High Prices at the Gas Pumps? All You Need is Straight Talk (& a Gas Tax Holiday)

Posted by Damozel | Put McCain in charge of the economy, STAT!  It turns out that the solution to rising gas prices is a little straight talk and a psychological boost in the form of suspension of the gas tax:

I propose that the federal government suspend all taxes on gasoline now paid by the American people — from Memorial Day to Labor Day of this year. The effect will be an immediate economic stimulus…. [B]ecause the cost of gas affects the price of food, packaging, and just about everything else, these immediate steps will help to spread relief across the American economy.” (Crooks and Liars)

Happy thoughts, war skeptics, subprime borrowers and pink slip recipients, happy thoughts!  Kindly old Grandpa McCain wants you to have a few extra pennies to spend on a few indulgences and to turn that frown upside down!  Not that there's anything really wrong; you just need a little psychological boost.  Watch him say it:

Let's have some straight talk, it’s not a huge amount of money. But it might be nice to be able to save a few bucks and maybe buy something else the next time that they have to fill up their gas tank and say, “You know I’m going to be able to afford that little expense now.” A little psychological boost. That’s what I think [the gas tax holiday] would help. But we also, I think, we need to stop competing for a limited supply, as far as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is concerned. Let’s just stop buying that as well. But it might be a nice thing to happen. (Think Progress)

Steve Benen at Crooks and Liars in a piece called "Gas Taxes and Head Games" just wants to know:  "So, which is it, a seasonal tax cut that will serve as “an immediate economic stimulus,” or a gimmick to alleviate our “psychological” problems?"

In a piece called "The Economy's Fine.  You, however, may be psychotic," Jazz Shaw at The Moderate Voice has the answer:

You may think that gas and food prices are rising, jobs are being lost and the housing market is swirling near the bottom of the bowl.  But it’s all in your head.

Senator McCain has recently stated that he believes the country is in a recession, while earlier this year he was sticking with the White House line in saying that it was just a temporary slow down. However, this interview seems to indicate that he simply can’t drag himself away from the idea that everything if going well enough but the bad economic news is some sort of partisan political plot. (The Moderate Voice)

I don't understand how anyone can take McCain seriously on questions concerning the economy.  Here's yer straight talk:  It's exactly like talking to your grandfather.  He knows what he knows.  But he doesn't know anything else. And he's not any longer in the business of learning.   

Memeorandum is here.

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Does Obama Dislike the Taste of his Own Medicine? 

Comments

[Adam]

I'm on record wanting something like an extra $1.30 to $1.80 EXTRA gas tax. It's a triple whammy - reducing the deficit, reducing carbon output, and weakening our political dependence on and financial support of the OPEC states.

http://bucknakedpolitics.typepad.com/buck_naked_politics/2008/04/gas-prices-up-a.html#comment-109131736

I cringe a little every time Hillary and Obama bring up gas prices. It's an easy populist hot-button issue to push, but I think they both know better. If we are going to stop climate change, the cost of gas is going to have to go up, not down.

[Adam]

Ugh.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/04/21/clinton-joins-mccain-on-gas-tax-obama-opposes/

Well, this makes me happy to be an Obama supporter. Unfortunately, even Obama refuses to actually support a RAISE to the tax, although he surely realizes that enforcing cap-and-trade on refineries would have that effect.

Hillary is breaking from the core of her public policy by supporting this idea, although her "if we could make up the lost revenues" hedge sort of means "I support this unless I don't".