$5.00 Per Gallon

That is just the rolling price per gallon difference between the gas pumps on Fannin Street in Houston, Texas and Rue Manin in Paris, France as of a particular time last week.

The other difference, of course, is that Fannin Street, though very busy with traffic due to the holiday season, is remarkably quiet compared to what it had been like in Paris lately from demonstrations brought on by the proposed new taxes on gasoline. Pres. Macron had since made an effort to back track from that and made a speech to appease the unrest. The so called "yellow vest protests" marked by tear gas bombs, burning  cars and vandalism of commercial  establishments seem to be just one of the symptoms that ail France and much of Europe. But we all have problems.  The U.S. is not exempt, except that gas prices has not been in people's minds as it used to. 

So, let's stay within the issue of gas prices and the things associated with it. Politics and political divisions are much too intractable and they will always be here for the foreseeable future, if not forever. We'll stay out of it although gas prices almost always get linked to the world of oil and oil production that leads to the environment; the environment to climate change; and before we know it, the issues are right exactly at the doorstep of  the halls of Congress. So we'll try to stay clear of the political components, as futile as that can be.

If I understand it correctly, the new tax was for funding eco-friendly projects and the carbon tax is a way to reduce carbon emissions by curbing demand which is really a backdoor way to help comply with the country's obligation towards cleaner air and responsibility to the environment. Those are lofty ideals that seem to backfire at a huge cost to tourism in particular and to the French economy in general

I was watching the French Ambassador respond to the issue of the protests in an interview this evening. He quoted one of the protesters' remarks that was much too eloquently expressed with the simplicity of thought that could only come from the philosophy of a simple man. The man said, "We too are concerned with the end of the world but what we are most concerned  with right now is the end of the  month".  

President Macron in his speech alluded to the fact that, though not in so many words,  he had overlooked the concerns and issues of the people with regards to the proposed tax hike on gasoline. His detractors  accused him of being out of touch with the realities of the French economy. As a concession he is increasing minimum wage and a year end bonus for the people.

We must wonder where the disconnect comes from. Actually, the man two paragraphs above said it best without him realizing that perhaps that is exactly where the gap resides. Indeed it could be a matter of residential locations of people living on one affluent side of the cultural and social tracks opposite to those who come from the middle to lower middle class side. There are the politicians and their supporters from the elitist crowd in their fund raising parties for environmental awareness, listening to speeches and presentations on the ailing planet  and the pressing concerns for climate change. The disconnect could be that those least affected by rising gas prices are the ones dictating the agenda that affect those with very little cushion in their incomes to absorb the costs of clean air and reduced carbon emissions.

The man is right. The end of the world to him is lopsidedly distant when set to a timeline that could be a mere few days to the end of the month where his budget could quickly turn vermilion red versus the green promises to hold off a global catastrophe a hundred, a thousand years from when he retires.

Speaking of that kind of timeline, we are now being told a different story, after a few convincing arguments that in our distant histories the world had been visited by global cooling and warming in alternating cycles that was free from human intervention. We are now told that present human activities are hastening the return of the warming cycle from the last ice age 12,000 years ago to just a few hundred years instead of a few thousand. The point the man on the street was telling us makes more sense because his worries are real and immediate versus projections that are far less reliable or arguably controversial.

The "greeners" - there, we just invented a new word - are defending the actions or inaction of their celebrity proponents and supporters as  individual exceptions because the bigger culprit are lose regulations over and abuses by the big corporations, namely oil and energy producers and industrial/commercial fuel consumers. You see, Al Gore's 10,000 square foot home that produces ten or more times the average home's carbon emissions or the biggest carbon-footprint per capita private jets used by the likes of DiCarpio and attendees to climate conferences around the world are exempt because they are doing a greater service. It does not matter that the lower middle and bottom-scraping lower classes are the ones severely affected by tax hikes on fuel, because in the end it will mean lower consumption of hydrocarbons, ergo lower carbon emissions.

One TV guest, a self-described environmental activist, even went on so far as to say that, "yes electric planes are possible and are in our future". This was after declaring those taking opposite views to hers as ignorant climate deniers.That seems to be the extent of their arguments - demonizing opposing views or espouse dreamy all electric wishful thoughts. Notice that much of their arguments are focused on belittling the intellect of  those who present alternative views but when they make claims about electric planes the media is silent. Now, let's look at electric planes. So, assuming there are big enough electric motors and really, really super light batteries, how far and how fast will they go? And don't forget this idea will take us back to the age of propeller air crafts. Jet engine works only with direct fuel/air combustion at high compression ratios for jet propulsion. Where is the intellect that can discern the difference between camera-toting little drones and Amazon's pie in the sky dream of drone-delivered packages and 400-passenger-carrying airliners?

Or, was the idea of converting to all electric vehicles given much thought that all those vehicles will get charged overnight  by electric plant generators that today mostly burn fossil fuels? Remember, the same environmentalist groups don't want nuclear plants either. All the electric charging will be done at night so solar is out of the question and wind is more erratic than siroccos and trade winds of summer. If only 25-50% of cars are electric today, there is not enough electricity to go around at night, so rolling power outage shall be the norm. And will governments continue to subsidize electric car manufacturers or rebates to every electric car sales?

Let us not forget that the green projects Spain went into ended in near economic disaster for that country.  The French apparently have not learned from their southern neighbor.

The bottom line is that the financial burden is heaviest on ordinary people while accolades and feel good results  sprinkled over smoked salmon and fine wine to people who drive the agenda on climate change -  completely detached from the realities of paycheck-to-paycheck workers.

There is enough to ponder there.