QUOTE(benCKa @ Apr 7 2008, 04:27 PM) [snapback]478538[/snapback]
QUOTE(Ray @ Apr 7 2008, 10:08 PM) [snapback]478522[/snapback]
And, our economy wouldn't be nearly as bad off as it is now if we would have found a cheaper energy source 15 years ago. I'm not an economist, but I know that a large part of our nation's brewing recession is because of the high cost of living mixed with low employment. Gas cost is one of the largest contributing factors to our cost of living right now. He would have eliminated that altogether. Fucked people up in every other way, though.
By raising gas prices he would have lowered your cost of living? Or are you saying that by raising the gas prices he would have eliminated the demand of gas and thus lowering the cost of living in your country? But what would you have used for transportation? And what would happen to the automobile industry in your country if there suddenly was no need for cars? Who would employ 15 million Mexicans then?

PS I'm not trying to start a fight, I'm always just having a hard time understanding your intellectual insights
PS2 you're still pretty well set regarding gas prices compared to the rest of the world. When I was in the US in 2004 and noticed the gas prices I thought that 'wow, they're actually closing in on us on gas prices' but then I realized that you don't fill your cars by the liter

Raising gas prices to the point of them being economically out of reach would lower the cost of living by eliminating that cost. I don't only mean cars and transportation, I'm talking heating homes and state-run energy programs too. Public transportation is the future of getting from Point A to Point B. China has those high speed magnetism-based railways that run all throughout their country. They can go around 250 mph and are mostly used for freight as of now. But, they can be used for human transport too really easily. That was Gravel's suggestion, an intricate series of railways throughout America. It would be expensive as hell, but it would provide (more) jobs than the auto industry provides now and would cut the average cost of living by a large margin.
And, the gas prices will only go up. The supply is running out and we all know it. The reason petrol prices are so high in European nations is because A. You guys value alternative fuel sources and your governments encourage alternate forms of transport (railways/subways are way more popular in Europe than here) B. You don't have nearly as many cars per person in Europe as we have here, this makes oil less desirable there and with it being less popular, it's less easily accessed. In America, we have something like 7 gas stations per square mile on average. C. We have many agreements with major oil producing nations (like Saudi Arabia) that prioritize our needs over those of other nations (ours are greater anyway). We can get oil cheaper from the producers and we have more producers in general (including domestic sources in Alaska and Texas).
There are more reasons that I'll edit in when I think of em'.