Corzine Needs a Little Creativity

I see that New Jersey Governor Corzine is worried about gas prices and has a plan, that's right folks A PLAN, to lower them in New Jersey.

Never mind that New Jersey already has the lowest prices in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and its prices are $.06 per gallon below the national average, the governor has A PLAN.

Too bad the plan consists of the same old tired nonsense that never worked before.

1. Reduce the speed limit to 55

Hell nobody in New Jersey pays attention to the speed limits of 60 or 65! If I'm going 70 on the Garden State Parkway in the morning cars are whizzing by me on both sides!

2. Remove the ban on self-service gas stations

Yeah right. New York has self-service stations and gas prices there are about $.14 per gallon HIGHER than New Jersey. Besides, I LIKE not having to pump my own gas.

3. Encourage the Use of Mass Transit and Car Pools

WHAT mass transit? There ain't no mass transit that can get me from home to work nor is there anyone around that I can car pool with.

How about some CREATIVE suggestions like encouraging and providing tax incentives for stuff like:

Telecommuting - Encourage firms to make use of it where possible and provide a tax deduction for people when they purchase home computers to be used for telecommuting purposes.

Hybrid Cars - Encourage and provide tax credits for those that purchase hybrid autos. REQUIRE all gas stations to provide Corn Ethenol based fuel by a certain target date.

Trains and Buses Commuter Packages - Provide less expensive commuter packages for trains and buses. Right about now there isn't all that much benefit in a lot of cases and using your own car is a hell of a lot faster and more convenient.

More Hub and Spoke Routes - Redesign the bus routes to provide "spokes" to get to either a train or bus "hub" during morning and evening rush hours. Look at how the airlines work for some ideas.

New Technology - Encourage companies with tax credits that try to develop new energy technologies that reduce the use of gasoline.

This is really the Federal Governments job, but if the Bush administration won't take the lead, let's do it at the state level. But John, it's going to take something better than the same old tired formulas that never worked before. You can do better than this John.