The skyrocketing prices for crude oil and gasoline are grabbing most of the headlines these days. Newsreaders prattle on about whose fault it is and what can be done about it. You've heard the saying: "Talk is cheap". It's never been more true or more relevant.
So whose fault is it, anyway? Well, everyone (yes, even you and me) is partly to blame, but let's start at the top, shall we? Sit back and enjoy merely the latest in the long, long series of spectacular federal government failures. Look, folks, Uncle Sam saw this coming, decades ago, and what did he do? He mandated the underwhelming 55-mile-per-hour speed limit.
In 1973, I sat in my car waiting in line to buy gasoline when I found a station that had some. The world didn't end then, and this latest petroleum crisis won't bring civilization down today, either. Motorists are still doing plenty of discretionary driving, going places they don't need to go to do things they don't need to do. But, the early 70s was when the phone rang, off the hook, and nobody answered.
Oh, sure, some things changed back then, almost immediately, in response to the realization that Middle East oil and those who control it could alter Western life drastically, if they so chose. Cars got smaller and lighter, but more economical. The 8-cylinder engine disappeared. Tiny Japanese cars made fuel efficiency a reality.
But it's what didn't happen then that's causing today's suffering. Yes, right then, back in the 70s, is when Uncle Sam should have started working seriously on developing alternative sources of vehicle fuels. Brazil is a shining example of how to achieve energy independence, easily meeting its motor fuel demand by making ethanol from sugar cane (which it grows on a very small percentage of its arable land) and thumbing its nose at the world's oil tyrants.
The Brazil example has to make you wonder. Watch American newscasts or issues analysis shows, and you'll hear over and over how great America is, how we're the world's only remaining superpower, blah, blah, blah. If that's true, then why is Brazil eons ahead of us in energy independence? Just because someone says something over and over and over doesn't make it true.
After the first oil scare here in America, we got used to paying more for gasoline and things pretty much returned to normal. In the late 70s, Jimmy Carter proudly took credit for prodding fuel peddlers to develop and market the 90/10 gasoline/ethanol blend. Yes, we've been using it in America for 30 years. But since things had calmed considerably by then, the full-blown ethanol development effort never started.
By the early 90s, the future of oil and gasoline seemed so bright that consumers began to move away from cars and started demanding more trucks. The dreaded SUV was born, and fuel economy went to the bottom of the list of concerns for the government, auto makers and vehicle consumers. As I said, we are all to blame.
When the Republicans swept to power in Congress in 1994, they busied themselves advancing an agenda of non-issues such as prayer in public schools, a flag-protection amendment, and a campaign against legitimizing homosexuality, while doing virtually nothing to deal with actual issues such as national security, energy independence and economic growth. It's a wonderful example of why Congressional term limits are an overdue necessity, perhaps a matter of survival for our Republic.
You may feel trapped. I know I do. Commentator Bill O'Reilly has been saying for a long time that gasoline consumers are being gouged. He's had guest after guest on his show trying to make the case that gasoline is just like any other traded commodity, such as orange juice or pork bellies, and that price is a function of supply and demand.
But O'Reilly counters that, unlike gasoline, people can live without those other commodities. He asserts that gasoline consumers are a captive market, and I agree with that point of view. Virtually no one lives within walking distance or bicycling distance of their job. Many cities do not have mass transit systems that can get people where they need to be when they need to be there. We have to drive, period.
We can still fight back. Leave a few minutes earlier and drive a little slower. Those of us who drive vehicles with manual transmissions can save a great deal of fuel by coasting.
Let me provide this real-life example: I drive an older Nissan Sentra. Around town, it usually gives me about 32 miles per gallon. Not bad, right? But on my most recent tank of gas, I discovered that I could coast great distances, sometimes more than a mile at a time, going to and coming from work. Also, when I'm approaching a red light, from a quarter-mile away, I take the car out of gear and coast to a stop.
The results are astonishing. I traveled 429 miles on 9 gallons of gas. That's 48 miles per gallon, folks, a 50 percent increase over my normal fuel economy. That translates to a 33 percent reduction in my fuel cost. That's a real, serious improvement, a small behavioral change that yielded big results. Give it a try.
You may have a so-called "Flex-Fuel" vehicle and not know it. They've been made and sold in America since about 2000. Search the internet for a list of vehicles that can use either gasoline or the E85 blend of ethanol. The E85 provides a little worse fuel economy but costs much less than gasoline or 90/10 gas/ethanol.
As for Uncle Sam, well, he's still part of the problem, not the solution. He refuses to authorize drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). I recently heard someone on a news program say that the area of ANWR that would be affected by potential oil drilling is the proportional equivalent of a postage stamp on a football field, while the Alaska Pipeline is running at only about 30% of capacity. Let's get to that oil, shall we?
Much has been made recently about the environmental impact of domestic ethanol production, not to mention the effect it is having on the price of food. As farmers switch to producing non-food-grade corn to make ethanol, they are growing less eating corn and other food crops such as wheat. Voila! Food prices rise.
So Brazil wants to sell us some of their sugar cane ethanol, and what does Uncle Sam say? Thanks just the same, but we have to protect our ethanol farmers. Meanwhile, motorists and people who eat are caught in the squeeze. Thanks again, Unc.
Yeah, it's a bad situation but it isn't the end of the world. It's hard to stay calm, but take a few deep breaths and try to think logically about what you can do to conserve fuel or use alternatives. Don't forget to pester your Senators and Representative about ANWR, ethanol, and other forms of energy. Let em hear it, folks, early and often, and hang in there.