Higher mileage may not conserve oil!

The Nation's leaders are under the belief that more miles-per-gallon will
lead to conservation of oil resources. This may be a false belief.

As mpg goes up, people will drive more and as a result, consumption will
normalize to present levels. Likewise, if prices go down at the pump,
mileage will go up and again equalize.

Many people have cut back on pleasure trips; if they had thrifty cars, they
would take those Sunday drives. No matter what schemes are instituted, our
consumption will remain high and our dependence on imported oil will be
unabated.

There is some talk going 'round to bring back the 55 speed limit, believe
it or not. I'll vote for that when Air Force One, the World's biggest and
baddest SUV, has to throttle back to 55. What's good for the goose is
good for the gander.

 

<<There is some talk going 'round to bring back the 55 speed limit,
believe
it or not. I'll vote for that when Air Force One, the World's biggest
and
baddest SUV, has to throttle back to 55. What's good for the goose is

good for the gander. >>

Why do obsessively bring the damn presidential airplane into this
debate? The president, whoever it is, has to fly in a sophisticated
big airplane, the end. And they have to ride around in big armored
limos that get 2 mpg (if that) Why don't you tell us our presidents
should try to survive on flies and maggots because people are starving
in Africa?

 

Maybe because of how often he and Cheney use it to fly to nothing more
than photo-op events?

 

Because having the President on a 747 domestically is ridiculous. A
Gulfstream or at most a 737 sized aircraft would be entirely suitable.

 

I would add that my driving doesn't vary much no matter the price of
gas because gasoline is the cheapest thing you put into a vehicle.

When a female friend who had lived in NYC for five years came back out
here to the Midwest, i advised her to find a good used Town Car (sorry
mopeople), preferably the last year or two of pushrod engine ones, with
40-60K miles for the least she could find one for that had not been hit
hard or had someone die in it. She could pay cash for it and even
figuring gas at $4 a gallon it would be cheaper to drive than anything
but the cheapest possible new car. She did the math and we found a good
one for $5300 that has given her 70,000 miles with nothing but gas,
tires, oil and a brake job.

OTOH I know a guy that is doing the biodiesel thing with burger
grease. He has three diesel vehicles, a Rabbit, a 300SD Benz and an
early 60s Chevy pickup with a 3-53 Detroit. He just put $1600 into the
Benz's transmission, and the Detroit wound up costing him about six
thousand in parts, machine work and fabrication not counting the truck
itself. He spent over a grand making that first batch of fuel, and it
takes him three hours to make forty to fifty gallons each batch plus
the stench and the bother of the cnemicals involved.

 

Riiiiight.... Easy to pick on the ex oil executive, isn't it?

How about a reality check:

http://www.hernandotoday.com/MGBBVNR5LME.html

 

Hmmm... does it make sense to just use the existing world-capable planes
to fly the president, his staff, and the press entourage everywhere,
or should we the tax payers foot the bill for a SECOND fleet of smaller
planes, all of which would require multi-million dollar modifications
like the two 747s have had, and all of which would require maintenance,
spares, and the associated logistics trails because they're
fundamentally different from the 747s.... and do all that so that we
can send 3 or 4 of them across country to do the job that ONE of the
747s that we already have in the fleet could do?

Scuse me if I don't mind the president (whoever he might be...) sticking
with what we have. I don't like wasting money on stupid ideas because
aviation ign'ernt fools think that a 747 is "too big." Hell, the 707s we
had before were smaller... lets just go back to them! Nevermind that
their fuel efficiency is far LOWER.

 

Don't confuse 'em with facts.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')