Politics Full Concern Environment, Related Oil Auto

¶ … politics full concern environment, related oil auto industry. There a number ethical considerations arise issues. Please answer questions: Some propose concerns alleviated cars limited increased gasoline taxes-- gas expensive,, a beneficial -product, improve environment.

Gas tax

Raising the price of fuel does appear to cut down on the amount of miles consumers drive. Even the CEO of General Motors has said: "People will start buying more Cruzes and they will start buying less Suburbans" with a higher gas tax (Blanco 2010). In Europe, for example, consumers are far more apt to use public transportation because of the high price of gas. High gas prices encourage consumers to purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles. The demand for hybrids increased as the price of gas increased. However, because gas, much like food, is a necessity for most consumers, a tax upon gas is disproportionately shouldered by the poor. Members of the poorer and working classes pay a larger percentage of their income for basic consumer goods like fuel. Thus, while wealthy members of society are less affected by an increase in gas prices because it takes up a smaller percentage of their income, when the price of gas goes up, poorer people can spend less money on other goods and services.

Increases in the price of gas also cause prices to increase overall, given that retailers must pass the additional costs of shipping over to the consumer, once again straining the income of the poor. Poorer consumers are also more likely to drive used cars, which tend to be more fuel inefficient since they were manufactured before hybrid technology and other fuel efficiency innovations were instituted. They thus also get fewer miles per gallon than a consumer wealthy enough to buy a new hybrid SUV. One possible solution would be to make public transportation more affordable -- however, this is not a feasible option in all areas, given the cost of adding to the nation's transportation infrastructure, and America is a much larger and more sprawling area than Europe. It will be many years before public transportation is as convenient and reliable as car ownership, and until then high gas taxes will be more onerous for the poor. From a utilitarian point-of-view, given the dependency of the public on low fuel costs to remain economically solvent, and the need to keep costs low to stimulate the consumer economy, higher gas taxes would have an overall deleterious effect upon the quality of individual's lives.

Q2: The ethics of banning Hummers

It is perfectly ethical to ban the construction of fuel inefficient cars. The U.S. government bans products from being manufactured at in almost every consumer sector. Illegal drugs and many powerful prescription drugs are not allowed to be sold on the open market. Nor are unsafe products that can harm consumers. Pesticides have been banned because the potential benefits they offer in terms of insect control are simply not great enough to justify the amount of damage they do to the environment. So have certain ingredients and industrial chemicals that may be harmful to human health. Consumers cannot assume certain risks just because they want to, because the laws of our society take into consideration the collective good. What is defined as a 'legal good' depends upon its effects upon society as well as upon the individual. As a matter of principle, the U.S. has banned products and limited personal and corporate liberties when their negative social impact is so extreme. Given the level of harm that large, gas-guzzling vehicles generate to the environment as well as the dangers they pose upon the open road, the U.S. is justified in banning them as a matter of principle.

Q3. The developing world