[extropy-chat] SUVs

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Kevin Freels <cmcmortgage at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> A news article about how 1 out of every 8 drivers in the US now has
> an SUV. And people wonder why gas has become so expensive? 

This is a statement without supporting facts. What is the average
milage of  the market as a whole? How has this changed over the past
decade, year by year? How has the overall number of vehicles changed
over the years?

Gas has become expensive, dollar wise (most other countries have not
seen nearly the same rise in prices), specifically because the
devaluation of the dollar on world markets in the order of 40% or more
over the past year. Objectively speaking, though, it's true price is
actually lower than it was at the time of the invasion of Iraq due to
overproduction.

For example, the weighted average price for Iranian crude (light sweet
and heavy sour) is under $34.50/bbl. Adjusting this price for the
change in exchange rates from two years ago, this price is equal to
about $20.00/bbl in late 2002. If you look at the records from that
time, oil prices then were about $28.00-32.00/bbl.

The facts are that people are driving and flying less than back then.
People have gotten exasperated with everything short of cavity checks
at airports, and internal INS roadblocks on the nation's highways, and
are changing their travelling behavior, which is why a number of
airlines are in major financial trouble right now.

What has happened is that we've finally achieved a more accurate dollar
exchange rate, after decades of having it bouyed up by other nations
parasitizing off of our economic stability by pegging and backing their
own currencies to ours. Our products are now more competetive overseas,
and might become more-so when China shifts its monetary linkage to a
mixed basket.

If China takes it slow, we will be able to shift a major part of our
automobile usage to hybrid vehicles without detrimental effects of
further devaluation. The shift will reduce consumption, further
decreasing demand and lowering prices for oil, while at the same time
help extend the utility of the Strategic Oil Reserve.

Regarding China, I shall note that China has launched the newest
nuclear sub, capable of carrying its first generation of solid fuelled
ICBMs, which, when deployed, will be capable of striking any point in
the US with multiple reentry vehicles. While this vessel is undergoing
testing, the missile has had test failures but is still in development.
When this weapons system is fully functional and deployed off the
western US coast, we will not be able to support Taiwan against Chinese
invasion, unless we have a significant deployment of SDI capacity along
our coasts, and a significant improvement of our anti-sub capabilities.

=====
Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
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