KISS - Tire Gauge Woes

Barack Obama's "Keep you tires inflated and cars tuned up" approach to cutting gas consumption in this country has been fodder for John McCain and Republican mud slinging for the last few days. The press seems to be joining in, making light of his KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) suggestion; but wait a minute!!

The TRUTH is that experts have proven you can easily save 3 to 5% on gas consumption by inflating your tires to maximum pressure, keeping your car tuned and air filters clean. This is not a 'new' Obama idea, it's one experts have been suggesting for quite awhile.

My personal experience and perspective on this idea:

I Inflated my tires so that when hot, they are 2 lbs under the tire's rated max pressure on my 4WD Jeep Grand Cherokee. I saw my gas mileage increase about .6 mpg (I was getting 16.3, now getting 16.9)or about 3.5%. Not a big deal.. hardly noticeable? Well, a 20 gallon tank of gas in California cost about $85 last week, so my 3.5% translates into $2.98 per tank, and I fill up about once per week. That's about $150 per year. Still not a big deal? OK.. maybe not, but it didn't 'cost' anything, it just saved. Plus, I have the added benefit of reducing my carbon footprint and it's a change I can easily live with.

Look at it from a business perspective.. the ROI on the tire pressure gauge (cost me ONE dollar) was about 2 days. The annualized ROI is 15,000%.

Let's compare it to what the government's tax rebate check was worth. About 25% of the $600 rebate right? But this didn't cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. And next year it'll save me another $150 (assuming gas prices don't go up).

But it's only $150.. and 1 car.. WRONG!! The power is in the numbers... there are MILLIONS of cars.

Obama's simple statement would save the US more oil than the proposed expanded offshore drilling leases would produce, and it would save it NOW.. not over the next 20 years, which is what it would take to see the effects of offshore oil drilling (if they would even drill) and the 1% of current consumption it would supply.

Besides, the press (including even CNN) blatantly ignores the fact that Big Oil has existing leases that they are NOT drilling on right now. Big Oil hardly needs another giveaway by the government in the form of new offshore oil leases.

But why exactly are the oil companies are not drilling on their existing leases? I suggest to you a theory: They gain huge windfalls in the value of their 'reserves' (oil leaseholds not in production or drilled), and make more net dollars per share profit for themselves and their stockholders by keeping the price of oil high. Expanding production to drop the price of oil back to $60 a barrel would cause a dramatic 'loss' on the oil companies' books in the estimated value of their leaseholds. They are playing a balancing act with our economy and demand for oil, keeping the prices as high as they can without completely killing the economy, while the working Americans suffer the cost.

More important, and significant, is to remember that what we are dealing with here is the power of numbers. A very small change multiplied by a very very large number of 'changers'. Look at it from a national standpoint - multiply $150 by the many millions of cars and trucks on the road.. Yikes!! Quickly the impact of a small individual change means many hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the economy.

This is no 'Joke' .. and I don't think Obama ever meant it as such. It is a very serious, and realistic suggestion. Instead of backing away from it, Obama should stand up and defend his suggestion with facts. I intend to suggest to Obama's campaign that they send a 'free' tire pressure gauge to every one of their millions of donors on request. What, you already have a tire pressure gauge? Give it to your Republican friend and explain how to use it! Maybe CNN AC360 - (Keeping them Honest) should do the same (or beat him to the punch!) Single handedly, that KISS suggestion can do more to reduce the US demand for foreign oil RIGHT NOW than any legislation by Congress could ever do.

McCain doesn't even have a plan! He should be agreeing with Obama, not ridiculing him. He shows how ignorant of the simple facts he really is. This should expose McCain and the Republican political machine for what it is.. a front for Big Oil and Corporate profits; but instead all we hear is McCain's ignorant stuffy one liner 'we can't solve .... by inflating our tires'. Ironically, we can move an long way in that direction by doing just that simple thing. All we need is an honest press to spread the word; one more interested in what's good for the people, than political headlines and 'one liners'.

The point is that both McCain and the Republican negative campain strategy is ignorant and just WRONG!! They attempt to sway other ignorant voters by trying to discredit Obama, instead of acknowledging a good idea and suggesting even more ways that people can save. Obama didn't think of this.. he's just willing to take good ideas and promote them when it makes sense for the people.