Letters to the Editor
-
I dissagree
It's my understanding that although Mr. Obama was initially for the suspension of the gas tax in Illinois, when it finally came up for a vote, he had reconsidered, and voted against it. Although the suspension of the gas tax in any one state could surly work, the suspension of the federal gas tax would almost certainly be seen by the oil compinies as yet another opportunity to raise gas prices. Making any savings to the consumer meaningless.
-
@ethics_professor: recent support
It was my pleasure. I generally don't scold people for their language in these flame wars because I think most of the time people are out looking for an argument or whatever, and deliberately say 'provocative stuff'. Especially those with a track record. I'm not going to spend my time counting up the various slights (although I've done a cursory job in the past) and calculating who is the most evil. As I mentioned before, you seem like one of the more polite and less agenda driven posters around here; I don't think you were trying to start a flame war and our friend was way out of line.
-
@ Uncle Fester
Sorry, I don't see much pyschological benefit from a program that doesn't work and has bad side effects. In fact, I see backlash when it doesn't deliver. And the majority of most people's state of mind is connected to events in the real world, like monetary benefits.
So basically you are discounting any possibility that people sometimes have irrational perceptions of economic conditions, sometimes do not act in their own best interest, sometimes are swayed by psychologically appealing benefits rather than actual economic reality?
For example, this stimulus check business. Most of the lumpen are in love with it -- $600 from the sky! But would they love it as much if their payroll taxes were decreased a corresponding amount this year such that they would get the $600 + interest equivalent by the end of calendar 2008? No!
That's why people love tax returns too-- free money out of the sky, even though it's just money they overpaid in taxes, that the government has been making interest off, that they should have been making interest off instead. It would be smarter to put all your taxes in a savings account, instead of paying them, make the interest, and then pay in April. The interest is yours to keep, not the gov't's. But people don't get that.
Other stupid gimmicks: people love free shit! Here's a free $15 Circuit City gift card, but if you use it, you sign up for a $5/month service through your credit card. This is one out of my life. And i'm sure people actually go for it.
How do you think so many people ended up with mortgages they couldn't afford?!
-
Obama is Wrong?!
If Obama is wrong, then so are 230 noted economists who have signed on to an open letter opposed to this "gas tax holiday".
See: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/05/economists_release_letter_oppo.html
The way to get us off our "oil addiction", which is destroying the planet, transfering huge amounts of wealth to foreign countries that don't like us, causing us to meddle in the affairs of others, including fighting disastrous wars, is NOT by cutting its cost.
If lower and middle class families need financial help to offset the cost of higher gas, do it through the income tax system. You do NOT want to do it by lower the cost of gas.
And, shame on politicians (C & M) who pander to the voters, and tell them what they think those voters want to hear (to get votes), rather than what they *need* to hear (to turn this country around). Thank you Obama for opposing this foolish, quick-fix proposal.
--George
-
Irrational behavior
So basically you are discounting any possibility that people sometimes have irrational perceptions of economic conditions, sometimes do not act in their own best interest, sometimes are swayed by psychologically appealing benefits rather than actual economic reality?
No, I actually think irrationality is the status quo. I don't believe in Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) for example. Just look at the dot.com and housing bubble for exmaples. Or the non-reaction to our deficits and the weak dollar policy. Not to mention the cost of the war.
What I'm saying is that the possibility is very low in this case. The gas tax 'refund' is not a very sexy deal. The housing bubble worked in part because people could put nothing down, use the bank's money for six months, and then flip a house for mega bucks. Or so they thought. That's sexy: do nothing, use other people's money (OPM) and clean up.
So maybe you are right, and there is enough 'buzz' in this plan to alter people's behavior. But it seems a little too lean to me. If Hillary could find a way to claim that she could cut gas to $2.00/gallon, she'd be golden. That would be some buzz.
I agree with you about taxes. If I get a refund, that means I screwed up and paid too much. My girlfriend feels the opposite, which never ceases to amaze me. Her balance sheet looks better than mine, so go figure.
P.S. We might soon know what people in IN think of the gas tax. Nothing like a little empirical evidence!
-
Nitrous Oxide Policy
Our budding legal eagle, LeBeaver, seems to have graduated from the Marie Antoinette law school, the latin initials for which must be STFU. At a time when working class wages have been in steepening spiral for decades, John and Hillary want to suspend the federal gas tax for the summer. Every significant economist say this will result in a net gain for the average family of just about zero. The Beav apparently thinks Americans are so stupid they won't realize that the price at the pump will be just about the same. This is the one place where us common folk shop that the spinning dial tells you just exactly the rate at which you are being fleeced. The Beav doesn't need a car. She's above all that. So, there must be some ethereal reason that folks will feel so good about the symbolism of a temporary tax rate reduction that they won't care that no actual money will accrue to them. Logic like that must be taught at the Beav's alma mater, STFU, where the college quad is a pond amongst which they students paddle from class to class with their flat tails. Just stunningly, breathtakingly, profoundly ignorant and arrogant at the same time. Downright Bushian. Go, Beaver, go. yours in homage, jeffersonian