Has the rising price of fuel given the lie to 'green taxes'?

Question

The forcing of some people to use less due to putting own transport beyond reach does not help the environment.

The drive now is to increase the flow of oil and gas to bring down prices.

This will actually increase exploration activity and eventually lead to increased consumption.

The global demand for oil to lift people out of poverty will never allow a true environmental approach, but supplies an excellent excuse for politicians to raise funds to waste.

Answer 1

"Green taxes?"  As in higher gas taxes will curb demand and use of gas?  If anything, higher gas prices have only proved the point.

Every day I see stories about more people taking transit or car pooling, and buying more fuel efficient cars.

Gasoline use has actually declined lately, instead of growing.

Answer 2

Looks like it has.

The UK Government is currently in ‘plate-spinning’ mode and unfortunately a lot of those plates are slowing down and really beginning to wobble badly.

Gordon Brown is being left to rush up and down the line of sticks and jiggle the sticks a bit and then rush to something else.

Today he slipped back into Chancellor of the Exchequer mode and economics mode – i.e. it’s a matter of supply and demand basic economics says if the price is high increase supply and the unit price will come down.

He’s Cabinet are remarkably quiet – probably sharpening their steely knives.

Although I now see that the real Chancellor has now made an announcement

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/itn/20080528/tu...

Which doesn’t really help the situation at all – confusion reigns.

Somebody used the expression in the Politics section that the Government are ‘Shooting from the lip’ (I wish I’d thought of that – I really do) and that seems to be the case.

Statements are being made without thought to ‘green issues’ or any other related issues and the we are seeing the results of ‘panic management’. We’ve got to say something. Anything!

Brown made an announcement today about Britain and cluster bombs today

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/200805...

but it really got lost in all the other news.

Other news that they probably were pleased that it was ‘buried’ is that 550 prisoners are going to be released early over the next 14 months!

Recently I asked a asked a question

“What will the government want us to worry about next?”

We ended up with quite a list:-

Shortage of Oil and Oil Prices

Northern Rock

Knife Crime

Overcrowding of Prisons

Funding of the care of the Elderly in 20 years time

Bird Flu

Foot and Mouth

Threat of Terrorism

BSE

Housing Shortages

Significant Flooding in the UK

Carbon Footprints

Waste Management and Recycling

Immigration legal and Illegal (Sorry this has now been renamed the Issue of Migration)

Fines that will be payable to the EU for not implementing the laws that we have allowed them to impose upon us.

Blue tongue virus

Iran

Iraq

Rising Food Prices

Credit Crunch

Pandemic Flu

NHS Reform

Education and Exam Changes

That’s 20+ plates wobbling on sticks.

Keep on jiggling on those sticks Gordon!

I can hear the voice in No10 tomorrow morning

“Darling, come into my office – what the bl**dy h**l have you said now!