Higher!

I filled up my car with gas this week and it cost me $65.  That’s kind of a lot of money.   I think that because I’m used to paying more like $50.   Gas prices are interesting.   They seem to get a lot of attention.   It must be a huge burden on lower income Americans to have gas prices so high.  I’m going to take a bit of an unpopular opinion here though.   I say if gas prices are too high for you, QUIT DRIVING. 

I’ve watched gas prices get this high before.   I’ve watched them climb here again recently.  As much as I can tell though, the roads are just as crowded as ever, maybe even more so.   I wish gas prices would get higher.  I’d like to see them go high enough that people can’t drive places.   I would like to see them at the point that Soccer Mom really has to consider whether she can afford to drive that Suburban.   I would like them to be so painful that people actually have to walk places, or God forbid, take public transportation.  Most of all I would like them to be so high that we can’t cheaply transport goods thus putting the mega-stores (Walmart, Super Target, etc.) out of business in favor of small local stores.   (The kind with small parking lots)

What would this do to the economy?   It would seriously mess it up.  It would be quite painful for a while.   The economy would have to rebuild itself with more bicycle dealers and fewer gas stations, or would it?   Maybe if gas prices got too high it would finally become viable to build an electric car.   Maybe even a hydrogen fuel cell car.   Oh, it’s a silly dream; I know, but I like to dream it anyway.