temp has gone DOWN every year since 2001. The North Pole ice cap as of January 09 covers 17.5 million square kilometers which is equal to 1979 levels. This data comes from the Arctic Climate Research Center at the University of Illinois. Similar increases have taken place in the Antarctic area. The idea that mankind is destroying the planet with carbon emissions is simply nonsense and has been proven as such. Youll never see Al Gore or any other global warming alarmist in an honest debate about this cause they would have to provide hard fact to support their position rather than computer models. Computer models cant even forecast your local weather accurately beyond one week into the future. What we need is for our government to get out of the way of oil drilling and production so the supply and prices will stabilize. Instead, as of last month we get congress putting even more area off limits to oil production and the president has already reinstated the ban on offshore drilling. Once again the govt is the problem, not the solution. The internal combustion engine is the cleanest operating, most compact, easiest to maintain, and overall most economical means of vehicle propulsion ever invented. The technology has improved so much that the current Z06 Corvette, rated at 500hp, gets good enough gas mileage that it isnt hit with a gas guzzler tax. Americans arent short sighted, we just dont care for cars that have no redeeming qualities other than good gas mileage
how many other facts don't you "buy"
I'm curious: how many other facts about the world do you not "buy"? For the most part, resource consumption costs money. Yes, there are some commons where it's cheap to take something you want (e.g. water) or dump something you don't want (e.g. pollution), but they are far and few between. You can be a good environmentalist simply by buying on price.
And the price of hybrids, even with $4 gas, simply aren't worth the environmental cost. Wait a couple of years and buy an electric-only, or plug-in hybrid.
how many other facts don't you "buy"
I'm curious: how many other facts about the world do you not "buy"? For the most part, resource consumption costs money. Yes, there are some commons where it's cheap to take something you want (e.g. water) or dump something you don't want (e.g. pollution), but they are far and few between. You can be a good environmentalist simply by buying on price.
And the price of hybrids, even with $4 gas, simply aren't worth the environmental cost. Wait a couple of years and buy an electric-only, or plug-in hybrid.
cars
Since 1985, car weight has gone up 1000 lbs., and horsepower has doubled. Just heard that on a PBS Nova program on the car of the future.
People in bulk are selfish.
Hummer
I Just bought a Hummer H2 ($20,000) to fit my family needs. Want to pay $50,000+ for a Hybrid Tahoe? Don't think so. And I know a Prius wont pull a trailer, have room for 6, keep retail value and be great off-road. Oh, and I recieved a Tax refund because it's used for our office. Why the H*ll would anyone want to spend way, way more just to jump on the fad of going green? I'm sorry, but I do my share. I recycle, use E85 gas and all the other good stuff. Beats me...
Seriously?
"...we all know as soon as U.S. and world demand rises, pulled from the doldrums as countries come out of the recession, gas is going right back up to where it was."
Demand for gasoline has not changed, it's been fairly steady since the 1970's, I can prove that if you want. The price of gasoline was being artificially inflated on the Futures Market. Exxon Mobile is sitting on 37 billion dollars in Cash, and has been the most profitable company every year in the United States since 2003 - that's not "demand economics".
"Are Americans So Short-Sighted?" Yes, and forgetful too. Remember Standard Oil Trust?
Leg to stand on?
Surely you drive a hybrid?
I'd love one, but I can only afford a used Honda Civic since I got laid off.
I'VE GOT A PLAN -
Perfect for my pre- anti-Earth Day "Rantathon" (I'm not anti-Earth - Just "anti" the dogmatic, hysterical propaganda that substitutes for fact among the Obamatronic-pinko-greenies")
It's an established fact (albeit ignored by enviro-acolytes and other hemp clad Druids) that off shore oil drilling actually reduces the amount of oil in our oceans by reducing the seepage from "natural" fissures on the sea bottom....More than 1500 barrels of oil a day seep into U.S. Territorial waters from these fissures - Less than 1% of this amount is lost from all of our 4000+ oil platforms combined... So, more oil platforms means less oil pollution and gives birth to a nice slogan as well - "DRILL MORE - SAVE THE PLANET - STARVE THE TERRORISTS - REDUCE THE TRADE DEFICIT"....(and leaves more money in the pockets of consumers to buy more Chinese junk - but I digress)
See, I'm all over the Earth Day thing - just not the eco-wacko stuff. So tomorrow don't turn your light switch off in support of Neo-Pantheism, but do turn the "brain switch" on in support of science and civilization - We can't live without it.
