Re: French set new rail speed record
On Apr 5, 2007, at 7:30 PM, Dennis Claxton wrote:
>
I think that’s true but sometimes I wonder how much more
expensive it would have to get.Oh, $6/gal?
Doug
I hate West Los Angeles:
Yeah, but it’s kinda fun, too, no?
>
Filling up his BMW with super unleaded at $3.39 a gallon, West Los Angeles lawyer Michael Machat said, ”I don’t think about gas prices at all,” adding, ”I guess maybe if it was $10 a gallon, I’d think about it.” — New York Times 3/30/2007
Ok, there’s your answer - $10.
With gas prices at $2.50, the median household spent about 4% of its
income on oil & gas - the bottom quintile almost 9%, the top, just
2%. Let’s just roughly double this for $5 gas - that would be
horrendous for the bottom quintile. The next one too. So if you
rebate every HH with below-median income about $800 through the
income tax system, funded by a carbon tax, you’d have a progressive
way of dealing with this. The rebates would only be a fraction of the
proceeds of a carbon tax - which I know is politically, um, difficult
- the balance of which could be used for R&D and building the trains
that Jordan hates.
Speaking of trains, maybe you won’t be able to get there quite as
quickly as by plane. Beats having water up to our ankles.
Doug