Can We Just Raise Gas Taxes and Get it Over With?!

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"Certain realities need to be faced, even in an election year. First, oil prices are likely to remain high for some time as demand for energy continues to grow at a fast pace in China, India and other developing countries. Second, there is an urgent need to curb the world’s carbon emissions to address the threat of global warming."

"Americans — like the rest of the world — must find ways to curb their use of fossil fuels. Higher, not lower, prices are an important way to spur the needed technological innovation and curb demand."

"The Bush administration’s answer to high gas prices — increasing domestic supplies — is equally simple-minded. On Tuesday, President Bush again lamented Congress’s unwillingness to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration or to allow more refineries to be built on abandoned military bases. He said efforts in Congress to impose restrictions on carbon emissions and tax oil companies’ windfall profits “would make energy even more expensive."”

"There is not enough oil in Alaska to provide a lasting solution. And Mr. Bush’s prescription would do nothing to address climate change or quench the thirst for oil."

"Fortunately, Mr. Obama has not caved to the rising calls for cheap energy and has refused to follow his rivals down this misguided path."

An increase in the gas tax could possibly be a great catalyst to spur innovation in the stale energy sector. While it would be difficult for lower income individuals and the middle class who can hardly fill their tanks currently, the Congress could suspend other taxes for these populations that would put extra money in their wallets. As Thomas Fridman said yesterday, a temporary suspension of the gas tax is not an energy policy. Instead, we need some critical thinking in Washington and not the usual going at it alone policies of the Bush administration and his cronies.

Update: Bloomberg agrees that that gas tax holiday is a stupid idea. [Image credit: cobalt123]

A New Kind of Customer Support, sort of (with Twitter)

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Recently, I received an invite to Brightkite which is reminiscent of Twitter, but focuses more on your location and connecting you to those nearby. It doesn’t use GPS, but rather the user checks in using the web interface or SMS. In the future, hopefully you can use a GPS enabled phone so you don’t have to check in.

While the service has its upsides and downsides, what was really exciting was their usage of Twitter for technical support and feedback. The Brightkite Twitter account is surprisingly active and responsive. I noticed when a user requested that their account be deleted, it was immediately answered and the account deleted. As I kept track of my Twitter feed, I noticed more and more users giving feedback and requesting help from the Brightkite Twitter account. The user at the end of the Brightkite Twitter feed appeared very well informed and responsive to the user requests as they should be. Using Twitter to communicate to you user base is not new seeing as Michael Arrington, at TechCrunch, recently had a bout with Comcast and they too had a representative respond to his frustration using Twitter.

Are we seeing the next wave in technical support and corporate communication with its users? I hope so, because it is a quick alternative to emailing the company, which usually entails a long wait. Only time will tell if other companies adopt such corporate-user feedback, but I think it is a winner.

[edit: I also have some Brightkite invites, so leave a comment with a valid email address and I will send you one.]

A Crumbling Foundation: A Nation at Risk

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It is hard to fathom that we can fund numerous projects such as the Iraq War and the fight against terrorism, but investing in our future (education) gets short changed and ignored. I know I want the individuals who will be paying into the social security program at the time I am about to retire to have the best education.

"To put it bluntly, American students may not know as much as their counterparts around the Pacific Rim, but our society allows them to make better use of what they do know. The question now is whether this historic advantage will suffice at a time when knowledge of math, science and technology is becoming increasingly critical. Maybe we need both the enabling environment and more rigor in these areas."

"Most troubling now are the numbers on educational attainment. One reason that the American economy was so dominant throughout the 20th century is that we provided more education to more citizens than other industrialized countries. “A Nation at Risk” noted with pride that American schools now graduate 75 percent of our young people from high school."

"That figure has now dropped to less than 70 percent, and the United States, which used to lead the world in sending high school graduates on to higher education, has declined to fifth in the proportion of young adults who participate in higher education and is 16th out of 27 industrialized countries in the proportion who complete college, according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education."

[Image via: Laffy4k]

Where To Go?!

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Here I am, at a crossroads in my educational career. Currently, I am weighing three different PhD programs: Illinois, Iowa, and Utah (ECS or ELP). At face value, I would probably choose Illinois because of its prestige and the program is reflective of what I want to study. At Iowa, I would be studying with one of the top scholars in the area of student retention, Ernie Pascarella. At Utah, I am working with a fantastic professor and the Associate Dean of Diversity, Dr. William A. Smith. My interests in the sociology of higher education are aligned with his and I feel extremely comfortable within the college. In addition, I am supported both financially and academically. I am inclined to stay at Utah because of the amazing support, but part of me is leaning toward Illinois partly due to the reputation and possible job prospects after four years. I am still waiting for information on funding at Iowa and Illinois, which is a major component of my final decision. To add to the mess, I am on the waiting list at UCLA and University of Michigan. Where to go?! What to do? Who knows!?

Luckily, I will have my spring break (in Michigan) to contemplate the future and work on the thesis.