Letters to the Editor
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What the hell is wrong with Salon?!
Have you simply lost your senses in your mad desire to see Ms. Clinton elected?!
America is hooked on fossil fuels! I know this, you know this, every rational person knows this.
*Even if we hadn't already raided the treasury*, giving America cheap gasoline is like giving an alcoholic booze to cheer him up.
Anyway, as you concede in the article, this would actually be a tiny effect; which means that this proposal is pointless and just demagoguery.
I really do not understand what has happened to Salon. I'm not actually a supporter of Mr. Obama but you're pushing me that way by publishing these articles supporting Ms. Clinton *that I read and find completely irrational*.
At this point, if I could get Glenn Greenwald elsewhere, I'd cancel my subscription with you, and I've been a dedicated subscriber for three or four years.
Ms. Walsh, I urge you to open your eyes. It seems mathematically impossible that Ms. Clinton will win now; her only hope is the "nuclear option," where she attempts to convince superdelegates to vote against what the "will of the people" have decided.
*If she uses the nuclear option then the Democrats will lose the next election.* I abhor pulling the race card; but you'd have to be a pretty complacent African-American not to think that white money and privilege won (as usual) against the will of the people if this happened. She'd lose the African-American vote, they'd simply stay away in droves.
She'd lose the actual "left", few though we may be. We aren't going to vote for McCain, but we won't campaign for Clinton either.
*Your relentless attempt to push the Clinton talking points, no matter how irrational they may be, isn't just unfair to your paid subscribers, who expect to get a diverse spectrum of opinions from across the "left"; it helps the chances of a Republican victory in 2008 and thus threatens all of us.*
I beg you to reconsider your dangerous and irrational course. The best thing that can come out of it is a serious disappointment for you when Obama wins the convention (and then are you going to snipe at him all the way to the election?! Please, no!); the worst thing is a President McCain.
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Pandering
I would think anyone could see through this pandering, but a few letter writers who think Hillary is right show me that pandering can really work. Many people really are stupid enough to buy it!
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I am shocked that this is front page!
What the hell? How can this unsubstantiated, poorly researched rubbish end up as the main article for today?
There is no sound economic basis for a Gas Tax holday.
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If, maybe, should
Clinton's plan is contingent on getting a windfall tax on the oil companies through Congress and getting it signed by Bush by this summer. The sad truth is that this is a fantasy. (Obama actually got it passed in Illinois BEFORE it took effect, DUH!)
AFTER one of them is elected president, if they are indeed elected after all this back-stabbing that is destroying any Democrat's chances, then MAYBE they can get it through Congress.
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The obvious question too - how do you put it back?
The obvious question too is - how do you put it back?
That is, after you've dropped the price of gas by 18 cents, which arguably will be absorbed by oil company profits, how will they ever put it back?
Think how unpopular it's going to be to add 18 cents to the price of gas when this expires? The answer is, it probably won't be feasible to do because of the public outrage (particularly if gas has risen to $4 per gallon).
In the end it'll be more "starve the beast".
Let's not forget the complication for the IRS and yes, the oil companies and gas stations, to be turning off and on tax settings. There's no possible way that this can be implemented in real time (ie: before this summer).
Which means, it's just pandering.
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I disagree
There are other impacts to a gas tax holiday than simply whether the consumers save $28 or not. If the gas tax is not collected, then the highway fund loses that money. When they do not have money coming in from the gas tax, they have to stop repairing our highways and bridges. When they do that, it throws a lot of construction workers and companies out of work for the entire summer. These factors may not have been at work on the state level in Illinois.
In politics, it never pays to look at an issue from the smallest level; you have to move back and look at the entire picture and how each decision ripples out in multiple directions.
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Tha gas tax is regressive anyway -- shold be done away with or changed
The poorer you are, they more it hurts you. Of course the wealthy educated libereals are sniffing at this idea. The few bucks means much less to them proportionately.
Due to this country's terrible public planning, the poor are now further away from their place of work, lured by the promise of of their own home in a far out exurb. The wealthy in our nation now reside in urban areas, not in suburbs. Suburbs are for the less wealthy, who are beholdent to their automobiles. Over the past 20 years cities have become home to the higher income residents. Europe is a bad example and does not have the sprawl phenomena or lack of public transportation services of the US.
According to the advertising information for Salon.com, most of us here are definitely not in the demographic that needs the 30 bucks the most (read: upscale, educated, urban, liberal). Nor do we live in areas where we need to drive to survive. It seems reflexive to me to just kill this idea with a wave of the hand. Just saying.
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Bush won't sign an oil company windfall profits tax
Bush won't sign an oil company windfall profits tax and he is in office until Jan. 20, 2009 and congress cannot override a veto.
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@dubmanny
"Europe is a bad example and does not have the sprawl phenomena or lack of public transportation services of the US."
Fair enough, but Canada is certainly a FANTASTIC comparison. And guess what? We pay 35% on the LITRE (and 1 gallon equals 3.89 litres). Gas right now is basically $1.20/l, which would work out to roughly $4.67/gallon. So not that far off your totals - except that $1.63 of that is taxes.
(taxes which, incidentally, help pay for things like healthcare)
So we pay WAY more for gas, and pay WAY more in taxes, and yet our working class hasn't been bankrupted yet...
jus' sayin'.