Letters to the Editor
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In an "inelastic" demand scenario" is WHAT?
Inelastic demand is air. No matter what the cost, you'll buy a certain amount of it. That is, the demand is pretty much finite and pretty much constant no matter the cost.
Elastic demand is chocolate. The amount you buy is based upon the price you have to pay.
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A better idea
The 60ct on the dollar benefit from the Ill gas tax holiday is "underwhelming". The only real justification I can see for the Holiday would be in a situation where gas was temporarily spiking was it would be, in the public interest, that people do not alter their long term spending pattern in response to a short term situation; i.e. That people would keep buying SUV's. This is certainly not the case. The situation has change and people are going to have to start adjusting,
better now than in September.
For those who believe that most people consider good government to be when government borrows money (they or their kids will ultimatly repay) and spend it in a way that at least a little of it will fall their way, I have a better idea.
Papa Doc in Haiti, used to drive through Port au Prince throwing dollar bills out the windows. Crowds would chase after him. This would accomplish pretty much the same thing as the gas tax and cut out the middle man.
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Lawyer vs. 200 economists
Whom would you trust on this: the lawyer author of this opinion piece or 200 economists?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aza2XQB.kk0k
More than 200 economists, including four Nobel prize winners, signed a letter rejecting proposals by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain to offer a summertime gas-tax holiday.
Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz, former Congressional Budget Office Director Alice Rivlin and 2007 Nobel winner Roger Myerson are among those who signed the letter calling proposals to temporarily lift the tax a bad idea. Another is Richard Schmalensee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was member of President George H.W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. ...
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Summer Morritorium of fereral Excise Tax On Gasoline
I cannot beleive that there are so many unterly stupid people out there in both political parties who made this an ISSUE did not go and read the Tax Code covering refunds of excise tax. Just so those who read this can say that they are smarter that McDumb or Clinton here is what the Statute Says:
"Sec. 6416. Certain taxes on sales and services
(1) General rule
No credit or refund of any overpayment of tax imposed by chapter 31 (relating to retail excise taxes), or chapter 32 (manufacturers taxes), shall be allowed or made unless the person who paid the tax establishes, under regulations prescribed by the Secretary, that he -
(A) has not included the tax in the price of the article with respect to which it was imposed and has not collected the amount of the tax from the person who purchased such article;
(B) has repaid the amount of the tax to the ultimate purchaser of the article; "
In 1971, Nixon in his infinite wisdom repealed the excise tax on passenger cars and light duty trucks. I participated in the mamouth refund back then and we spent millions in AdMin costs getting these refunds to the purchasers. I am completely surprised that no one at the IRS Excise Tax Branch has not said something. In my day they would have said something by now. Must be they need help. State sales taxes are much different, maybe someone else can speak to that.
But you notice the oil cartel has been deftly silent, makes you wonder.
But to all and sundry Obana came out on the issue in the Stratophere agaist the likes of Clinton and Mc Blank.
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bigger gasoline tax needed to save america
basically there are all kinds of plans to help our energy self suffiency, for one there are these absurd cafe fuel standards, when they were created, americans bought "trucks" (read SUVs) where were exempt from the particular CAFE standards, and lacking that would buy imports, you name it, legislation to improve fuel standards by legislating them has not worked, will never work, and is a waste of our money and a waste of time in detroit. There are all kinds of plans to refund money via tax rebates to solar and wind and biofuels, and you see what that leads to, it leads to massive world wide hunger because we are using our corn where it takes a 1 gallon of petrolum to create 1.1 gallons of biofuel, a ridiculous waste of time and energy, creating nothing but hunger because that corn is no longer available to the world.
One thing has worked, will work and has always worked. Gasoline taxes. A fuel tax helps to gently bring america into the realization that we will have to drive smaller cards, move closer to work, suburb masions will decline in value, city properties will go up, white flight will slowly reverse as people move back to urban centers to save on high fuel costs, all the simple important things that have to be done and will be done, they all stem from one source: High Fuel Prices.
A $1 a gallon gasoline tax is the best way to do this. It will gently usher in an era where americans no longer drive 1 to an SUV 50 miles each way. We will end up spending the same amount on fuel, but we will be driving cars like the VW diesel jetta (diesels are better for long trips) or a prius hybrid (hybrids are better for stop and go traffic).
Reducing the federal tax is exactly like a drunk getting up in the morning and feeding his hangover with another drink.
The problem is that fuel prices will spike in the next 5 years, that's a given. We want to give americans a gentle push in the right direction, with less americans buying SUVs and trucks, detroit will be forced to produce more economical cars. If this tax relief works, it will be a temporary fix of the worst order, it will lead detroit, and americans to the belief that gasoline is going to be cheap again, and then like a 3 week bender, it will all end.
As for legislating the oil companies to have less profits, talk about one of the stupidest things you can do. You want massive oil shortages, remember the lines at the gasoline pumps during the OPEC crises? You want to legislate cheap oil, control the oil companies so they don't profit, decrease the gasoline tax, this is a real good way to destroy the capitalistic market in america and lead to rationing, ration cards and gasoline shortages.
This entire idea is a big mess. Of course it's pandering.
I used to read salon because I generally agreed with what salon.com had to say. While I still read it, now a days, I read it the same way that I read hotair.com just to see what idiotic idea of the day these ideological blowhards are saying.