How To Make Gasoline Cheaper...
Bush was on the television the other day discussing his desire to make the tax cuts permanent. That would be wonderful... I can't stand taxes.
But how do you make up for those lost revenues? Here's an idea, and it would also make gasoline cheaper... Cut the income tax, like Bush wants (and I want) and supplement the lost money with a higher gasoline tax. Simple.
Encourage people to work harder by allowing them to keep more of their income while discouraging them from purchasing gas guzzling vehicles that are not only bad for the environment, but for our overall foreign policy as well.
We don't need to drill in Alaska, like they were discussing on CNBC today. That's just another short-term solution. (I agree with most of what Vince Farrell was saying, BTW.)
We need bigger, longer term initiatives that will end our dependence on oil and gasoline, not increase it. The oil guy was saying we'd get 10 billion barrels (potentially...) from ANWAR... that amounts to an extra 1 million barrels of oil a day. We're currently using 20 million barrels a day, so that'd give us a potential 5% increase in supply.
So what kind of savings can you really expect at the pump? To be generous, 5%? Or, 20 cents on $4 a gallon of gasoline?
Is that really the best we can do? Is it worth continuing to ruin the environment? Absolutely not. We need to show leadership and develop new technologies. Imagine America exercising some positive leadership in the world again? That would be nice, and it would also provide jobs.
A decade ago, we produced 40% of the solar panels made in the world... now we produce 8%. Look, you don't have to be a genius, or even a liberal democrat, to see that oil and gasoline production is not the future... so why are we heading backwards?
6 comments:
DT, wouldn't it easier, and make for better policy to cut taxes and then make up the revenue shortage by decreasing spending?
Woody,
Glad you brought that up... if 44% of our tax dollars weren't going to Iraq, that would definitely help.
However, cutting spending will do nothing to get us off of oil. Had Congress been responsible 20 years ago and legislated stricter CAFE standards, we may have never gone into Iraq to begin with...
We need to stop supporting oil and get out of the countries that produce it. We need to become energy self sufficient so we can get back to what we're good at... leading.
-DT
I think the price of oil right now is a lot of speculation and has very little to do with supply and demand. With as much as $25-$30 of the price of oil being speculation, I don't think any amount of a change in gas taxes (either higher or lower) would really do any good. I'm of the opinion that the high prices are mostly due to market forces, and cannot be resolved by trying to force prices lower.
Being a lifetime college student, I'm not sure if this is correct, but aren't the tax rebates for solar power very minimal? If I wanted to (and I will) in the future have my home at least partially powered by solar, shouldn't the government and/or the power company perhaps reward me for consuming less and easing the strain on their system?
a couple of numbers:
US uses about 20 Mil
US imports about 8 mil a day
Of that 8 mil 3 is from Mexico and Canada and about 3.5 mil is from the middle east
If we drill on the coast and alaska we should be able to produce about 3 mil a year.
We could greatly reduce our imports. Greatly reduce our need for Middle East oil.
It is estimated the adding 3 mil to the world suplly could reduce the price of oil by 15 to 20%.
I like all of that above.
The left does not like those numbers and will say they are lies.
The oil companies do not want another refinery. It would take to build one getting things aproved and everything that is needed - 15 years to get it up and running. The ones they do have they would like to expand beyond where there are now. I hate the right for bringing up no new refineries - idiots.
Because the political idots have made it so hard to add refineries - other countries have begun building refenries and the oil companies will just import from them.
Keith Oberman the idots made the case the if the refineries would just be run at 100% of capacity instead of the current 85% we would have lower gas prices. If you do not know why this is such an incredibily stupid comment - then you need to read up on how the oil business works.
Another point - the left hates this when people find out out this but the US national, local and colleges spend more money on research for alternive fuels than nearly the rest of the world.
Another point - current firms working on solar panels are bragging that within 20 years fossal fuels will not be needed based on the advance of solar panel tech - kind of like how the speed of processor chips went. The left hates for people to know that. They want you to think next to nothing is truely being done so they can tax the people that don't like them and give the money to people that like them or will keep them in power.
DT - where did you get the 44% number from. You seem to take facts from left wing web sites that decide to play with the fact.
You are an indenpedent and so am I so you much be Fair and balanced - lol.
How bout some right wingnuts? Maybe I was literally so sick last night that I happen to stumble on Glenn Beck and his guest Ben Stein. I don't watch a nutcase like Beck so I can only tell about yesterday's story.
The boy invited Ben Stein. They talk how U.S. gov is failing to bring down oil prices.
Delusional BS 1: You are on your own. He brought up names like Carnegie, Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan to say Americans are fucking innovative people and they can shit take care of themselves. Sounds familiar, sub-prime, credit crunch, housing bubble, oil @126, privatization of social security?
Delusional BS 2: Oil companies are the ones that are one that supply oil which is driving economy. Why not give them boat load of tax benefit so that they can produce more? Why punish them for doing good?
After hearing that I had no energy even to feel sorry for myself enduring such verbal abuses. The best medicine was sleep as usual.
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