GeminiAtlas

Oil: A Slippery Slope Ahead?

jepittman,
"enlightened government" ha, that's a good one. If they were enlightened, they would probably gradually raise taxes at the pump, let's say over the next ten to twenty years. They should get rid of the MPG standards and let the market do its thing (people would want fuel-efficient cars to pay less tax). With increased tax revenues coming in from the pump, they can use some of that to invest in alternative energy R&D and other mass infrastructure. Also, higher gasoline taxes would accelerate private investment in alternatives as these would become more viable economically. But then again, those tax dollars would quickly be "reallocated" to other stuff that congress deems so-very-important.
In any case, what the article didn't factor in was the US dollar. Currenly our enlightened government is running the presses as fast as they can. What are barrels of oil denominated in? Federal Reserve Notes aka dollars, cash-money, etc. There is some deflation now, but with all these dollars being pumped into the system, we could see an inflation spike in the not too distant future. WIth that oil will go through the roof.