Bloomberg Slams Clinton, McCain Gas Tax Plan

NEW YORK — Mayor Michael Bloomberg called a summer-long suspension of the gas tax favored by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican John McCain a dumb idea.

The New York mayor, who flirted with the idea of an independent presidential bid, praised Democrat Barack Obama for opposing the plan to suspend the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.2 cent diesel tax during the peak driving months of the summer.

All three candidates covet Bloomberg's endorsement. The mayor has spoken highly of Obama and McCain in introducing the two at recent events in New York.

Speaking to reporters at City Hall, Bloomberg said of the gas tax holiday, "It's about the dumbest thing I've heard in an awful long time, from an economic point of view. We're trying to discourage people from driving and we're trying to end our energy dependence ... and we're trying to have more money to build infrastructure."

He cited those three reasons for opposing the gas tax holiday favored by McCain and Clinton. Obama has said the savings would not be significant for the average individual, and Bloomberg agreed.

"The 30 bucks is not going to change anybody's lifestyle," he said. "The billions of dollars that we would otherwise have in tax revenues can make a big difference as to what kind of a world we leave our children."

The billionaire mayor said in February that he had decided not to run for president but has dangled the possibility of his endorsement. The Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent has ties to all three candidates.

Comments

[Wheatstraw]

SO...THIS IS WHAT THE CLINTION CAMPAIN THINKS OF INDIANA? NICE!!!...

SO CAN WE CALL THIS SH!TGATE?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-MzByUHIzw&feature=email

[chicago25624]

Of course they could care less about the midwest. Only the states that are fat with delegates. Howie the screamer thinks this should be over all ready, because Indiana and the midwest means nothing to them, until it matters.

This is just the typical democrat mindset about anyone who has values.

[Wheatstraw]

Now..I am not claming that the made this statement yesterday.­..but these are some of her major supporters and within her campain.

[DavidK08]

She is done and knows it. Obama could loose both states next week and he will still win. She is realizing that she doesn't have the stroke.

The gas tax holiday isn't real. It is an empty promise that no one has to deliver on because if she won, she would already have the oval office and wouldn't need us dumb asses anymore to vote for her. She would have already fooled us enough.

[incontempt]

That was Georgies attitude that got america in this mess....ir­rational!!­!

[randyjet]

PROGRESSIVES Go to Sen. Bernie Sanders I-VT web site and see what a REAL progressive says. It sure is NOT following BUSH and believing what he says like Obama is doing. Since when is following the lies of BUSH a CHANGE? Since when is following the orders of Wall Street CHANGE? All the so called experts are neck deep in oil speculation and are terrified that anybody would try and stop their scam.

[mamacat]

The more I hear from this man, the more I like what he has to say.

[DavidK08]

Some say that Obama may tap him for VP.

[SCharb]

Naw, Bloomberg's base is among east coast liberal yuppies, which is a block Obama has sewn up. Bloomberg might have a cabinet position, governorship, or senate seat in his future.

[lisakaz2]

That's why I would support him if he ran for national office.

[navarro]

Though I agree that the gas tax holiday is a poor idea, the argument that demand will increase because of an eighteen cent price decrease is disingenuous. Gasoline is one of the few commodities that is virtually exempt from the laws of supply and demand. When gas was 89 cents a gallon (about ten years ago), no one ran out and bought extra gas. And now that gas prices have been steadily rising for eight years, I still have to buy the same amount, regardless. It's not really a choice (for most people at least), and the law of supply and demand is based on the notion of choice. For example, if the price of pepperoni suddenly skyrocketed due a shortage of whatever pepperoni is made of, I would choose not to order it on my pizza. But my job remains twenty miles away, and there is no public transportation. Where is the choice? My point is that gas prices are based on the price of oil and the greed of oil companies, and nothing else.

[KillTheMessenger]

Let's assume you get the 18 cents passed on by the oil companies (which they don't have to, there is no law for that). So now you save two to three dollars every time you fill up. On the other hand, we now need to raise $9 billion somewhere to repair the roads and keep the people who repair the roads for us employed. So we borrow the $9 billion. So the dollar's value drops a little bit more. So now you pay more for everything that we import, not just oil. Sounds like a good deal?

As for transportation: you can drive a smaller car or you can share the ride. In the end you will have to suck it up. There is no other solution, no matter how hard and unfair it feels.

[geneven]

The choice is in "going for a drive"-- ever hear of that phrase? It's a part of the American language. It could also be called "discretionary driving," and probably is. That has DECREASED as a result of price increases, I'm absolutely sure, because I and my friends here in the Los Angeles area, where driving is king, have decreased the amount of discretionary drives we are taking.

Many people also have a choice in whether they carpool or take alternate forms of transportation. I, for example, frequently travel from the Los Angeles area to San Diego. I am more likely to take Amtrak and less likely to take my car as a result of increasing gas prices.

The 18 cent gas tax holiday is insane because it just passes money from our government to those increasing their prices. The only message they can understand in the long run is conservation or competition. Making it easier for them to get the extra money they are demanding just encourages themj.

[york61]

you have a point to some degree but gas is elastic to the point where people will downsize their cars to compacts as evident by recent reports and thus consume less gas. People will also cut down on driving short distances. Yes people will ride their car to work but some will choose to car pool take mass transit where available.

[laksa]

Good for you Mr. Bloomberg to come and say that this gas tax holiday proposal is such dumb idea. When all the newspaper or TV were saying economic experts, you think the voters know or listen? I don't think they do. They need someone they know or at least a well known figure to come out and say it is dumb. Some would have thought this is a topic close to Gore's heart and that he should come out and say something, but sadly it is not in his agenda. What is the matter with our government officials nowadays? they only do thing or say thing which benefit them. So disappointing!

[randyjet]

Gore does NOT wish like Obama and Bush to keep the peons from doing any driving other than going to work. At least Bloomberg made it clear why he wants high oil prices. Any wonder that the average worker is not voting for Obama? High oil prices won't stop Bloomberg and his fellows from doing anything. Of course, Bloomberg is also involved in oil speculation and doesn't want anybody doing anything to screw up his oil scam.
A person with any intelligence would have to ask WHY is not Gore out there? It is probably because he KNOWS Bush LIES. When Obama finds himself on the same side of an issue with Bush, it should trigger ALARMS all over the place. Is that CHANGE we cannot believe in?

[incontempt]

on the same side as george bush?? Just because barrack doesn't sign on to a loser idea that will cost us much more in the longterm then immediate gratification you can't draw a link and compare barrack and georgie...­well maybe on your coloring pad with crayons at playtime..­.but NOWHERE in reality...­.maybe you should walk and think this one out.

[99hockeyman]

What is Al Gore running for? These are polticians trying to curry favor with voters this year. Bloomberg may not be running for anything yet, but he has it in the back of his mind. Did anyone ask VP Gore his opinion?

[randyjet]

For those who want to know some FACTS instead of spin, go to Star-Telegram.com/ed_wallace and look at his column Thank You Bubble Boys. He is a writer for the STar-Telegram and does a lot of reseach on oil. Also, I would urge all Obama supporters to go to the most progressive Senator Bernie Sanders web site to see what his solution is. Hint, it is also a tax holiday among a lot of other things. Is Sen Sanders also pandering? He is not up for re-election for another FIVE years, and he is not running for President. He is also on the Energy committee.

[Rog49Thomas]

I was relieved to see that the headline was incorrect - It wasn't the dumbest thing that Brother Michael had heard.

The dumbest and scariest things I've heard come from McCrazy:

(1) 100 Years in Iraq

(2) Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran

(3) My friends make no mistake there will be more wars.

Idiocy over gas tax holidays pales in comparison.

[armadillious2002]

My wife and 4 sons have talked it over and we have decided that nomatter what we will not vote for Clinton. My wife and I supported her at first and can hardly stand to look at her now. That's six votes she'll never get. EVER!

[Rog49Thomas]

So you're voting for McCrazy.

Any draft eligible children.

My friend, there will be more wars. 100 years a pop if you're lucky.

[Beowoof]

I almost agree with armadillious. It's not good to reward bad behavior.

[idabamaho]

No. No person is obligated to vote republican OR democrat.

[jafahr]

i agree! at first my kids were shocked and argued with me about it... i have two sons who will be of draft age during the next term. i just cannot vote for her. if our party is destroyed as a result of this (i.e., the superdelegates hand her the election) so be it. then it needs to die. it can be rebuilt as a progressive party. now my kids are in agreement.­.. none of us can stand to look at her or listen to her.

[c1ee]

Relax, the super delegates aren't stupid. What could possibly move them to vote for Hillary? She's lost in all measures, and now her argument is that she's kneecapped him so bad he is unelectable. In order to condone and reward such behaviour is scandalous. They won't do it.

[ghostwriter5]

Dumbest thing ever--after the west side stadium, congestion pricing(my way only), mayoral control of schools, Olympics in NYC, and other Bloomberg failures. The guy is a real diplomat--gets the tough things done by working with others. He's also big on cutting the school budget so he can give a $400 rebate to property owners.
The gas tax is regresive--it's the poor who have to drive the furthest in the oldest cars to get to work. It's just a little break--not a long term solution, but if you are broke it might help a little. Thanks to the Republicans most areas have very poor public transportation.

[vippy]

18 cents less don't help anybody. We need more like $ 1.80 = then again, the poor chaps who
work for the highway department will be out of a job! Ergo BAD IDEA!!!!

[Plumbervip]

May 1st, 2008 9:21 pm ET

TO ALL THE OBAMA SUPPORTERS:
Since the media is refusing to reveal/report the Paul vs Clinton fraud case in court right now, we need to create our own movement and flood every blog on CNN and every blogging website on the World Wide Web with information from the case regardless of what the topic is. For those that don't know - Google Paul vs Clinton and hold on to your shirt with what you read!!
For those of you who think this case has been thrown out or is irrelevant:

"In the landmark civil fraud case against Bill Clinton in Los Angeles, where the former President is charged with defrauding a Hollywood dot com millionaire to help Hillary Clinton obtain more than $1.2 million from him for her 2000 Senate campaign, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz ruled on Friday, April 25, 2008 that Hillary Clinton would not be required to testify in a sworn deposition as a material witness in the case until AFTER the November election!.­" paulvclinton.comm)

Here is the kicker - the judge is a Bill Clinton appointee!

OBAMANACS UNITE!!! LET'S DO THIS!!

[writestuff2]

I'm with you Plumbervip and that is a good question. Why isn't the media covering this story? Oh, that's right, I forgot Billary has the media in their hip pocket too. Please, if you are sick and tired of the slanted media coverage of these primaries, then check out the site as mentioned in Plumbervip's note http://www.paulvclinton.com. I am going to send out this site to as many media outlets as possible. The Clintons are poison, and i voted for Bill twice, and we don't need another dynasty in the white house anymore!

[bryan0218]

Ok check this out, you drop the gas tax 18 cent, this drives up the demand, so speculators drive up the price of oil, now gas prices go up 10 cent per gallon. so now you are only saving 8 cent per gallon now the summer is over, you put the 18 cents go back on, now gas is up 26 cent per gallon, 8 cent more than before the summer moratorium. 7000 road workers are now out of work, 70 billion dollars in revenue gone forever, bridges and roads are in disrepair, Windfalls profit tax does not get passed and Exxon makes 10 billion dollars in profit this quarter as a result of the higher oil prices. WTF happened.

[notyouraveragebear]

So Hillary thinks she can buy my vote for $35 dollars? Uh, no way, Senator. And I don't like you think that's all my vote is worth. You really don't care about us at all.

While you are holding back on that 18 cents/gal. the prices will continue to rise )they have gone up every day for 17 in a row.) Then after a few months the tax kicks back in and the prices is higher than ever.

So exactly how does that help me in the long run, Sen. Clinton?

Too bad you have no vision for the future, no ideas on what to do now to stop increases now - AND in the future. Come back when you have something viable to offer - this is just pure pandering.

[AjicNYC]

pah leeze Really you think she is so awful now because of this???? It is better to do something then nothing at all. At least she is coming up with things to HELP Americans. Its SO easy to criticize someone and quite another to come up with a better plan.

[PrdAmerican]

No, it's easy to lie to the American people. It's easy to rob peter to pay paul. It's easy to pander for votes.

What's hard is to to say, NO America this won't work. Why? Becasue you insists on driving gas guzzling SUVs to the super market, you want to keep the gas flowing at recrod highs but ignore the fact that what you are putting in that tank is an un-renewable resource.

It was hard to say that invading Iraq was wrong. It is hard to tell America that we are going to have to cut back and change our ways...not yesterday, not after the summer, but now.

[benwha]

I think it is awful because it is just pandering. It will actually hurt what we should be doing which is slowly weaning us off oil. It is a horrible idea whose only point is to pander to people who do not understand simple economics. We need to start doing what is right, not what will get you elected. For these reasons I think it is awful. Not she is awful which is I guess your point. But it is awful.

[Thunderbeach]

It's not about the gas tax. It's not about infrastructure. It's about the election. Clinton and McCain are offering the gasoline tax holiday as a token platform to make you think your government understands your pain in the gas. They offer their placebo the same way a doctor might offer antibiotics to patients with viral infections. They don't do anything, but the patient goes home with something to do and in a couple of days, voila! It worked. Obama is taking the stern position setting up the idea that he expects everyone to attack the high price of gas by turning green. His offer is like mom offering Castor oil. It stinks, tastes bad, and probably could help, but are people really going to elect a Castor oil toting president? I guess we find out soon enough.