Gas prices

Monday, June 30, 2008

For the past few weeks I have heard all of these ways to help ease the pain at the pump. Things ranging from a gas tax "holiday" to off-shore oil drilling along the continental shelf. Now I have already talked about the gas tax thing, and with off shore drilling it wouldnt help things NOW and would only be a very temporary solution. I got to thinking that there IS something that could be done to affect gas prices AND demand all at once.
The President of the United States has the authority to issue executive decisions/orders that take effect immediately (invasion of Iraq, airstrikes, the early days of the US involvment in the Kosovo War). Now my idea involves two executive orders. One of these would put a restriction on the maximum amount that we can be charged per gallon of gas, say at $3.00. The other would require that ALL U.S. automakers begin to make at least 2 hybrids and begin production on them immediately. Now I know some people will say this is overreaching of the government and I admit it is a desperate measure but these are desperate times and only drastic measures will make any real impact NOW. The automakers won't make major changes until they ABSOLUTELY have too and oil companies won't cut their prices in a million years. Every U.S. automaker has the technology to make a hybrid and all it would take is a few modifications to an existing design. For example, rather than completely design new cars, Ford could take the focus and taurus (their best fuel milage vehicles) and convert them into hybrids by just adding batteries, electric motor, and the associated wiring. They save money by not paying a desing team to make a whole new car, and they drastically icrease the appeal of their vehicles.

Now what is so hard about that?