Letters to the Editor
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18 cents per gallon
I think the notion of a "gas tax holiday" is ridiculous. Just as the notion of giving the rich a tax break and all that money will "trickle down" to us middle class/poor folks is ridiculous. [And who thought of the "trickle down" phrase? It's always made me think of peeing.]
Anyway, let's say this gas tax hol passes. With the price of gas going up, 18 cents a gallon is no savings. So the theory being passed around --with cheaper gas comes more consumption -- is faulty as well. Can you imagine? "Hey, Imogene, we can take that family vacation across the U.S. cause we'll be saving 18 whole cents for every gallon we buy." I don't see it happening.
What I do see happening is: with the price of gas so high, people will be driving LESS this summer, so demand for gas will remain at winter levels. Well, the oil corporations can't have that. . .hence the proposed gas tax holiday. They truly think people are stupid and can't do the math.
They're probably not too wrong there.
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This will be the issue
that wins the nomination and presidency for Obama. There's a ton of rhetoric coming from everywhere, but when Obama talks about how typical politicians push these quick fixes so they can claim they did something, and when Clinton and McCain defend their position, it just drives Obama's point home. He's gonna kill them on this issue.
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biogirl
There is someone trying to do just that. His name's Barack Obama.
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Obviously?
"Obviously they would have to"? What is he going to do; hold a gun to the heads of oil executives and say, "No price gouging!"
Any policy that depends on the goodwill of the oil industry is bound for failure.
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Hell McCain feels you pain
Cindy's Cesna Citation Excel is costing him $4,600 for a tank of Jet A
Do millionaires not bleed?
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It's not the demand
Marketplace, the public radio finance show, did an analysis of the reasons gas prices are going up (http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/29/bush_moon_q/):
- Demand is going down in the US.
- Refining capacity is going up.
- Gasoline reserves are increasing.
And no one is waiting in line for gas. So, why are prices going up?
Two reasons:
- The decline of the dollar overseas. If we borrow the money for yet another tax cut, this will only get worse.
- Speculators betting up the price of a barrel of oil. A tax holiday doesn't help this either. It just moves needed money out of the Federal coffers and into the pockets of those rich enough to play.
As McCain has said, he's not so good with economics.
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@amspeck
Thank you ! I heard that too yesterday. Any chance we would ever ever see a thoughtful analysis on an MSM evening news show Not likely.....Miley Cyrus showed her bare back...I kid you not I was watching in the gym and they have all three networks running and they all made it a story. sad
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Driver....
I'm going to need you to run over the ancient midget in the road.
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@amspeck:
you left out the most important reason gas prices are going up: Because they can. No one is going to call the oil companies to account.
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Elephantman's first truthful comment
Like McCain, she's proposed a summer gas tax holiday. Like McCain, her spouse is a millionaire. So's she, as a matter of fact. And more than McCain, she's spent more time in Manhattan limousines than Katrina Van den Heuvel, Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd and Elliot Spitzer's call girls, combined.
In other words, there's not a lot of difference between Hillary and McCain. I completely agree!
Guys, either vote for Obama or vote for McCain. Republican-lite is not a solution.
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Alex
NONE of the politicans understand the problems the average American faces with the high price of gasoline.
Larry King had to correct Nancy Pelosi, who thought the average cost of gasoline was $2.50 a gallon, explaining it was actually $3.50 a gallon...and expected to go to $4.00 shortly.
No, NONE of the politicans understand the problems.
Maybe if THEY had to get out and fill up and pay for their OWN gasoline, maybe THEN they would understand.
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And yet another truthful Elephantman comment -
Elephantman's first truthful comment
Like McCain, she's proposed a summer gas tax holiday. Like McCain, her spouse is a millionaire. So's she, as a matter of fact. And more than McCain, she's spent more time in Manhattan limousines than Katrina Van den Heuvel, Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd and Elliot Spitzer's call girls, combined.
In other words, there's not a lot of difference between Hillary and McCain. I completely agree!
Guys, either vote for Obama or vote for McCain. Republican-lite is not a solution.
-- paulpsd7
Elephantman predicts a happy summer for paul, followed by a very unhappy November.
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Soaring gas prices plus soaring food prices are a double whammy ... a real pincher
People have to get to work ... and realistically usable public transportion is not available in a lot of places and is not necessarily "cheap" (and it is very often both inconvenient and time consuming, particularly for people who have ALWAYS owned cars and are accustomed to long commutes).
People have to get to work and in areas with long commutes it can be, again, very time consuming and very inconvenient and even sometimes just IMPOSSIBLE to carpool.
I think the gas holiday is a TERRIBLE idea ... but it's one that I suspect will be welcomed gratefully, very gratefully by many families...
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Rising Gas Prices
Rising gas prices to effect very many minimum wage workers as most of them can't afford to own and drive a car in the first place. The problem is hitting middle and even upper middle income household particuliarly in large metropolitan areas. Many of these people have long commutes to work because they couldn't afford housing near work. I live in Southern CA and I know many people who commutes 50 to 100 roundtrip daily. I commuted for several years 50 miles each way until I saved up enough money to afford a home near work and my situation was and still is common. With the stop and go traffic even a fuel efficient car gets poor gas milage and many people are spending $200 or more a week to commute to work. When you look at households that are already stretched thin trying to meet high mortgages where they can't afford to sell because their house is worth less than they own, couple with rising health insurance preminums, and rising food prices, you realize that many very secure looking high earning households are stretched so thin that if gas prices go much higher, we could very well see many these folks go into foreclosure. I know people who spent $1400 on gas last month - and few households have the ability to come with that much extra money every month - even the ones in the nice big houses.