B1042-2 NIMBY

The walk-away escape that is available to the well-connected is not available to ordinary folk:  Five-Dollar-A-Gallon gasoline means absolutely nothing to billionaire environmental idealists.  It means the difference between eating and not eating for the less privileged, however.  To make the relative pain more meaningful for Upper East Side Manhattanites, perhaps they could be charged $1,000 per gallon for gas, in the same way that some Nordic countries impose traffic fines based on the net worth of the violator.  You have the big bucks; you pay much more.  And incidentally, $5 per gallon gas for the average schlub is equal to $1,000 per gallon gas for privileged.  Work the numbers.  Don’t own a car?  Well, that $25 cross-town cab fare for Mister Everyman works out to a cool $5,000 ride for Mister Big Bucks.  Get your wallet out.  It’s about time you started paying for your idealism.  Everyone else is.