Well, that's because Canadians won't vote out the politicians who impose that high level of taxation. Try that in the U.S., and a lot of people in public office would lose their jobs. And the level of taxation, when you add all of it up at all levels, is bad enough in the U.S. as it is. For instance, in the U.S., a $40-50 monthly phone bill often ends up being $70-80 when all the surcharges, fees, taxes, etc...are added.

 

Generally, the more expensive gas is, the less traffic. Its been a nice relief here in NYC for the last 3-4 years, with high gas prices and slower economy there aren't as many traffic jams. I welcome the higher gas prices - you might have to pay more for the gas, but you'll waste less time in traffic and get more stuff done to make more money

 

I noticed that in the D.C. area, too (NoVA) in the summer of 2008, when gas was $4-5 a gallon here (as in most of the country). NoVA is normally the second-most traffic-clogged area in the country (behind L.A./SoCal), but, with fuel prices like that, I noticed a difference....literally, for the first time in decades.

NYC, of course, has jams, but many people there, unlike in D.C. and L.A., simply don't own cars. The NYC public-transit system is enormous.

 

It was also funny to see everyone slow down (on the highway) when it went over $4.

The normal highway flow of traffic is 70-80 mph. At $4/gal, suddenly people were cruising at 55-65 mph.

 

Well, there's a gas station downtown over here that has premium (91 octane) at a little over $4.

 

That's among the reasons why California will be the first state to collapse.

Oh, and 91 ain't premium everywhere else. We get 93/94 and it's $3.

 

The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned, $4 gallon. Like this thread, old news.

 

Did it affect Silicon valley traffic when it was last $4, back in 2008? If that price comes back, it certainly won't be old news any more.

 

Not significantly. But leisure travel around the rest of CA and the US was affected when gas went over $4. Old news, old thread, expecting gas prices to trend upwards.

 

Really, high gas prices are like growing pains. It sucks and cuts into your budget, but it's needed to get us where we need to go. The majority of our trade deficit is spent on oil - no matter how much we drill, we will never cut out foreign imports with our current energy plan (which is to say, we have no plan). We are definitely too dependent on individual transportation - our mass transit infrastructure is terrible in the majority of the country. We ship by truck cross-country rather than by rail. High prices also make people move closer in to cities, which are much more energy efficient than suburban sprawl.

I personally can't wait until we get more mainstream versions performance plug-in's like the Tesla. I love cars and I don't want to sacrifice performance due to MPG restrictions - give me a torquey electric motor and my butt dyno will be plenty happy. We have so much coal, natural gas, and ability for nuclear energy, and various forms of renewables such as wave, solar, and wind (where applicable), that we can convert a large portion of urban drivers to plug-ins - it's just that we need better means of transit, such as rail, for the ability to travel outside of their range.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed for $7.00 a gallon gas.

 

I'm assuming this is sarcasm...if not, why would you want that here?

 

If you look at his cars, you can tell his post was totally sarcastic.

 

I dunno, they seem pretty fuel efficient to me.

That makes sense though, my head is elsewhere now.

 

@ $7.00 a gallon I won't have to hear anymore how evil the government is, imposing efficiency standards on the speed demon driving culture that we are.