When I finished skiing on Sunday, I drove down to Tahoe and saw that the Chevron at the bottom of Ski Run Blvd was selling regular unleaded, supposedly the cheap stuff, for $2.65/gallon. The stations near my house in Alameda are more reasonable at $2.35/gallon, but still far above the national average and way, way more then what I remember paying when I lived in Atlanta back in 96-97 when you could find places that would sell you a gallon for less than 90 cents.

How much is gas going for in your area?

Something needs to be done about this. Not because Americans must have cheap gas, but because the high price we're paying at the pump with its direct relationship to the record $54/barrel price is further entrenching illiberal dictatorships and oligarchies in the Middle East that our current foreign policy is trying to topple. It's not going to matter what happens in Iraq or Lebanon if oil rich states like Saudi Arabia and Iran continue to reap massive oil revenues.

Isn't it time we started a national effort to find alternative sources of fuel? Experts estimate that it's going to be a multi-trillion dollar industry not to mention the major shift in geopolitics that will occur when the demand for petroleum bottoms out or positive effects on the environment (it was over 70 degrees in Tahoe and snow was melting all over place).

It seems to me that the president has a unique opportunity to challenge the industry, the country and the world to bring about an energy revolution. But will he do it? No. Ironically he's in the pocket of the same energy companies that will benefit by being at the forefront of alternative fuel technology.

While energy companies should be pushing ahead with more experimentation, auto makers like GM are rolling back highly successful electric car programs and destroying all the EV1 vehicles. At the same time, demand for gas guzzling (and highly profitable) SUVs is shrinking in direct proportion to gas price hikes.

GM is a cornerstone of the American economy. It represents about 1% of the entire GDP. If the company's profitability goes down, it will have an adverse affect on the entire US economy. The jobs at GM are high paying. For each of these jobs at a GM factory, roughly 9 support jobs in the community are created. So if GM needs to lay off workers, it will have wide ranging ramifications around the country.

And sales isn't GMs only problem. They have massive, multi-billion dollar unfunded pension liabilities. It's so bad that the S&P is considering dropping their bond rating to junk. That would have tragic effects on the US Economy.

What the fuck does this all have to do with gas prices? GM is in trouble. Their sales are down and their fiscal situation is dire. At the same time that they should be investing heavily in alternative technology R&D, they are dumping their EV1 program. I believe if they reversed this decision and embraced electric and hybrid technology, it would stimulate other automakers across the board to do the same to keep up. This is turn would drastically lower demand for petroleum, would reduce gas prices, would eliminate the need (in the mind's of certain republican Senators and the president) to open ANWAR to drilling and would place America firmly at the forefront of one of the most promising technologies of this century.

Sorry, I went off on a bit of rant there, but I think you know what I mean.