this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2026
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Climate
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I think the logic is that ridiculous gas prices will encourage people to reduce consumption on their own. But the reality is nobody really has a choice but to use at the same rate and simply pay, so the boosted fuel cost doesn't curb demand and is no different than the toilet paper profiteering during the pandemic. Either way, it's looking to be about time for the US to cut Iran a sweetheart deal to fix their colossal fuck up.
There are things that can be done to curb demand without cutting travel itself, like lowering speed limits for fossil cars.
But the right wing political machine runs on the opinion that stuff like that is all left-wing, and that right-wing means unlimited cheap gasoline.
"Reality has a well-known liberal bias" and all that
Higher gas prices should promote more conservative driving habits as well, but they don't. People don't drive the speed limits now, they won't slow down to save money, and they make automated enforcement a political liability, ensuring anyone who tries to rein them in gets the boot. Will sure be interesting if they completely run out, but just like the band continued to play while the Titanic went down, it's going to be business as usual here until reality slaps us in the face.
EV owners were derided for driving "slowly" (within the speed limit!) to save power and not have worries about charging, so we do know that car owners will actually do stuff like that once they're actually concerned. Fossil fuels still seem to be cheap enough that people don't, though.
I am not sure that rational choices by EV drivers can be generalized to the population as a whole. Consider the "roll coal" tinky winkies.
yeah cuz the lobby worked so well to fight trains in cities as well as cross country. i was working a job in a city 3 hours from my city for 6 months. i drove home on the weekends to have family time. i had to waste 6 hours of my weekend driving to and from instead of just hopping a train and taking a nap or reading piefed or just looking out the window enjoying the view.
fuck the oil lobby. they ruined a lot of things that could have been great for us in the make of money.
In the UK prices have barely moved
Do you just have the nicest oil and gas companies in the world who wouldn't dream of profiteering in the name of curbing demand during a global shortage, or are you already jacked up to the point that an increase would cause a revolt?
No idea, it isn't something I buy so haven't paid a huge amount of attention to it tbh