This is correct. I have spent considerable time in Canada over the last several years (my wife is Canadian and we summer there, usually)... and their energy taxes ARE higher.
There are a LOT of prices in our market that are subsidized (and have been for decades). The most subsidized price is likely the price of oil. A lot of agriculture is also subsidized.
Why do you think so much attention has been paid to the Middle East over the last several decades? Why do you think so many people went into panic mode back in the 80s when OPEC decided to flex their muscles and when the Shah got overthrown. We spend tens/hundreds of billions in tax dollars every year so that people pay a bit less at the pump... because you notice the price of gas more than you notice how much you pay in taxes. It has more direct and immediate impact.
When I was young, it was extremely hard to get credit. Very few people has credit cards or credit accounts. It took some effort to build a record to qualify.
Believe it or not, that was a good thing. It meant that people saved money up to buy things. People paid more attention to prices. People lived more often within their actual means--and they were not in debt.
Easy credit was a bonanza for the financial services industry. It has shifted a lot of wealth out of the lower and middle classes to the upper classes. It is also what makes our consumer culture/economy work despite the loss of a lot of good paying jobs.
Credit helps to mask the essential poverty of many people (until you actually run out of credit, anyway). It turns you into even more of a wage slave--because now you owe money and that paycheck has to keep coming.
Freedom is NOT just a political thing, there is a VERY large economic component to it--and most people are NOT nearly as free as they think they are based upon a reading of the law and the Constitution.
In my opinion, the wealthy and corporations are just as much of a danger, if not more, to freedom and liberty as the government is--we have just be trained NOT to see it that way.
1000% Shit, we even subsidize the denial of climate change. Ever see how much money FEMA gives to people to rebuild properties that got wrecked by hurricanes on a coast that's going underwater? All of New Orleans is effectively subsidized by FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers. FEMA shells out money for people living in flood zones with artificially-lowered homeowners insurance because the gov will come in and pay off the damages. Home owners insurance--especially on the SE coastline--ought to be MUCH higher than they currently are and property values there should be much lower based on the inherent and growing risk.
I live not too far outside of Las Vegas. The only reason that Vegas is the size it is is because of Hoover Dam. Local conditions otherwise would not support a large city in the middle of a desert, not close to an ocean.
Too bad that when they figured the water allotments from the dam that they were in the midst of a wet cycle and they came up with unsustainable numbers. California agriculture is going to be hurting at some point, too, as a lot of water goes to California. The reservoir is slowly emptying out. Lately they have started to find things and bodies that people dumped out there to hide them, the water has gotten so low.
There's a reason I live where the Colorado River Basin begins. Water agreements aren't federal, they are pacts between states from the 1800's. When the SW goes dry I won't have a parched mouth.
Historically, our fuel prices have typically been LOWER than our peer countries. Gas stations around the world sell by the liter, not the gallon.
This is correct. I have spent considerable time in Canada over the last several years (my wife is Canadian and we summer there, usually)... and their energy taxes ARE higher.
There are a LOT of prices in our market that are subsidized (and have been for decades). The most subsidized price is likely the price of oil. A lot of agriculture is also subsidized.
Why do you think so much attention has been paid to the Middle East over the last several decades? Why do you think so many people went into panic mode back in the 80s when OPEC decided to flex their muscles and when the Shah got overthrown. We spend tens/hundreds of billions in tax dollars every year so that people pay a bit less at the pump... because you notice the price of gas more than you notice how much you pay in taxes. It has more direct and immediate impact.
When I was young, it was extremely hard to get credit. Very few people has credit cards or credit accounts. It took some effort to build a record to qualify.
Believe it or not, that was a good thing. It meant that people saved money up to buy things. People paid more attention to prices. People lived more often within their actual means--and they were not in debt.
Easy credit was a bonanza for the financial services industry. It has shifted a lot of wealth out of the lower and middle classes to the upper classes. It is also what makes our consumer culture/economy work despite the loss of a lot of good paying jobs.
Credit helps to mask the essential poverty of many people (until you actually run out of credit, anyway). It turns you into even more of a wage slave--because now you owe money and that paycheck has to keep coming.
Freedom is NOT just a political thing, there is a VERY large economic component to it--and most people are NOT nearly as free as they think they are based upon a reading of the law and the Constitution.
In my opinion, the wealthy and corporations are just as much of a danger, if not more, to freedom and liberty as the government is--we have just be trained NOT to see it that way.
1000% Shit, we even subsidize the denial of climate change. Ever see how much money FEMA gives to people to rebuild properties that got wrecked by hurricanes on a coast that's going underwater? All of New Orleans is effectively subsidized by FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers. FEMA shells out money for people living in flood zones with artificially-lowered homeowners insurance because the gov will come in and pay off the damages. Home owners insurance--especially on the SE coastline--ought to be MUCH higher than they currently are and property values there should be much lower based on the inherent and growing risk.
I live not too far outside of Las Vegas. The only reason that Vegas is the size it is is because of Hoover Dam. Local conditions otherwise would not support a large city in the middle of a desert, not close to an ocean.
Too bad that when they figured the water allotments from the dam that they were in the midst of a wet cycle and they came up with unsustainable numbers. California agriculture is going to be hurting at some point, too, as a lot of water goes to California. The reservoir is slowly emptying out. Lately they have started to find things and bodies that people dumped out there to hide them, the water has gotten so low.
There's a reason I live where the Colorado River Basin begins. Water agreements aren't federal, they are pacts between states from the 1800's. When the SW goes dry I won't have a parched mouth.
And their gas taxes are higher, if I'm remembering correctly.