Letters to the Editor
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@ Jerm, Jeffersonian, Uncle Fester, manos99
Jerm asks:
LeCastor - lawyer up. At least there's a point to the post. But WTF on the STFU!?
Jeffersonian provides my answer:
LeCastrata, the franocphile corporate whore wannabe, says the gas holiday is a psychological benefit. I checked my old Buick; there's no psycho input, only a gas tank. You know gas first hand, Beaver. It's what you post, reeking of hydrogen sulphide. The bitch has passed pandering and is streetwalking. Ain't no one stopping to pick up that has-been pander bear in the fishnet stockings.
That's what the STFU is for.
Uncle Fester asks:
This whole tax credit concept is supposed to provide relief to real people stretched to the limit. If the price of gas stays the same or drifts higher, there will be no relief, no pyschological benefits.
There's the psychological benefit of knowing that the gov't is trying to do something for you, and it's the oft-maligned oil companies who are not absorbing the tax. Your analysis conflates monetary benefits with psychological benefits, but the whole point of distinguishing psychological benefits is that they are separate from monetary benefits.
If I remember correctly only about half of all Americans own some type of stock through a variety of investment vehicles. And the distribution curve is pretty steep, meaning the top 15% own a huge percentage of the market. So the average blue collar joe or josephine is not getting dividends or cool equity appreciation off of this asset inflation bubble. I hope you are short the USD and long commodities!
Only half? That's a huge amount. Anyone who has a 401K that is not invested in money market owns stock indirectly. Anyone who owns oil stock sees the value of that stock go up or down depending on the profits (and other factors). Half of the people who own stock have portfolios of less than $50,000, but that's a lot of money to a lot of people.
And you must have missed the memo. We're all anti-elites now. In fact, I'm about to conclude a deal with Slyvester McMonkey McBean for exclusive use of his elite-off machine.
Fuck y'all, I don't even have a car, so this tax holiday really only affects the flue surcharge of my grocery deliveries.
And manos, I don't have my law degree yet, but will in 6-8 of weeks. Had to send in all those Betty Crocker points. Thanks for asking.
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No He Isn't
Clinton and McCain are issuing a cheap appeal to WalMartians in America, and sadly it make work with a lot of them. (I'm finding it increasingly difficult to tell them apart what with the "obliterating Iran" and all.)
Obama is right about this and a lot of people know it. The question is which group is larger - the cheap fix folks or the we need a comprehensive energy plan folks?
We'll soon find out...
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Gas tax holiday bad for everybody
The gas tax is supposed to be funding the Highway Trust Fund. As mpg goes up -- saving consumers lots and lots of money in gas taxes per mile driven since the tax was initiated -- the amount of money socked away per wear-and-tear of each mile driven on our roadways goes down. The gas tax hasn't been raised in more than a decade and its buying power in labor and construction costs is only a fraction of what it was intended to be. Killing the gas tax during the time of year when it will generate the most income for fixing our crumbling infrastructure and when that crumbling infrastructure undergoes the most wear-and-tear is a shortsighted, dare I say stupid, idea. We all lose big time if the gas tax goes away. It should be raised so that we can actually fix our roads to the standard that was intended when it was begun.
My Honda Insight gets an avg 50mpg, so I pay very little gas tax per mile driven. It's also very light, so my car produces very little wear and tear on the road while driving. The owner of a Hummer creates much more wear and tear on the roads while driving that vehicle, and that vehicle sucks down much more gas per mile driven than mine does, so in that sense it works out fairly.
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I still think Obama's tax credit is a better option.
So according to this report, 60% of the 18% gas tax actually DOES go to consumers. That makes estimated $30 per month savings down to $20 per month. Whoopty doo. It's political pandering...even if helps a bit.
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wow!
I guess we should support the gas tax holiday on the basis that it would help an infinitesimally small amount! Plus, McCain and Clinton will be able to get this bill to pass because one of them will be President this summer... oh yeah, right, they won't. But Hillary will be able to get the windfall profits tax through... oh yeah, right, she won't. At least this is a good long-term strategy to reduce oil demand... oh yeah, right, it isn't.
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Let's see ... Obama is wrong ...
... and so is every single freaking economist polled by every major newspaper on this story.
But you've got yourself an attorney who says otherwise!
I keep thinking Salon can't sink any lower. On the other hand, again, I note that my email about canceling my premium membership continues to go unreturned.
How much more of your integrity are you willing to sell to the Clinton campaign?
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Gas tax holiday is a bad idea all around, part two
Just to add to the previous comment, here's another way to look at what's wrong with this idea:
-- At best, it's robbing Peter to pay Paul. We desperately need the revenues raised by the gas tax to repair our roads and bridges and to keep them reasonably safe. If anything, we need to put more money into this, not shortchange the fund by $8 billion of $9 billion.
-- Even if it did result in lower prices -- which is highly doubtful, as has been adequately explained previously -- it doesn't target the people who really need help in coping with energy costs (see previous comment about Hummer drivers). Rather than give an across-the-board, short-term tax break that will have some long-term negative consequences, why not enhance existing programs, such as LIHEAP, that provide assistance to low-income people struggling with energy costs? There are already programs in existence that give immediate help to low-income people who are struggling to pay their energy bills, as well as longer-term help individuals and businesses improve energy efficiency. These are good programs, though small, and could be expanded.
At the risk of sounding like a latte-slurping elitist, our real problem isn't that the price of gas is too high. Our big problem is that for many, many long years, the price we've paid at the pump is far less than the true cost of oil and gasoline. That's still true today. Factor in the pollution, habitat loss, global warming, military costs and, yes, lost lives, and the true cost of our energy-consuming ways is astronomical. We all know this is true, deep in our hearts, and we need political leaders who will face this truth.