No gas tax holiday

[riddler 0]

Gas tax, in fact, will increase

Not that it would've made a huge difference to holiday the tax, but OTOH, an increase is going to hurt.

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With gas prices setting records daily, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain and former Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton called for a 90-day suspension of the federal fuel tax to give drivers a little relief at the pump. The fuel taxes go into the Highway Trust Fund, which is used for road construction and repair and mass transit.

Clinton suggested making up for the loss by imposing a windfall profit tax on oil companies, an idea that Republicans rejected. McCain said the money could come out of the general Treasury fund, in effect adding to the federal deficit, and is still getting mileage from the idea.

"Some economists don't think much of my gas tax holiday," he said in a speech this month. "But the American people like it, and so do small business owners."

Barack Obama, the likely Democratic nominee, opposed the idea from the beginning and the White House gave it a cold shoulder. Depriving the 52-year-old Highway Trust Fund of $9 billion at a time when it is heading into the red doomed the notion of a gas tax holiday in Congress.

Hey guys and gals running for office - you're supposed to break your promises after you get elected.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[n23x 0]

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The fuel taxes go into the Highway Trust Fund, which is used for road construction and repair and mass transit.

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Barack Obama, the likely Democratic nominee, opposed the idea from the beginning and the White House gave it a cold shoulder. Depriving the 52-year-old Highway Trust Fund of $9 billion at a time when it is heading into the red doomed the notion of a gas tax holiday in Congress.

Are Americans 'entitled' to cheap gas? Even if their infrastructure is based around cheap, individual transportation?

The answer is no. The sooner people are forced to see that gas is dying as a viable energy source, and work faster to develop transitioning technologies, the better.

"It hurts"? Suck it up. Minimize your driving time, use human power/mass transit/etc.

To those that say "I can't", I say, "you won't". You banked on cheap oil forever, you lost, and now you have a harder transition than the rest of us.

.jim

"Don't touch my fucking Easter eggs, I'll be back monday." ~JTFC

[rhys 0]

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Are Americans 'entitled' to cheap gas? Even if their infrastructure is based around cheap, individual transportation?

The answer is no. The sooner people are forced to see that gas is dying as a viable energy source, and work faster to develop transitioning technologies, the better.

"It hurts"? Suck it up. Minimize your driving time, use human power/mass transit/etc.

To those that say "I can't", I say, "you won't". You banked on cheap oil forever, you lost, and now you have a harder transition than the rest of us.

.jim

I couldn't agree with you more.

Soon when gas goes to $8 a gallon like the rest of the world, what will happen?

lets face it, america was blind to the obvoius.

The EV1 could have been in full production by now, Bullet trains and electric busses could have been everywhere and the air could have been relatively clean and the US economy and military could have been strong......

..instead, recession, dirty air, SUV's, a weak economy and a military dependant on oil that is too expensive.

Oh well don't try to say i didn't say so 5 years ago

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[kallend 1,651]

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I couldn't agree with you more.

Soon when gas goes to $8 a gallon like the rest of the world, what will happen?

lets face it, america was blind to the obvoius.

The EV1 could have been in full production by now, Bullet....

I don't think it was blind. It just required a long term outlook and US corporations (and their bankers) are totally preoccupied with the next quarter's profits.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.