Scream if you want to, but it's not very grown up

In response to Haveadrink's comments to my previous unsympathetic post.

People, by their very nature, hate change. Just because Europe is $6.50 per gallon, that is mutually exclusive to what we are experiencing in the states. We whined when it went to $1.80 and now we are going to scream as it hovers at $3.00. Why do we scream? Because we can!

Alright, our fuel prices are going up, too. And that's going to drive up the price of everything. And I have to admit that I don't like it, and I also am a little concerned about how price shocks will affect the global economy.

And I do understand that our price moves from $5 to $6.50 (this is a pretty standard commodity if ever there was one) are less shocking in a way than $1.50 to $3 and do have less of an emotional impact. And like I said, it's probably more than $6.50 here now

But folks in the US are like children screaming for a sugar fix. Adults can scream, too, but it's not very grown up. The answer is to reduce demand. And that's something individuals can do. Most people could use less fuel.

For years, I have been shaking my head over how it seems that everybody in the US just has to have an SUV. You don't. My mom and her husband have one each. I can't believe for a second there's a genuine need for that. They don't use them for utility and rarely use them for sport. In fact, they have an old pickup that they use for utilty (hauling things). Cause it wouldn't do to put dirty things in a utility vehicle. (Sorry, VolMom, but I've told you this before.)

Our high fuel prices were high because of taxes. And because our prices are so high, people in Europe are actually implementing alternatives, public transportation, alternative fuels, etc. The US is the richest, most resourceful country in the world, there's nothing to stop you from doing the same, except that the US appears from here to be rapidly shifting to a "me only, ownership" society to the exclusion of all else. Most of that $6.50 a gallon we pay is tax. In Tennessee it's something like 20 cents (hey, I just noticed we have no cents key!), so it really galls me that people are calling for a rebate on that. Shame.

Addendum:
Hmm. I realise that I might be sounding like some kind of dippy, hippy green-party-voting vegan environmentalist. I'm not. I'm actually quite moderate on environmental issues.