Letters to the Editor
-
The Author is a Joke
Frost clearly doesn't understand the issue or he's willing to lie about it just to make a point. That actually sounds a lot like McCain and Hillary Clinton on the gas tax issue. No surprise then, I guess.
However, Joan Walsh, if we are supposed to take the author seriously, I think it's important to have the facts straight. The reason why the federal gas tax holiday proposed by both McCain and Clinton won't work is that the oil companies pay it and there's no evidence that it will be passed to the consumer. I personally like Frost's gambit to pass laws making something illegal to do...when we know the oil companies already do it.
The basic reason why laws don't work to control prices is because you can't legislate profits. The oil companies literally have us over a barrel. Any attempt to force compliance will be costly and a losing proposition. All oil companies have to do is squeeze supply and watch as gas lines form. It's happened before.
Raising taxes on oil, OTOH, is fine with me. I expect that to be shifted onto the consumer, but this is a necessary evil. It WILL reduce consumption and create a fund to rebuild infrastructure and perhaps investment in other energy sources.