Column: Tax cut won't solve gas prices
May 2, 2008
Three dollars and 50 cents a gallon ... This is upsetting for a number of liquids: milk, orange juice, or fitness water. The thing is though, I don’t buy 20 gallons of milk at a time, and my truck certainly doesn’t run on orange juice. Gasoline prices are crippling, people. Something needs to be done; sadly, I feel like nothing would be done if our nation weren’t in the middle of a highly publicized political season. McCain, Clinton and Obama all have come up with ideas to solve the gas problem.
Well, who is right? And can anything really be done in time to save the country from complete collapse?
McCain wants to cut the federal gas tax over the summer travel months, lowering gas prices by about 19 cents per gallon. Well, that sounds nice. I think it would be nice if gas were 19 cents lower. But what guarantee do we have that after the tax is frozen, the oil companies won’t hike up the price of gas another 19 cents rendering no change in the price?
Clinton, like McCain, wants to freeze the federal tax. The government has enough money already, right? Wrong: The money that they will lose from freezing the tax for three months will be close to $10 billion. This money is used to take care of our roads and finish highway projects, and if you are from St. Louis, that is a big deal. This is why Clinton wants to tax oil companies up to 50 percent of their profits that exceed a certain number.
Obama doesn’t like any of it. He wants to keep the tax in effect over the summer months. Finally we find a clear-cut difference between Obama and Clinton — outside of that whole race and gender thing. Obama says that the tax break is only going to save average consumer about $30. “A half a tank of gas, that’s their big solution,” Obama said about the other two.
Frankly, he is right; we don’t need a short-term solution that will take $30 fewer out of the pockets of hard-working Americans. Something needs to be done for the long term. There should be regulations on gas prices and oil companies, and corporations must be held responsible for crippling the working class that supports them.
I thought you were supposed to water a tree at its roots, not just piss on the leaves. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being “trickled down” on.
Alas, nothing can even be done until after January, when one of those three will start their presidential term. This whole hubbub seems to be just something that will keep all three of the candidates name in the news. Realistically, nothing can happen; this summer will be one of the hottest, poorest and worst in American history. The nation has officially declared a recession, and every facet of life is being affected. Just look at MU: They are canceling classes because there aren’t enough rooms, they have students living in lounges next year because there isn’t enough residential space and Northwestern is now the No. 1-ranked J school in the nation. But hey, our football team was pretty good, right?
You may think I seem cynical, and that means you know what that word means, but it is clear that something is screwed up around here. For now, I suppose I will do what most middle Americans will be doing this summer: driving less, drinking more and remaining ever so disgruntled.
Love, Ryan Beck.
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