Gas

The top story in the news today is the high price of gasoline, and what the voters want the government to do about it.  Some people say that there is price gouging going on, others disagree. Some say that the run-up in oil and gas prices is cyclical and unavoidable, like fluctuations in the stock market, others say the greedy oil companies are to blame for the current spike in prices.

Today the President has taken a small step toward easing the tension by suspending deliveries to the nation's strategic petroleum reserves. That brought oil prices down a smidgen, but a barrel of crude is still well above $72.

The fact is simply this: we could and should years ago have foreseen what is happening today, and our leaders could have started a program to temper our reliance on fossil fuels by developing alternative sources of fuel.  We are the only country to have the know-how to send men to the moon, so why is it so difficult to get our scientists to figure out other economical means to propel our economy?  

Brazil has never sent anyone to the moon (as yet, though there is one Brazilian astronaut up there in space), but there are now more Brazilian cars running on 'flex-fuel' (a combination of ethanol and gasoline) than on straight gasoline.

If the Brazilians can do it, how about us?

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