I believe high oil prices will bring us many unexpected blessings, even though there will also be pain and suffering. Remember what I have written before - you don't always know whether an event is "bad" or "good" - so don't worry.for every 10 percent increase in gas prices there was a 2.3 percent decline in auto deaths. For drivers ages 15 to 17, the decline was 6 percent, and for ages 18 to 21, it was 3.2 percent.
Their study looked at fatalities from 1985 to 2006, when gas prices reached about $2.50 a gallon. With gas now averaging more than $4 a gallon, Morrisey said he expects to see much greater drop — about 1,000 deaths a month.
With annual auto deaths typically ranging from about 38,000 to 40,000 a year, a drop of 12,000 deaths would cut the total by nearly a third, Morrisey said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Imagine that 12,000 people are alive in America this year because gas prices are up. Would you be willing to pay $10 a gallon to save the lives of 24,000 people? (forgive my math, I'm sure it's not correct). What about all the other benefits of less driving and slower driving - lowered carbon emissions, lower pollution, less dependence on foreign oil, and so forth. Isn't it possible that high gas prices can have some good effects as well as bad ones? I just read that North Carolina's furniture industry is seeing a revival because China can no longer undercut prices as cost of shipping has risen. Cheap oil put furniture manufacturing out of business in North Carolina. Is it a bad thing that expensive oil may bring back factory jobs to the USA?
Bank failures, forest fires, dollar drop, gas prices. Problems are an opportunity, says the Tao.
Comments