clinton, mccain propose gas tax holiday, fail econ 101

gas is officially reaching $4/gal here in san diego, traditionally one of the more expensive gasoline markets in the us. the rest of america will soon follow suit. so how do gi john and little miss cry-for-votes propose we fix the problem?

let's artificially slash gas prices by getting rid of all the federal revenue we get from gas taxes! cheap gas this summer! we can all afford to take road trips get to work!

jesus christ. i think the straight talk express is actually a short bus, if you catch my drift.

unfortunately, neither clinton with her wellesley and yale degrees nor mccain with his five year study abroad course in 'enhanced interrogation methods' seems to understand the fundamentals of supply and demand. the free marketeers in the gop have a point - the 'invisible hand' has to move the market by itself. if gas gets unnaturally cheaper, more people will fill their tanks. maybe i haven't spent enough time in dc, but shouldn't we start discouraging oil and gas consumption? sadly, the people who run the show don't seem to agree. from the nyt:

Few Americans know it, but for almost a year now, Congress has been bickering over whether and how to renew the investment tax credit to stimulate investment in solar energy and the production tax credit to encourage investment in wind energy. The bickering has been so poisonous that when Congress passed the 2007 energy bill last December, it failed to extend any stimulus for wind and solar energy production. Oil and gas kept all their credits, but those for wind and solar have been left to expire this December. I am not making this up. At a time when we should be throwing everything into clean power innovation, we are squabbling over pennies.

barack says know your role, and shut your mouth:

"It would last for three months and it would save you on average half a tank of gas, $25 to $30. That's what Senator Clinton and Senator McCain are proposing to deal with the gas crisis," he said on Tuesday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

"This isn't an idea designed to get you through the summer, it's an idea designed to get them through an election."

yep. honestly, i don't think anybody's donors over at exxon-mobil would be down with any real petroleum industry reform.

on another level, it's very telling that the ap headline for this article refers to it as the "clinton-mccain gas tax holiday." we're figuring you out, you dirty republicrats. you're all one party, running on the "fuck iran '08" ticket.

update: in my enthusiasm to talk mad shit (what else is new), i totally forgot that joeverkill already addressed this issue. oops.