Cheap is nice but unsustainable.

• Author: Rundless, Jeff
• Position: RUNDLES

We couldn't believe it. My wife and I did grocery shopping sometime over the holiday period and spent a considerable sum, and Safeway offered us an extraordinary discount on gasoline as a way of saying Thank You!

We took the van down there, where the retail price on gas was something like $1.50, and we were surprised - pleasantly - that we were able to fill up for 89.9 cents a gallon. It was unreal;I haven't paid so little for gas in several years and never thought I'd see a sub-dollar price again, even on special.

It would have amazed me a year ago or two years ago, but it was all the more astonishing given the fact that just a few months ago I was paying more than four times that amount, more than $4 a gallon.

Like everyone else, I would love to see the price of gas, or any everyday commodity, stay low and ease the pressure on my budget. I am old enough to remember full-service gas being 25 cents and less, and it would be cool to see milk and bread at $1, and steak dinners for $5.

But the truth is, while it would be cool for me personally, and for you, it would end up being a disaster in a very short time. Cheap milk and bread and steak dinners will put farmers out of business, and the prices will rise astronomically. Cheap is unsustainable. And while gasoline, even at full retail, is relatively cheap right now, it is simply unrealistic to think that it will stay that way. Analysts are predicting that by late 2010, and certainly by 2011 or 2012, the price of crude oil that drove $4 gasoline--$150 a barrel - could seem like a bargain.

Now I know that economic times are tough, and I know everyone is being pinched, but I believe now is the time to actually raise the price of gasoline. And I also think that in the long run, it will be good for the economy and each person's pocketbook.

What I am proposing is that we raise the gasoline tax. The federal government is already talking about raising its portion of the gas tax - 18.4 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24.5 cents per gallon for diesel - and now would be a great time to raise the tax that Colorado collects, as well - currently 22 cents a gallon on gas, and 20.44 cents a gallon on diesel.

The first reason is that the disaster I mentioned earlier is already going on. Roads and bridges in Colorado and the nation are in a state of often severe disrepair, especially the bridges. This is already beginning to create a hassle in many...