The rising gas prices have finally forced major changes in the cars that the car makers make and in the kind of cars that Americans are buying. One way to look at it is, It’s about time.

For those of us who were around in the 70′s and remember the Arab Oil Embargo which caused long lines at the gas stations, lots of Out Of Gas Signs and only being able to get gas on either even or odd days, all that is left to say is We Were Warned. Back then people had to conserve gas and the speed limits were lowered nation wide to 55 mph.

But alas when the supply was restored Americans soon laughed it off and we went right back to our energy wasting habits. The car makers made it easy for us to by making big gas guzzling vehicles and aggressively marketing them because of the huge profit they made on big 4wd pickups and suv’s, much more then they could make on small fuel conserving cars. Guess what folks! We went for it!

Also ponder this thought. One of the reasons the price of fuel is so high is the huge demand created for it in China. We fueled that huge demand by buying all of the sweat shop labor produced goods that China ships over here.

It seems that the American desire for Bling goes way beyond the rings and gold jewelry that some folks like to flash but extends to the type of vehicle they will buy also. These big gas guzzlers are more of a so called status symbol then a necessity.

It is time to get real folks and purchase the kinds of vehicles that can get one from point A to point B on the least amount of gas and keep you warm or cool while doing it.

In Europe where they have had to deal with high petrol prices for a long time they are laughing at us spoiled Americans that are now having to pay around 4 bucks per gallon because they were there a long time ago.

It is a shame that it took this price increase to motivate us to conserve fuel but now that it has let’s not be fooled again if gas prices drop (not likely) and go right back to our foolish ways.

The bright side of all this is it is helping in a small way to perhaps cleaner air (less fossil fuels burned). Anouther plus is more folks using mass transit which by far is the most fuel efficient way to move large amounts of people from place to place.

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