DISQUS

Jack and Jill Politics: Let’s Talk About McClinton’s Terrible Gas Tax "Idea"

  • Cameron · 1 year ago
    You are definitely not alone. From MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24388777/

    <...     love to hear the spin on that one.
  • Ms.Martin · 1 year ago
    Oooh, I couldn't wait for this one.


    I guess the $9.00 per week you save in gas can work towards offsetting the $20.00 per week your grocery bill has risen.



    And what's up with Maya Angelou?
  • Ms.Martin · 1 year ago
    This is precisely why Obama is good for the country.
  • Ms.Martin · 1 year ago
    I hope Obama will come out with an ad citing the experts and explaining why this is not good for the country.
  • Anonymous · 1 year ago
    Comes as no surprise that the former and current GOP canidate, HRC would agree with such a stupid idea. But, to her base, they will think its genuis.
  • s · 1 year ago
    Many Americans want 'instant relief' and this gas tax holiday gives them what they want. $20/month is nothing to laugh at for those who live paycheck to paycheck.


    This is smart politics, not smart policy.



    Food prices are rising because of corn-based ethanol production.



    The Congress is blocking all attempts to achieve a path to energy independence and is responsible for maintaining high gas prices:



    No sugar imports from Brazil to make ethanol

    No new refineries or drilling in ANWR or offshore

    No nuclear power

    No use of Alberta crude oil
  • Anonymous · 1 year ago
    The Wall Street Journal notes that back when he was an Illinois state legislator, Obama liked the idea, back when gas prices were downlight delightful compared to today's:


    In Illinois in 2000, Sen. Obama voted for a six-month, five-percentage point break on the state's 6.25% gas sales tax. The reduction of the tax, which goes into a general revenue fund, passed on a 55-1 vote and included measures designed to ensure that the benefits of the tax break reached consumers. At one point, Sen. Obama jokingly asked on the Senate floor whether it would be possible to install placards on gas-station pumps telling motorists he had helped win temporary price relief.



    When some state legislators tried to make the suspension permanent before it expired, Sen. Obama spoke out against that measure but defended his vote for the holiday, according to transcripts posted on the legislature's Web site.



    "I originally voted for the suspension because I thought that it was extraordinary circumstances, given the huge hike in prices," he said at the time. Gas prices averaged $1.52 a gallon in March 2000.
  • Jack Turner · 1 year ago
    @s, it's not $20 per month. it's an esimated $25 in savings for the ENTIRE summer. That's not nearly worth the savings.


    @anonymous. You are right, Obama supported a similar tax relief EIGHT YEARS AGO.



    I'd like to think he's gotten smarter since then. I know our energy situation has gotten much more desperate since then.



    From a supply perspective, we are in trouble. Formerly exporting nations like Mexico are trimming exports and reserving more oil for domestic use.



    The climate situation is much more perilous today. And as our GOP friends are fond of telling us, the security situation is "different" after 9/11.



    We cannot afford the same old tricks. We cannot afford delay.



    The American people don't need $25 credits. And even Obama is wrong if he thinks the American people need lower gas prices AT ALL.



    Our addiction is subsidized by a vast military presence and by the imposition of our will on billions of people around the world. For what? So we can drive cars that get the same gas mileage today that they got THIRTY YEARS AGO.



    We don't DESERVE lower gas prices. Our stuff needs to be costing $10/gallon, then maybe we'll be paying a "fair" price for this finite resource we seem to think we're entitled to.
  • Sepia · 1 year ago
    Yes, Obama voted for a gas tax holiday in '00 but he saw that it didn't work. He realized that, thus his opposition to McClinton. He has the smarts to understand that continuing to do something that gives you the same negative result doesn't make sense. Too bad "experience" hasn't taught McClinton that.


    BTW, what's up with her always "Me too-ing!" McCain?
  • heartsandflowers · 1 year ago
    Why not go after the gas profits that the oil companies are making instead of taking away revenues from the treasury? And in 2000 Hillary Clinton was opposed to the very same tax she is supporting when she was running for the Senate. Can we talk about a flip-flopper based on what election she's running for?