Reply #47: I've owned SUV's for ten plus years, [View All]

[datahead]

and I will have to say I've never made it to upper middle class. middle class maybe, but not upper middle class. I will say however, I now drive a small four cylinder somewhat (lol) American made car.
Being they don't make station wagons anymore, the american families really have no choice but to buy these types of cars. Now that my kids are grown and have kids of their own they have their own cars,(yes it's a SUV.) and I'm mot hauling around a ton of crap, two kids, the dog, etc, my wife and I find it very nice to get back to a small car. That being said, I will have to say that the SUV, market has gotten a little crazy. I.E. The Escalade, Navigator, and other small tanks are to me useless gas hogs and a total waist.

Earlier this week at Purdue university, they announced they have figured out how to extract hydrogen from water using aluminum alloy rods to use the hydrogen as a on demand alternate fuel. I will lay a dollar to a doughnut that the oil companies are going to sweep this under the rug so fast it will make your head spin. I had the opportunity to meet a person in the late 70's that took a standard holly carburetor on a Chevy V-8 and redesign the carb where his Chevy truck got a little under a hundred miles to the gallon of gas. He promptly sold it to the oil companies and retired. We never heard a thing about it again. Personally this is the kind of mentality, that we have to stop. There are all sorts of gadgets and research going on that we the people will never see due to big business coming along and shelving it due to the greed of the almighty dollar. Not to mention the oil companies produce just enough fuel to control the fluctuation of rising gas prices. Summer and Winter fuels my ass. Gas is gas! Those of you that think that this isn't being fueled (Pardon the pun.) by big business have their blinders on. We need to start looking at new technology, and giving grants for research in these fields, and making these new technologies available to the people. Not sweeping them under the rug until big business can make an extra buck on these technologies.

Do I have a solution? Well, First we need to monitor big business a little better. Make the management more accountable for their actions, with real jail time for CEO's and upper management, and go after the companies that are controlling the market for their personal gain. Stop the money that is pouring into the pockets of politician's from lobbyist backing these companies. But on the other hand, reward these companies for new development of alternate fuels, and cars that help the environment. Sounds easy right? I've always been somewhat of a dreamer, and I still have hope for this wonderful nation of ours. I still believe in "We the People", but Americans have to stop being sheep, and stop wondering around behind a corrupt administration (I.E. Rumsfeld, Chainey, and Rice.) that is built around big money.