Administration keeps talking about the high gas prices in Britain.

[NativeTexan]

The Bush Administration, when confronted with high gas prices in the U.S., loves to trot out the fact that British citizens are paying around $6.40 per gallon, and the fact that we complain about $3.00 per gallon on this side of the pond.

But what they know, but don't ever mention, is that in England, just under 70% of the pump price, or about $4.00 of that pump price, is TAXES which go right back to the government. Not only that, but lower taxes in other areas of life, pretty well balance it out. The reason? For the most part it is to cut back on consumption. That is why Britain requires much higher mpg (or is it kpg) ratings on their vehicles. Thus you have the mini-Cooper, among others.

In America, the excess that WE are paying, doesn't go toward raising standards, or lowering consumption. It goes right in the pockets of the oil companies, which including the immense tax breaks given to them by TWO OIL MEN IN THE WHITE HOUSE, are showing RECORD PROFITS while, once again, the middle class has to carry the cost of putting the oil execs kids thru Ivy League Schools, and bearing the cost of a Republican war of choice that was supposed to be paid for by the sale of Iraqi oil, not to mention all those tax breaks given to the upper 1% of American taxpayers.

Just a thought.

[Windy]

1. Its to help fund their national health care!

Unfortunately, most americans don't know that!

[Cha]

9. I didn't know that..

THanks!

[bbernardini]

2. They also fail to mention the mass transit system...

Which, in Europe in general, is far superior to that in the US.

[Rob H.]

3. 3 bucks a gallon wouldn't be so hard to take

..if the goddamned head of ExxonMobil didn't just get a retirement package valued at $400,000,000. :grr:

[BlueJazz]

4. Yep..I had the same conversation with my Right-Wing Neighbor.

After I pointed out that their (Europe's) profits go for health care and transportation,
he smugly pointed out Americans should buy insurance.
I ripped into him and tore him a new as*hole...ending my rant with..
"Damn-it!, I DO have Insurance and I STILL have to Fucking pay 40 bucks for each visit".

[NativeTexan]

5. My kind of guy, jazz.....

.....*out the "s" and leave the whold f-word...gotta love it!!

Oh, and I would have done the same damn thing!!

[BlueJazz]

10. Ha!..I just noticed that. Take a Guess who is Bi-Polar??

:)

[TheFarseer]

6. my parents are paying almost $600/mo for health insurance

I asked my dad if he seriously thought it would take that much in tax money from him per month to pay for national health care. Faced with that, he had no choice but to agree with me. When you break it down so people are just looking at the numbers and not listening to rhetoric, it's easy to convert them.

[Deja Q]

13. Mine pay over $1000/mo

Pre-existing conditions and all that other garbage.

[Deja Q]

12. Wish the rethug he gets into that situation.

I think there's a Biblical phrase that says the same thing, as means for one to empathise, grow the fuck up, and be nice to other people instead of selfish.

But that's the Bible; a piece of fiction as worthless as all the others these days.

Don't call me a heathen; I don't pass laws or put food on my family.

[mntleo2]

7. Also

Subject: Also...
Message:
From what I hear they, and most of Europe, are geared toward other modes of transportation. They are not forced to travel 100 miles to work each day by car, they have invested in public transportation that actually gets you places for a reasonable price, and neighborhoods are actually neighborhoods ~ so I have heard, though I have never been there. From what I understand, it is common to live, work, and market within walking or biking distance. we Americans do not have such convenience.

Once I worked a McJob that did not end until 10:30 at night. I had 2 small children in daycare, and night care is not easy to find. I had to drive because public transportation ended at 2:00 AM and I could not get to the daycare, 12 miles from my work and 15 miles from my home, in time to get home (buses are also 1 hour apart). And this is an a metropolitan area. Plus the poor kids had to get up to catch the bus to school by 7:30 AM and a bus ride would have not been good for them. 1/4 of my salary in childcare and did qualify for a small subsidy and rent took most of the rest ~ but I made too much for food stamps, doncha know. As a single mother it was a nightmare.

Americans need to face the truth about thier gullibilty and stupidity. Maybe if they did they would learn something and not be this stupid again, but I do not hold out much hope for that. The truth is we have not invested in the types of transportation that actually transport people efficiently. We have wasted our tax dollars on subsidizing oil companies who now have us by the short hairs. The CEO can get away with billion dollar golden parachutes and our legislators, who should have been working on this 30 years ago, merely shrug their shoulders and say, "What can be done???" It is not as if Jimmy Carter, way back in the 1970s, did not try to educate us as to what needed to be done. But the very first thing that bastard Reagan did was remove the solar panels Carter had put in for the WH. That should have told Americans something right there, but n-o-o-o. They went out and bought big SUVs and pretended Carter was full of crap, oh but now they are crying. Americans are stoopid sometimes, and it did not take a rocket scientist to see what was coming. I would count myself among the gullible, but I was not and have tried to be as "green" as I could all those years. I saw it and I am just a poor dumb white woman who has little patience anymore with idiots in suits who don't have a clue but think they do. They make policy that is harmful for the very people they are supposed to represent.

Sometimes, I hate them all.

Cat In Seattle

[Cha]

8. Yeah, that's a talking point

a bo listener said to me the other day at the co-op. I said .."they were always ahead of us in high gas prices and that doesn't make it any easier for our budgets."

[Jacobin]

11. Um, they have public transportation

A car is not a necessity by any means in Britain.

[NativeTexan]

14. In London. Try to get around from village to village....

[tenshi816]

15. Depends on where you live.

Public transportation isn't always very good outside major metropolitan areas. I use the train a lot and am a huge fan of public transport, but having a vehicle is a necessity for me and for most people who don't live in built up areas. I put less than 4,000 miles a year on mine, but still need it to get into town - I live miles from the nearest supermarket, for instance, and no train will get me to it. I literally don't know anyone without a vehicle.

Also, the few trains that do come into my town only run every half hour during peak times, and once an hour off-peak and weekends, and that's not something that's unique to the area where I live. It's one of the reasons so many people still use their cars to commute to work.

It's still better than most of the US, absolutely, but don't take it for granted that everyone in the UK has convenient access to public transportation.

Edit: typo