More Drilling?

I  think any additional drilling for oil should be done only on the precondition that the additional supply would be offset by a decrease in demand (i.e conservation).  That way, it won’t just get pissed away on increasing domestic demand, like what happened in the mid-1980′s when a huge amount of new supply pushed prices way down and ushered in the SUV era. Read the rest of this entry »

The assault on the assault on the suburbs

Joel Kotkin is a noted scholar whose general line of thinking is counter to what loosely might be called the New Urbanism. As such he is an ideological soulmate of the WSJ editorial board. Read the rest of this entry »

Now he doesn’t like the Volt

Jenkin’s column today July 2, 2008 What is GM Thinking (currently available here) bemoans various aspects of GM’s forthcoming plug-in hybrid, the Volt. GM claims it will be available in 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

Living Like Ed

Finally, my new book. Read the rest of this entry »

Gas Guzzler Tax

Decades ago, harkening back to the oil shocks of the 1970′s, the US Congress instituted what would seem to be a reasonable idea of discouraging gas guzzlers. Vehicles below 22mpg are slapped with a special tax, usually referred to as the gas guzzler tax ( the legislation was called: The Energy Tax Act of 1978). The tax is collected by the manufacturer or importer, and is paid by the first buyer.

An economist would refer to such a tax as a disincentive to guzzling gas (actually a disincentive to producing/buying gas guzzling vehicles).

As is usual, what would seem to be a good idea is destroyed by spineless politicians and weaselly lobbyists.

Therefore, SUVs (light truck), of course, are exempt

In 2005, about 170M was collected. There are untold hundreds of millions of dollars of foregone revenue due to the SUV loophole.

Source: TRANSPORTATION ENERGY DATA BOOK: EDITION 26–2007, Tables 4.20 and 4.21
(a treasure trove of energy data. Also interesting is the studies on speed vs. mpg — generally vehicles peak around 50mph).

Wither gas tax?

Jenkin’s column, The Coming Oil Investment Boom, June 4, 2008 was really just a restating of the old maxim “the best solution for high oil prices is high oil prices”. But near the end he seems to agree with Al Gore’s idea (a revenue neutral gas tax,  offsetting payroll taxes): Read the rest of this entry »

Better late than never?

Here is some pretty stark statements coming directly from the Bush Administration. Why now, in the seventh year of his administration? Why spoil the streak? Wouldn’t a continuation of current policy — delay and denial — have worked for just these last few months of his lame duck administration? Where is Dick Cheney on this? Read the rest of this entry »

Book: Oil on the Brain

Read the rest of this entry »

Mr. Market’s Oil Fix: Higher Taxes

I am soooo dissapointed with McCain for the the gas tax holiday thing. Read the rest of this entry »

Euros and euros

The WSJ editorializes (The Fed’s Bender, Wall Street Journal: Apr 28, 2008) the fall in the value of the dollar as nothing more than poor monetary policy on the part of the Federal Reserve. They point out an interesting comparison between the price of oil in dollars versus euros since 2003. Read the rest of this entry »