> >
> > > One reason why I think everyone's so shocked
> > >about it all even though most other countries
> > >pay more is that for decades we went along with
> > >prices at four bits a gallon, and now we're up
> > >to sixteen. Prices have quadrupled in the past
> > >thirty years, and before that it was going along
> > >nice and steady. Of course, I'm just quoting
> > >what I know, and Howard may pop up and show me
> > >wrong, and that's OK, but for now, history went
> > >the way I say it.
> >
> > I think it's all a little silly. The last time this happened, in the '70s, there was this huge 'crisis' because everyone was angry about paying so much for gas when they'd paid so little before. But then, as now, there was no actual oil "shortage". It's just a bunch of Arab guys getting together and saying "It's been awhile since we showed the world just how much they rely on us, so lets stop producing as much oil as we usually do so everyone else get's ticked again and we can make more money. But make sure we produce more just in time to keep people hooked on our oil, otherwise they may actual develop *alternative* fuels or find ways to rely less on imported oil! Oh ho-ho-ho, who are we kidding, they'll never figure that part out! Let's put the screws to them!" There's not now nor has there ever been any true "oil shortage". It's all sitting in drums in warehouses somewhere in the middle east. I'm not saying it's never going to run out, or that we shouldn't try to break our ties to foregien oil, but I *am* saying that if those darned OPEC people would just stop screwing us, we wouldn't be paying $2 a gallon any more.
> >
> > -- Dave
>
> With a little luck, this phoney gas shortage will hang around long enough to inspire the US to build a rapid transit system. We had public transportation some time ago. I remember when a trip from Hazard, Kentucky to Lexington was a choice of car, bus, or train. Now it's car, truck or SUV.
> Howard

Over here we have buses. They follow confusing routes. And we have trains. The Coaster goes down to San Diego and makes stops along the way, the MetroLink goes up to Orange County and makes stops along the way, and the Amtrak goes everywhere and makes stops along the way. We have no subway. That's an East Coast Thing. We also have taxis, but you never find any on the streets, or at least not half as easily as you do in movies about NYC. You have to call them up. I've only been in one once, and it wasn't driven by a minority member, the usual stereotype of taxi drivers; it was driven by a nice tall woman.

-eric "but yeah, we have public transportation, shoddy as it is" sleator
Tue 27 Jun A.D. 2000