From: bense@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Ron Bense)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: H. Ross Perot's proposed gas tax
Date: 8 Oct 92 12:42:52 GMT
Reply-To: bense@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Ronald Bense)
Organization: Carderock Division, NSWC, Bethesda, MD

In rec.autos.driving, c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com (Spiros Triantafyllopoulos) writes:
>In article <26129@oasys.dt.navy.mil> bense@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Ronald Bense) wri
>tes:

>Your choice of employment and environment. Mine is where $1500 a month
>buys you a brand new $250,000 3000 sq ft home, some of the top schools
>in the country, excellent health care/shopping/activities, and virtually
>no crime (for now :-)).

Not really. I don't have a choice, as my particular field is into serious
lay-offs at the moment, all over the country. (I'm a structural engineer
in the composites design area. Try to find a job listing for one of
those.) Yes, granted, I could get a job in another field elsewhere,
but the drop in income would leave as bad off or worse than now. And
$200,000 might buy you a 2000 sq ft town house around here, and that
is even 25-30 miles outside the city. (You can actually find some for
$150k, with less than 1700 sq ft.)

>Cars give you (or me) the choice to live wherever you want and still work

Well, depends. Do you want to drive in excess of 50 miles one way to
work, live out in the real sticks (even the closer in sticks are high
priced) or pay twice as much in property and income taxes? (Those are
the choices around here, you can buy a little cheaper house, but then
they rape you for taxes, as you're in a different state.) Oh, and for
the pleasure of that 50 mile drive (hah, try stop and go, bumper to
bumper) you really need to leave at 5 or so in the morning to get to
work, and expect to get home no earlier than 4:30 or so in the afternoon.
You can't make the city (or any "urban" type environment with real theatres
and restaurants) without making the same trip. Kind of cuts down on
everything but existing for work and driving, doesn't it? Not a pleasant
alternative, thank you.

>wherever we want, by having to drive more. I don't think of cost in that
>sense. I see it as the cost to me and my family if I end up living in
>a dinky neighborhood. Adding an arbitrary gas tax will NOT convince me
>or my kind to move closer to where we work. It will only convince me to do
>away with many non necessary purchases, thus reducing my overall spending
>and contributions to economy (reduced disposable income).
>
>Adding an arbitrary gas tax (regressive to lower incomes) will only
>make it harder for them to find good paying jobs and justifying going on
>welfare/not working/not producing/taking less paying jobs closer to where
>they live as opposed to where they can earn more. Again what you have
>is a drop in disposable income. The difference between the paragraph
>above and this one is that for me, more money for gas means less money
>for movies/sweaters/lobsters. For the second paragraph, you are free to
>help them with their budgets.
>
>Spiros
>--
>Spiros Triantafyllopoulos                    c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com
>Software Technology, Delco Electronics       striantafyll@kosds1.gm.hac.com
>GM Hughes Electronics, Kokomo, IN 46904      [A Different Kind of Disclaimer]

Ron                          Think about this one (seen on a bumper sticker):
			     The road to hell is bumper-to-bumper
			     Make a U-turn to God.
The irony is priceless.