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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: "homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] Gas at $6.40 per gallon is acceptable
  • Date: Sun, 07 May 2006 09:44:37 -0500



Apparently, the water the Germans are stewing in has been increasing in temperature for so long that they don't much feel the heat. Time heals all hurts? Offered for perspective:


Abroad at the Pump, Circumspection by the Barrel

[]


By <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/mark_landler/index.html?inline=nyt-per>MARK LANDLER
Published: May 7, 2006

MUNICH

THE German mass-market newspaper Bild carried a banner headline last week complaining about all the new taxes being proposed by the government: a higher sales tax, a health care tax and a surtax on rich people.

Nowhere did it mention fuel taxes, which account for more than half of every euro spent at the gas pump. On that very day, gasoline had hit the equivalent of $6.40 a gallon. But even at today's prices, few people here are calling for gasoline taxes to be cut.

The lack of debate about gasoline prices in Europe is instructive at a time when American politicians are scrambling to soothe their angry constituents with ill-fated proposals like a $100 rebate for motorists.

It's not that Europeans like paying $6 a gallon to fill up their Fiats. Nor do they relish paying taxes; Bild warns that the new taxes being proposed could strangle <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/germany/index.html?inline=nyt-geo>Germany's economic rebound. But for now, people here seem to agree that taxing gasoline is both necessary ­ as a way to raise money to pay down their huge public debts ­ and beneficial for the environment.

So while the latest spike in fuel prices has provoked howls of anguish from many Americans, Europeans have reacted like, well, Europeans ­ with a mixture of weary resignation, halfhearted anger toward "price-gouging" oil companies and bemusement at the furor across the Atlantic.

The rest of the story is at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/weekinreview/07landler.html



  • [Homestead] Gas at $6.40 per gallon is acceptable, Gene GeRue, 05/07/2006

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