New York City – Bloomberg Has Private Fleet of Gas Guzzlers, But Favors Gas-Tax Hike For The Poor

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    New York City – Mayor Bloomberg may think it’s a good idea for the little people to suffer a gas-tax hike to cut down on driving and help the environment – but that doesn’t stop the billionaire from keeping his own private fleet of gas guzzlers.

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    Bloomberg, who said Friday he believes raising gas taxes and higher fuel prices will reduce consumption and “encourage the right behavior” among drivers, has four different vehicles registered to him in New York state, according to DMV records.

    One, a 2002 Lexus SUV, gets only 13 miles per gallon, according to fueleconomy.gov, a Web site run by the US Department of Energy.

    Another car – a 2005 Dodge Magnum with an 18-gallon tank – gets 18 mpg.

    A 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 20-gallon tank gets 16 mpg.

    Bloomberg – who prides himself on taking public transportation whenever possible – is often chauffeured around on official business in a Chevy Suburban. The car, which runs on a combination of 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethanol, gets 12 mpg.

    Of course paying between $75 to $100, which it would take to fill those tanks, is nothing for Bloomberg, whose estimated net worth is $11.5 billion.

    But news of his remarks that taxes should be raised so people would drive less fueled bad feelings among some city drivers.

    “For someone with money, it’s just a few extra dollars, so they’ll keep driving their cars, which defeats the point,” said Ilene Malkin, who spent $45 filling up her Honda Accord on the West Side yesterday.

    “That tax will only hurt the little guy.”

    Bloomberg made his high-octane comments Friday in a discussion of off-shore drilling in Florida.

    Mayoral spokesman Jason Post yesterday countered that Bloomberg was just encouraging conservation.

    “The mayor rides the subway almost every day,” said Post. “He believes a comprehensive energy policy includes steps such as conservation, alternative fuel sources, new technologies that reduce pollution, and raising the cost of using energy in order to reduce consumption,” said Post.


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    15 Comments
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    a yid
    a yid
    15 years ago

    get rid of the bum

    oy gevalt
    oy gevalt
    15 years ago

    so what..;.the entire frum community drives gas guzzling SUV’s and minivans.

    get over ourselves. bloomberg hasd been the best mayor this city has ever had. at least he doest stuff unlike his predecessor who just performed many non rleigious civil marriage and had fights with the boro presidents and homless people.

    Shmekel Vasser
    Shmekel Vasser
    15 years ago

    Let all those “lekkers” come forward now and defend their hero. Of course, now they are running to find the next big shot they can hitch their wagons to.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Instead of hiking the price of gas (i.e., raising the gas tax), which is a regressive tax that hurts the poor (most of us) rather than rich guys like Mayor Mike, let the politicians get their priorities straight and stop listening to these moron environmentalists who apparently care more about the polar bears, the caribous and the whales than they do about the fact that HUMAN BEINGS are being driven to the poorhouse by high gas prices. Open the offshore areas and Alaska for oil drilling and get the wheels turning on building new gasoline refineries out in rural areas, away from population centers, to refine that crude into gas (there has not been a new refinery built in this country since Gerald Ford was president back in the 70s), and watch the prices come down.

    What’s that you say? Even if the politicans get enough backbone to do the right thing and stop pandering to these vocal and politically powerful tree-hugger environmentalist wackos and their accomplices in the mainstream liberal media, it will take several years to build such refineries and to begin oil drilling operations off the coast, and that will not bring down the price of gas right now?

    NONSENSE. Two-thirds of the price of a gallon of gasoline consists of the price of crude oil — which has been boosted to ridiculous levels by speculators gambling on the notion that crude oil will remaian a relatively scarce, and thus expensive commodity because of rising global demand (China, India, etc) combined with the U.S.’s willful refusal to tap its vast off-shore and ANWR supplies. Any indication that the U.S. is FINALLY GETTING SERIOUS about energy by tapping into those vast reserves, which potentially will greatly boost supply, and the world price of crude oil will tumble — and that’s two thirds of the cost of a gallon of gas.

    (The other one third consists of all everything else — the actual cost of refining crude oil into gas and transporting it to where it can be sold, federal state and local taxes and oil-company profiit margins — and by the way, it is not just rich billionaires who reap these profits; if you have a properly invested 401K on your job or a union pension plan, or if you have your own IRA and it is properly invested, you should be getting some of those profits and dividends yourself if your plan’s investment advisors are doing their job properly and have some oil company shares among their holdings).

    And besides not listening anymore to these enviro-kooks, who basically want to drag the U.S. standard of living down to at least the level of Eastern Europe, if not further downward to punish this country’s success, which they feel has been “unfairly” obtained at everyone else’s expense, perhaps we should be investigating Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the various other organizations that have sought to shackle our energy industry. I would bet that they are probably funded, at least in part, by Arab/Iranian oil money and/or Hugo Chavez — since keeping oil prices sky-high by keeping all of those billions of barrels of U.S. reserves locked up by politics helps the Arabs and Iran (as well as guys like the America-hating Castro-wannabe Venzuelan dictator Chavez) more than anybody else, both financially and politically.

    lavdafka
    lavdafka
    15 years ago

    What happened to bloomy’s bicycle?

    Shmekel Vasser
    Shmekel Vasser
    15 years ago

    Bloomy’s hedge fund pals are speculating on oil prices and account for an extra $30-$40 per barrel. HE should point his finger at those people not at the working stiffs.

    long live Zionisom
    long live Zionisom
    15 years ago

    Everyon ehere is knocking him for driving it but lets not forget his salary $1 a year the other 99,999.00 is going where? so his suv takes 2000.00 more a year if that stop complaining stop driving the suv and signing up for welfare section 8 food stamps and maybe the economy will get better Hypocrites

    Boro park and Williamsburg is SUV heaven and welfare section 8 food stamps central depot

    Its no joke
    Its no joke
    15 years ago

    For a billionaire he need some newer cars

    onemanband613
    onemanband613
    15 years ago

    Hey, “long live Zionisom”,

    Section 8 ain’t easy to come by these days. Besides, how many people do you REALLY know that actually use Section 8, welfare, and food stamps who own SUVs? Somehow I sense some prejudice in your post. To be honest with you, I haven’t seen too many SUVs in Williamsburgh. Vans are more of the type for large families.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I odn’t get the point of the article. So he has fakakta cars. The article seems to be implying that he has the chutzpah to raise taxes when his cars are so bad. Farkert! This goes to show that he’s legit and is willing to raise taxes even though he doesn’t personally own a fleet of Corollas.

    Of course it won’t actually affect him because he’s a billionaire, but that in itself doesn’t point to a contradiction in his plans. It won’t hurt any other billionaires, either.

    Stupid article. Yes, life’s not fair. Get over it.

    bossor hamuvchor
    bossor hamuvchor
    15 years ago

    He does not own any illegal cars. Is it illegal to be rich? The complainers are just jealous. If every wealthy person acted like he does,money would be used for more good than it is right now. It would be nice if he used some of his billionsto support Torah institutions. If you can afford to spend,then it is ok.to splurge. If you cannot afford something,then live within your means and stop the jealousy.

    long live Zionisom
    long live Zionisom
    15 years ago

    Boro Park is full of them and so is wili i grew up with them and know how they are BH i woke up and saw the light

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I think the point some posters are making is that Bloomberg appears to be a hypocrite. He taxes ordinary folk for driving gas guzzlers but he & his people do the same because hey! They can afford these high taxes.

    He IS a hypocrite. Let him lead by example. I can’t stand him!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    u know what its none of our business.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    How many Detroit professional team players, Baseball, football, hockey, basketball, on multi million dollar salaries drive cars made in the US by the poor Detroit union slobs that go to their games and pay their multi million dollar salaries? I think that would make a much more interesting article.