Ok, I'll bite - why has gas been "too cheap, and for way too long?"
You mean you don't know ?!!? So
many reasons, mostly stemming from the first principle that gas, being too cheap, leads to overusing it to an obscene degree.
Gas taxes are supposed to pay for infrastructure projects - so why do we need hundreds of billions of dollar$ in infrastructure work? Because
gas taxes are far too low, and have been for decades. Why is gas so cheap? Because we subsidize it with federal tax money. Why do we do that? Because petroleum industry lobbyists own our elected representatives.
Fossil fuels, including gas, pollute. They pollute the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. They pollute in their extraction, in their refinement, in their transportation, in their storage, and most of all, in their use. That pollution costs all of us in hidden and incalculable ways. It costs us many billions in cleanup costs, and many, many billions in healthcare costs, because pollution exposure poisons us all.
Despite having the technology for cleaner and more efficient transportation, Americans are driving more and more SUVs. They are buying and driving vehicles that get 15-20 MPG when plenty of vehicles are available that get twice that - 30-40 MPG. Why? Because
gas is too damned cheap. Historically, the record shows that when gas prices are higher, economy cars sell much better.
Americans piss away gas for no other reason than their personal comfort. Why? Because
gas is too damned cheap. Americans will sit in their cars idling their engines to keep the A/C running when it isn't really needed, or they'll start their cars and idle for 10 or 15 minutes before they climb in on a frosty morning, just because putting their ass in a cold seat for the 5 minutes it takes to warm up is too much of a discomfort.
Americans are so lazy, they'll use a gas powered lawn mower when they could use a push mower, they'll use a gas powered snowblower when they could be shoveling, and they'll use a gas powered leaf blower when they could easily rake their lawns. Why? Because
the price of gas is too damned cheap!
Americans don't think twice about burning gas
recreationally! They race through snowy woods on snowmobiles, they tear up trails on dirt bikes, and the do donuts on jet skis, polluting fresh water lakes. And that's not even including just recreational driving and boating. Why do they do it? Because the
price of gas is too damned cheap! There would be a lot less of all of this going on if gas were $10 a gallon. It's long past time we started paying for the
real price of gas. The price that covers the infrastructure, the price that covers the healthcare costs, and the price that covers the cleanup.