Clinton's Gas Tax Plan Called 'Ineffective', 'Shortsighted'

The Washington Post published yet another article today showing the negative reactions to Hillary Clinton's plan to suspend the federal gas tax.

A growing chorus -- including a top congressional Democrat -- labeled Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's proposal for suspending the federal gasoline tax ineffective and shortsighted yesterday, even as she continued to paint Sen. Barack Obama as insensitive to drivers' woes for not endorsing the plan.

Yesterday, HuffPost's Sam Stein published a comprehensive article about how Clinton has nonexistent expert support for the plan:

Surely, however, there must be someone out there not associated with a politician or a candidate who supported the idea of a gas tax reprieve -- especially if, as Clinton suggests, it would be paid for by an excess profits tax on oil companies.

I emailed Howard Wolfson, Clinton's spokesperson, asking him to put me in touch with an economic or environmental analyst who favored his boss' plan. He never wrote back.

So I took the task upon myself. I would call experts from all sides of the ideological aisle to get a sense of where the debate stood. In the end, every single analyst I surveyed judged the gas tax holiday proposal to be, roughly speaking, a silly, superfluous, or outright pandering idea.

Comments

[CostaMesaJoe]

Clinton's Campaign Called 'Ineffective', 'Shortsigh­ted'....by AMERICA...­GO THE F*CK AWAY

[jasket]

16 YEARS. That's how long it's been since she's pumped her own gas. (# deduced by her "Secret Service" statement while observing the foreign object in front of her- The Gas Pump)

[Ammobob]

The national race is a DEAD HEAT. It's only May though. Many gaffe's will happen by both sides between now and November. The JUICY stuff hasn't even bee disclosed or discovered yet. This is GREAT!

[CarlsV]

Speaking of dead ...

The GOP --- dead party walking!

[BerthaVanation]

Even some Republicans are facing up to the facts.

Joe Scarborough believes that the Dems will get 60 seats in the Senate after the election, and big gains in the House, as well.

The election playing field is tilted far to the left in favor of the Democrats, and by double digits.

The GOP is going to be in the wilderness for a generation.

[MsLourdes]

Hillary's kokomemi plan is just like her campaign: ineffective and shortsighted!

[5thGenDem]

If Hillary's plan is so bad, why don't you attack Obama's and McCain's as well? Is the only problem with the Clinton plan the excess profits tax on oil companies? It appears to me that all three plans are just election-year pandering and do nothing to solve the problems, but only Clinton's incurs your dismissal!

[anticon]

Because Clintons is a lie.She knows that a "windfall profit tax" would never get through her home,the senate.She is not just pandering like McCain but lying to voters for short term political gain.
It is as phony as her idiotic photo op at the gas pumps where she admitted she she did not buy gas and could not find the working end of a coffee machine.
It's a insult to voters common sense.

[debrouillard]

No one is attacking her,ppl are only saying they will rather wait for a permanent solution than saving $30 dollars after three months then having the crisis straight back at you.At which point it might be too late already as the vulture will already be where they wanna be and can easily chose to ignore u then. Now is the time to tell ppl what u have in store for them while u need them.
BTW one comments suffices to take on both Hillary and McCain,In case you have not noticed yet,those two have been uttering the same words lately,which makes it safe to assume that they are one and the same,atleast they do reason in the same way,and we arent ppl dont attack individual,they oppose certain ideas.

[nerakami]

The Clintons former pastor was sentenced Friday to THREE YEARS IN PRISON for inappropriately touching a 7yr old in his home last March by judge Micheal Dwyer.
Accountable by Association ??

Why is Hillary pastor getting a pass. Why isn"t this story in the news?

THERE IS CLEARLY A DOUBLE STANDARD HERE or are we saying child molestation is OK in America, just like we don't ask Catholics to denounce, reject the Pope who has shielded and harbored their thousands of priest who have molested tens of thousands of young children.

What's wrong with our thinking, There is something fundamentally wrong with this picture.

[ThunderclapNewman]

I believe that if you research this a little, you will find that it is not the Clintons' former pastor.

It's still a disgusting story, but let's not stoop to the level of spreading falsehoods.

She has enough to do trying to explain why she takes part in religious activities sponsored by a right-leaning cult like The Fellowship, a group which praises Hitler for his management skills.

[grinreaper]

was he preachin child molestin from pulpit
liike wright was preachin hate whitey hate America lovin hamas??
uh no
did shrilary sit there listenin to it then lie, say she never heard it in 20yrs??
no
apples and oranges
rev nobamas goin down,nothin is gona stop that now

[BerthaVanation]

You don't have anything but hate, sweety.

It's funny how you call the Dems silly third-grade names, cause it lets us know you don't have anything to say.

[distant mirror]

Although you have a point I think the story should be in the press if nothing else to illustrate that there should absolutely be a division between church and state. All the candidates have some awful truth associated with their pastor. Don't you think that's a story in itself?

[bobdob]

CLINTON'S GAS TAX PLAN CALLED SHAMELESS PANDERING

[sfbayani]

There goes Hillarious again!
Making a big joke of herself.
is that what you call, the Solutions candidate
or whatever!!!

[partyofone]

Hillary Clinton's gas tax holiday proposal shows the same lack of good judgment so disasterous in her Iraq war vote. Both were calculated to give Hillary a short term political boost, not relfective of the tough choices of a true leader concerned about what is best for the nation and its future.

Hillary is pandering for votes, like she did when you backed a proposal Constitutional amendment to prohibit flag burning.

We need a REAL leader, who can look at research, the facts, listen to advice, make tough decisions and explan them to the public. Hillary says what she thinks Americans want to hear, based on the latest poll, and changes as quickly as the polls do. Enough!

[Tom95134]

It also shows that she has her nose so far up the butt of the Republican elephant she must be breathing through her ears. Why would she be SO STUPID as to propose something that McCain is backing when it is easily refuted. You don't suppose she's pandering to the voters and is afraid to tell them the truth? Maybe the comment made in San Francisco about Hillary was right. We can just put the money on the dresser when we leave.

Come on people, get use to higher gas prices. There ain't no free lunch anymore when it comes to oil and gas and the oil companies are the ones that are keeping development and deployment of sustainable energy out of the hands of the public.

[spacepac]

"Why would she be SO STUPID as to propose something.­..when it is easily refuted?"

Excellent question. But then, this is the same woman who repeated again and again the bizarrely transparent lie about being under sniper fire. It shows she has zero respect for the average American citizen if she thinks she can get away with this nonsense. How stupid does she think we are? And why would anyone vote for someone that lies with such regularity and ease? It means we can't trust anything she says - not one single thing - so why risk putting such a proven liar into the position of President?

[CitizenFace]

The unfortunate fact is there's little politicians can do to reduce gas prices. Most of the things they CAN do have been tried and failed (begging King Abdullah to pump more gas, fighting a war for oil, giving outrageous tax breaks to oil companies, regulating mileage standards, etc.). Supplies are dwindling, it's that simple, so prices will continue to climb. What we needed, about 10 years ago, was investments in alternatives to hydrocarbons that could now be coming online. We didn't do that because hydrocarbon prices were low and therefore more attractive to investors. When oil becomes so expensive that it's cheaper to produce energy with wind and solar, then THAT will be more attractive. Of course, we probably won't be able to support the transition unless we start investing yesterday.

Ultimately, even if we CAN manage to reduce the price of gas (by, say, drilling in ANWR), we'd all heave a big sigh of relief, "phew, thank God THAT's over," and investors would promptly forget about those expensive, new-fangled alternative energy sources that nobody will want until the next time supplies begin to dwindle. But of course, that'll be our kids' problem, so we needn't be concerned.

If you don't like the high price of gas, the best thing you can do is to stop buying any. Oh, wait, we can't really do that can we? We're dependent on a dwindling natural resource and don't have time, money, or sense enough to switch. We is screwed.

[AdLib]

"Ultimately, even if we CAN manage to reduce the price of gas (by, say, drilling in ANWR)"

Do some research, it would take around 10 years for ANWAR to be producing at full capacity and the projected impact on prices at the pump? 1 cent.

[BlackMagicWoman]

"What we needed, about 10 years ago, was investments in alternatives to hydrocarbons that could now be coming online. "

Hmm, I wonder who was in the White House 10 years ago, getting all kinds of "experience"?

[CitizenFace]

White House, Schmite Schouse. It's Congress that appropriates funds.

[partyofone]

Politicians could do a lot to provide incentives for alternative energy and reduction of fuel use. They could stop giving tax breaks for SUV purchases, mandate more fuel efficient vehicles, fund public transportation.

The oil industry says the only way to reduce prices to increase supply by building tax-subsidized refineries and drilling in Alaska.

Why isn't the price of gas regulated like electricity? Exactly why is it legal for oil prices, gas prices and oil company profits, and oil exective mega-million dollar salaries/bonuses to increase by hundreds of percents?

If oil execs, as they claim, have no control over prices and profit margins, why are they rewarded with millions when prices and profits sky-rocket?

[Tom95134]

What Congress can do but will not do because so much of their money comes from oil companies is to fully fund a Manhattan Project for development and deployment of solar based energy. Spain is doing it and there is a study showing it is feasible to supply ALL of southern and central Europe electrical power from concentrated solar tower systems which would be located in northern Africa. We could do the same thing here by using the south and western part of the country but the oil and gas companies kill any thinking in that direction because they want to make as much money as possible off the reserves they are setting on.

[CitizenFace]

Really? ALL of Southern and Central Europe electrical power provded by solar power? Feasibly??? Do please post a link. Sounds like they're doing a cost-benefit study for a technology that doesn't exist yet; unless the math is cooked with heavy subsidies or something, I'm skeptical only because any source of energy that could power so much with a "feasible" investment would make clean energy very cheap indeed. You know what they say about things that sound too good to be true...

In any case, the time for Congress to invest in research and development has passed. Even if every Congressman transformed into a tree-hugging hippie tomorrow and decided to replace all our electricity needs with nuclear, solar, and wind technology at any cost, we still wouldn't be able to get those technologies online fast enough to stem the damage the steadily growing cost of oil would do in the meantime. And then there's the fact that undertaking such a project would be wholly dependent on massive quantities of oil to complete (not that it wouldn't be hydrocarbons well spent).

[debrouillard]

Really,theres very little politicians can do to reduce gas and oil prices? The same must have been said when JFK said a man was gonna be going to the moon.How do politicians send a man to the moon? Yes,the simple answer lies in the word "INSPIRE & UNITE" .You dont have to look far to see that Barack can inspire and unite ppl. Thats all we need,once we have that you wont believe from which corner the solution will be coming from.Remem­ber everything we ever want and need is always around us.At times so close to us that we refuse to pick it up. The solution to the soaring gas prices cld be as simple as saying hello,but we keep trying to find them in textbooks writen hundred of years ago.

[ishy]

Here she is pandering to the voters once again.
Her gas tax plan is both ineffective and extremely short-sighted. She probably knows that - she's not that dumb - BUT DO ANYTHING FOR A VOTE, that's her strong motto. SHAME ON YOU HILLARY!!

[bryan0218]

If the press were to anounce right now that the gas tax was being eliminated. Speculators would reason correctly that demand will go up. They would rush out bid up the price of oil, and your gas prices would go up at least 5 cent a gallon by the time you get off of work, it's just so messed up.

[sonofdy1]

Its time to act instead of talking.

[CarlsV]

.

""Which one issue would you most like to hear the candidates for president discuss during the 2008 presidential campaign?"

1) Economy/Jobs 43%

2) War in Iraq 17%

"which party do you believe would best handle the economy ?"

1) Dems ..........­..........­..........­...... 57%

2) Repugs ..........­..........­..... 40%

"which party do you believe would best handle the situation in Iraq?"

1) Dems ..........­..........­..........­....... 56%

2) Repugs ..........­..........­...... 41%

OUCH!

[MelDel7365]

The Clinton-McCain Gas Tax debacle won't get any coverage by the press because the press is too fixated on real issues that will impact the lives of voters - namely - Rev. Wright.

[BlackMagicWoman]

Didn't you hear? Rev. Wright sent my job overseas, set gas at $3.50 a gallon, and won't fix healthcare!

[Sparklez]

Lol


Exactly. This is the real issue, not Rev. Wright

[CarlsV]

.

*** More Bad News For Republicans --- Way More ***.

""In general, is your opinion of the Democratic Party favorable or not favorable?"

Favorable ..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­.. 52%

Unfavorable ..... 41%.

""In general, is your opinion of the Republican Party favorable or not favorable?"

Favorable ........ 33% (LOFL)

Unfavorable ..........­..........­..........­.... 59% (LOFL)

The GOP --- ClusterFuck Queens of the Universe!

[SCG]

"Counties rethinking gas tax caps"

Limits believed to aid oil firms, not consumers
By Joseph Spector • Journal Albany • 4/25/08

ALBANY - With some Republican state lawmakers clamoring for a suspension of the state's gas sales tax this summer, some counties are taking the opposite approach: lifting what they view as ineffective tax caps.

Onondaga County this month dropped its two-year cap on gas sales taxes after an analysis showed customers were seeing no significant savings at the pump compared to other upstate counties.

Other counties made similar choices after the state in 2006 let counties put a cap on taxes collected on gas sales. The cap exempted county sales tax on prices more than $2 per gallon, which was intended to lower costs by 4 cents on a $3 gallon of gas.

At the same time, the state capped its part of the sales tax at 8 cents for gas purchases, which lawmakers say has saved New Yorkers about $450 million a year.

Yet Rockland County dropped its county cap late last year and other counties, including Schenectady, Orange and Albany, also abandoned a cap after some determined the savings was simply going back to oil companies.

"It is clear that the intended savings for Albany County drivers was a windfall for the oil industry," Albany County Comptroller Michael Conners said in a 2006 report

Continues:
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080425/NEWS/804250337/1001/NEWS

[SCG]

Perhaps the Senator from NY, is aware of the experience of Onondaga County NY?.

You think?

[Toonbytes07]

What experience do you speak of? Inform us...