Letters to the Editor
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@ dawdler
"Kind of a broad statement. And frankly I'm frustrated with the attitude that ANYTHING that stifles economic growth in ANY way is automatically wrong. Economic growth is simply NOT an ends in and of itself. What about short-term growth that ultimately leads to long-term stagnation? Are you saying that ANY growth is good? Think of cancer and what uncontrolled growth can mean for an otherwise healthy system. And before you jump down my throat, I'm not anti-growth by any means. I just think that simply countering any argument with "but that will slow growth" is not a true debate."
I'm saying that balance is usually obtained by the market automatically and that when we alter things in order to achieve a balance we THINK it should have, we usually screw it up worse. I'm simply wary of trying to regulate the market...there are so many variables that could make things go wrong.
"I never said we should set prices. Government can't set prices. That NEVER works. Totally agreed. What we need to do is enforce a regulatory environment that accounts for some of the externalities that we can practically account for today. I don't think we've done all we can in that regard. That will drive up the costs of manufacturing in the short-term which will then drive up prices to the consumer. But I personally believe that those costs will eventually come back down as our innovative economy comes up with creative technological solutions for better manufacturing. But corporations need to be incented by the government, otherwise they won't go for it. Carrot AND stick."
Eventually the prices would go down, you are correct...but what about poor Joe Snuffy who has to deal with those higher costs on a fixed budget? He will suffer greatly without something to keep the costs down for him.
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Look at Georgia's experience last year: more oil company profits
Last year the governor of Georgia declared a similar amnesty for Ga. state gas tax. The result? Prices went down for a couple of days, but then went back up. Prices then were no lower in Georgia than anywhere else and did not reduce the burden on consumers. The only impact was to shift tax revenue from the state coffers to the corporate bottom lines.
McCain's proposal would have the same effect but on a much larger scale. The ultimate effect would be to use federal deficit spending to increase the revenue and profitability of the corporations in the oil industry.
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re: From Pain comes Gain
onecald,
"By all accounts gas is still much cheaper than most Europeans pay, which is why trucks and suv's still sell like hot cakes in the U.S. "
Have you ever been to Europe? Many of those countries are small and you can get from one end to the other on a bicycle (try doing that in America). And if that won't do it for you, they have the infrastructure of the trains to get around. We do not have the infrastructure of passenger trains like they do...we built our structure on automobiles. Now WHY is the price of gasoline HIGHER in Europe than it is HERE? Well, from what I have gathered, 60% of the price in Europe is due to taxes...so if you took the tax away, they would be paying about the same as we do here.
"If Americans won't voluntarily become more fuel efficient...I say raise fuel taxes like they raised cigarette taxes! You want to be a pig and drive around in a big ass suv just to drive to the grocery store or a soccer game...your gonna pay 300 bucks to fill it up. You want to buy something online instead of your local neighborhood store...your gonna have to pay double for the shipping. You want kiwis from New Zealand...pay up or shut up. Maybe trucking should get some sort of transitional tax credit...but there are too many damn trucks busting up our roads as it is! Cheap fuel like cheap credit will just prolong the change we all know we need to make, and I'm sorry McCain doesn't understand that."
Ok...let's tax the gasoline. So then, people won't buy that SUV and the automobile business that sells them and makes them goes under - who cares right? No more soccer games...too expensive to drive there...so the vendors who make a living out of that go out of business...but who cares, right?
So you don't want to buy something online because the transportation costs are too high...can't find it in your local store? TOUGH. Oh and that business that made SO much money online and paid SO much in taxes...forget them...they're toast too! Oh and too many trucks on the road...well, we'll fix that...just tax them until they can't drive anywhere and have to lose their jobs...but HEY who cares, right?
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I'm all for using less gas but...
...seeing as how gas prices have more than doubled over the past six or so years, yet demand has actually held steady over that time, I'm not sure how an increase of a further 15-20% through taxation would be the magic bullet.
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re: It's not that simple
The Third Man,
"...seeing as how gas prices have more than doubled over the past six or so years, yet demand has actually held steady over that time, I'm not sure how an increase of a further 15-20% through taxation would be the magic bullet."
EXACTLY! People will do without OTHER things first...mainly because they have to go to work every day, which is generally what the majority of the gasoline they buy is used for.
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Finally!
...someone is talking about public transportation, which is how a great number of lower-income workers commute. Of course, they will get nothing in terms of tax benefits from McCain's "tax relief"; neither will the drivers, as gas prices will immediately rise swallowing any tax-cut reduction. Public transportation -- along with other conservation measures -- is the only near term solution to both the oil prices and environmental woes. Buses can run on natural gas, bio-diesel, etc., for the obvious reason that they only need to get re-fueled in one place.
Let's disabuse ourselves from the quasi-religious belief that free market "knows" best. It's just too linear and simplistic. We live in the days when we need huge investments in public infrastructure to (a) aid commerce (b) maintain quality of life for the people who toil in it. We need public highways, trash disposal, environmental and public safety agencies, and so on and on and on. Just because it is difficult to add up these costs, doesn't mean that they don't exist! Taxation serves two purposes: to collect revenue and to affect behavior. Let's start using it wisely and spending the revenues wisely.
Perhaps, it's time to take a deep breath and start talking about shifting our economy from being consumption based to being quality of life based...