<< April 16, 2008 >>
it seems like everyone else came up with mccainonomics too but i refuse to be deterred
i seem to still be grumpy about last night's hockey game, so hold on.
John McCain Believes We Should Institute A Summer Gas Tax Holiday. Hard-working American families are suffering from higher gasoline prices. John McCain calls on Congress to suspend the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
i will let the url speak for itself, in its full UUID glory: http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/4dbd2cc7-890e-47f1-882f-b8fc4cfecc78.htm.
you can also tell he's serious about cutting down on government waste, and showing his connectedness with hard working america with his use of the less-technical three letter html extension.
anyway, i don't know why mccain thinks that removing an 18 cent-per-gallon gas tax is going to result in anything other than an increase of 18 cents per gallon going to the oil companies. the market is already bearing... whatever the current price of gas is. i'm going to take a page out of robert's friend[1] mitt romney's book:
Jacob Berkman Believes We Should Double The Gas Tax.
Or Triple It.
the cost of gas is only one of the many costs of car-obsessed life. while electric cars and the hydrogen economy crack pipe may solve the gasoline problem, they do not in any way address many of the other problems, some of which are listed at the wonderful carfree site.
while i cannot (publicly) suggest car free cities would solve all of modern society's ills, a lot of our nation's problems are greatly exacerbated, or caused outright, by the shift to care-based cities. since it's these taxes that supposedly pay for our governments subsidizing truck-based shipping (as opposed to rail or ship), removing these taxes distorts the playing field even more. and while i'm all for suspending maintenance of the federal highway system, i don't quite think that's what mccain has in mind here. i saw no explanation of what would be done to offset the lost tax revenue.
in addition, we will never break our addiction to foreign oil if the government continues to come to the "rescue" of the automative and petroleum interests at every turn. the only way we're going to make progress is if people start to see the true costs of their cars, and start seeking alternatives.
John McCain Will End Policies That Contribute To Higher Transportation And Food Costs. Ethanol subsidies, tariff barriers and sugar quotas drive up food prices and hurt Americans.
long-time readers are already familiar with my views on corn-based ethanol, so it should be obvious that i support this measure.
unfortunately there is no mention of, say, farm policies that "entitle" ranchers "to up to $40,000 in disaster compensation from the federal government, even though the nearest debris[, from the columbia explosion,] landed 10 to 20 miles from his cattle."
you should really go read that last article there, i'll wait.
[1] see clarification: http://wednesdaynight.org/diary/2008/04/17
