Sunday, October 5, 2003
Please don't answer that.
Thomas Friedman, acknowledging that OPEC's attempts to keep gas prices high will stand in the way of economic recovery has an even better suggestion - one that will not only help drive revenue into the Federal coffers, but will also force us into finding a serious energy policy, AND make us more popular in Europe. Oh, and by "better," what I really mean is "whacky."
Yes, what we really need is a $1/gallon gasoline tax!
We'll show those Arabs how to screw us over! We'll do it ourselves!
President Bush could even say that this tax is his long-promised alternative to Kyoto, because the amount of energy conservation it would produce would result in a much greater reduction in U.S. energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions, than anything Kyoto would have mandated.
I have a better idea: Leave big rocks next to the filling-station pumps, and with every gallon you pump, you have to whack yourself in the head with the rock. That should curb consumption even faster.
Way to find another way to screw the average, middle-class American, Tom.
Does Thomas Friedman drive himself to work every day do you think?
Update (5 minutes later): OK, perhaps I overstate my rant, but not by much. It's possible a gas tax of some sort could be part of an overall energy policy, but reaching for a gas-tax FIRST, and then hoping the policy follows is flat insane. It simply won't happen. The burden will be on the average middle-income American (both through the gas for the cars they drive and additional costs on the goods they purchase), the money won't be spent on any targeted item (tax increases passed ostensibly to go for something specific almost never do), and all we'll be left with is one more financial burden. Nuts.
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This is a god-send issue for Republicans if they know how to play it. I've been hearing for years about how we need to raise taxes on gas artificially (through taxes, natch) in order to decrease our use of fossil... Read More
That's the only way I can explain this latest ode to appeasement from the Times columnist, and this fresh off Sunday's appeal to raise the gas tax. Now that Syria... Read More
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