Columnist McIlheran willing to spend an extra 50 cents or so to see Franklin's Sendik's Store

I'm kind of surprised Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist  Patrick McIlheran would link back to my post entitled "Today's right wing revelation: Pursuing fuel efficiency will KILL US" with such a thin retort. I appreciate it, though. I think my post lays waste to his column's conceit, and I'm happy to get more eyeballs on it.

In his blog McIlheran keyed on my dismissal of his interpretation of the "rebound effect" in his 1/5/08 column (as "illuminated" by right wing shill Sam Kazman, general counsel for the illustrious Competitive Enterprise Institute). He talked about an excursion to Sendik's in Franklin:

I wanted to see what the posh place in Franklin had on offer. And -- here's the key -- I had it somewhere my head that gas was down to $2.85, so why not spend a little cheaper gas getting there?

Well.

I left a comment, thusly:

Michlig says:

McIlheran's self-serving "I had it somewhere my head that gas was down to $2.85, so why not spend a little cheaper gas getting there?" is utterly fabricated in service to his own loosey goosey thesis.

What's the "not driving to Sendik's today" threshold? $3.10? $3.30?

And, does PM always buy his gas on the day he makes his explore-the-suburbs decisions? PM might regret his notion to venture down Franklin way when the next fill-up is $3.11 a gallon.

Let's say gas wasn't $2.85 (evidently "cheap" in PM's world), but $3.30 instead ("expensive"?) Eight-or-so extra miles, my goodness - - that could be an additional 50 cents out of PM's pocket as a result of that crazy extravagance. (Can't even buy a BUS TICKET for that amount, by the way.)

Wait until you see what REAL expensive gas is, Mr. McIlheran. That "choo-choo train" will look pretty good around the time oil gets to $350 a barrel. 

That was easy enough.

By the way: I'm driving all the way up to Mayfair to the Apple Store today. Haven't checked the price of gas - - I'M GONNA TAKE A CHANCE!

Comments

[Mull Mott]

However, I must say, the one thing I agree with this clown on is the fact that gas taxes will work better than fuel standards. I don't care so much how efficient someone's car is if they don't use it all the time. With higher gas taxes we'll see more investment in transit and pressure will be put on developers to start building communities where walking is possible. The developers have made the problem much worse than the car manufacturers...

[John Michlig]

I wouldn't count out higher gas taxes, either. The point is, SOMETHING has to happen to wake these people up to the fact that gas is at artificially low prices now and WON'T be forever.

[Bryan Maersch]

I am glad he did not pursue the subject that the State of Wisconsin is in a panic because retail spending has gone down and the collection of sales taxes have too. This of course due to increase energy costs which have spurned higher, food, heating and other major consumer costs.