Regulating Gas Prices

[Doctor_K]

they are...Ford is about to release the 2010 Fusion....and the hybrid version gets around 35mpg city...which blows away all other hybrids its size....its only beat by the Civic and Prius.

I'm so0o excited about the 2010 Fusion.  I'm hoping that it's the start of a fleet of vehicles that revitalizes Detroit.  The Hybrid Escape has also been on my 'I Want One!' list for a while now as well.  I've got a cash-stash already in progress to buy either one of those.  I can't wait.

Chevy/GM, even though it's even more tarnished than Ford, has more hybrids and fuel-efficient cars than any other carmaker.  That's their selling point, but it falls on deaf ears because it's 'Chevy'.  The Volt plug-in is going to be huge... and it'd be bigger if it was coming from Toyota.  It's all about brand equity and peoples' perception.  And then there's the Spark, and the Cruze.  All compact and very fuel-efficient for being non-Hybrids.

Honda canned the Accord Hybrid (I understand market demand, but it was still a shortsighted move, IMO), but the newly-revived Insight promises to compete effectively with the Prius.

There are more Hybrid model options now (or about to debut) than there ever have been.  I hope enough people make the smart move and go that route for their next vehicle.  In my opinion, it should be the next logical step in the evolution of the automobile. 

With all the recent innovations that have made their way into everyone's everyday car, coupled with the fact that the overall relative prices have remained steady, and people's renewed interest and vigor for models so-equipped, it just seems logical that a hybrid, in some form, becomes the norm rather than the exception.

And enough hybrids on the road (on the order of millions, not the tens of thousands as is the case now) might just help 'regulate' those gas prices.

[tufsu1]

The effects of these swings are short term.  I trust market forces to set the price of oil (I may not like the price) much, much more than a bureaucrat in the government.  Perhaps that same bureaucrat can set wage upper and lower limits so the rich don't get richer and the poor do not get poorer. 

sounds good :-)

[BridgeTroll]

Your trust of government bureaucrats to make the best decisions for you is inspiring...

[JeffreyS]

I see the biggest problem is having oil on the commodities market. I do not want to restrict buying ang selling of oil we just do not need to assist in the frenzy. Let oil producers sell to oil distributors in real market ecconomics not wall street fantasy world.