| Rhesus |
06-14-2008 10:05 AM |
My thoughts on increased gasoline prices
However 'ridiculous' the prices are and the shift of wealth from west to middle east is - prices seem not to be too high at all. As long as we can profitably import string beans from Kenya and bananas from Guatemala here in Europe, prices are simply unreasonably low. Hypocritical truck drivers have demonstrated in the past week against high diesel prices and the planned increase in fuel taxes - yet they continue driving empty trucks in 50% of the cases.
Even if it may increase my expenses, I hope oil prices will further rise to $300 or however much more it takes to spark some serious regulation and efficiency innovation. You know, I'm a frequent flyer, but I wholeheartedly welcome Continental's decrease in their Cleveland flight capacity, EasyJet's probable closure of their Dortmund base and the bankruptcy of a number of airlines this year. It's insane that I had 3 seats for myself in last Monday's Hong Kong - London flight on Air New Zealand, a flight that had a seat occupancy of less than 30%. The return was E400 including all taxes and surcharges, so there's no way ANZ made a profit on this flight. However, if flight taxes would be charged per plane instead of per passenger, this and other airlines would think more than twice about flying half-empty planes. And they're not even taxed on kerosine purchases yet!
People, organisations and governments need to feel the pain in their pockets to take action.
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