Pigs are flying: GM CEO wants $1 added to gas tax

Posting this using Chrome's new Blogger publisher extension, which is pretty nifty. You click a button, and it automatically creates a post, title and link to the story. Here's the link to the story:

GM CEO Calls for $1 Gas Tax Increase in the United States | Inhabitat

The article itself is well worth the read. GM's CEO calling for an additional $1 in gas taxes is a huge sea change in the Detroit modus operandi. He knows the days of Venti Super SUVs with extra cream and sugar are no longer acceptable to most Americans, and to their credit they're adapting. An extra $1 gas tax would force that adaptation to be much, much quicker.

GM's CEO says it's the best way to push fuel-efficient cars into America -- and if history tells us anything, he's probably right. Much higher gas taxes is one of the biggest reasons why cars in Europe are much more gas friendly. Gas in this country is still low compared to most European countries, and our slate of nice, fuel efficient cars in this country is still much more paltry.

Plus, the extra $1 could do a load of wonders for our quickly-eroding infrastructure -- one of the most pressing, long-term problems this country faces in our battle to stay competitive in the world at large. We are badly falling behind, which means we're less competitive, which means fewer jobs.

Now, no one could deny making this transition would be painful. I know that more than most, both for having commutes that have been as long as an hour and a half, and for being the prototypical, under-water-from-college-loans 20 something, where higher gas prices means fewer occasions to go out and do something. But forcing myself to be more conscious about my driving habits would be a small price to pay for an extra $1 per gallon going into this country's infrastructure, and all the benefits that would come with it.