I never stated I desired cheap gas and used the poor as a reason. I merely pointed out the trickle down effects and who would be affected from raising the price. Just because other countries pay so much for gas does that make it right? I don't think we should pay more for something than what it's worth.

An improvement would be to depend less trucks and more on railroads. Railroads are far more efficient than trucks are. And although in the past decades the railway system has been neglected, America still has one of the world's most extensive rail systems.

The true smart man is the one who appears to be dumb in front of dumb man who appears to be smart.

I had to read this thread because of the ridiculous headline- thanking Uncle Sam for 'high' gas prices is so ridiculous that in any country but this one it would provoke loud guffaws. We have the cheapest gas in the world, or very nearly, even after this rise in prices, and that is absolutely because of our government's policies, taxes, and subsidies.

A while ago when gas was $1.20ish I had a double take one day when I realized that gasoline was cheaper than every beverage I looked at on the grocery store shelf. Comparing cranberry juice, sports drinks, root beer, all the colas, milk and even bottled water to gasoline, it struck me forcibly that gasoline was too cheap. I mean, I know what goes into gas- there are costs involved in extraction, refining, transportation, not to mention the political and military costs in many cases of ensuring that the US has access to the oil supplies and the environmental costs that we are all going to have to pay one day even though right now we choose not to 'count' them.

Not long before this epiphany I had been in Denmark, and I think I remember reading at the time that Denmark had some of the world's most expensive gas, about $7/gallon. My memory could be totally off on the details, but the general point is that gas is much, much more expensive in places like Europe and Japan, and its been that way for a long time, yet their economies are still strong and their countries haven't collapsed into poverty and desperation.

Whether that's because those governments collect all that extra tax revenue and use it wisely to offset some of the expenses that would otherwise be borne by the poor, I couldn't say, and I'm sure it varies, but I do know that we didn't rent a car in Denmark. We took public transportation everywhere, and it was ubiquitous, as well as fairly convenient, safe and quick. As for Japan, the public transit there is practically a wonder of the world, from the Bullet Trains to the Tokyo subway during rush hour, in terms of moving huge masses of people at incredibly efficient rates to the places they need to be.

Does gas tax money go to make these things possible in those places? I think it's likely. And I also think that if we had more efficient public transit in more places in the US, if it was convenient, appealing, and fairly priced, we could reduce our energy usage on transportation as a country by a great deal.

And you wonder why Warren Buffet invested a ton of money in a railroad company.

As far as the trickle down effects of raising the price of gas. Well some of the gas tax is used for maintaining the roads and bridges. Yes the price of food and stuff will go up but that is better than having no bridge to get the food to you. So a little bit more expensive food or no food at all. There is always the security issue too.