The house economist has been educating me on the gas tax proposals by McCain and Clinton (which no economist on TV seems to like). If you're interested in this issue and don't have your own economist handy, here's an MSN article that sums up what I've heard from various places. The bottom line in the article for how to save on gas? "Don't drive like a jerk." If you don't want to read the whole article, which isn't long, here's an excerpt:
"Eliminating the federal tax, about 18 cents a gallon, would encourage more driving, putting added pressure on supplies, and driving the underlying price of gasoline higher. Since gasoline taxes go to pay for rebuilding crumbling roads and bridges, this is probably not a good time to do away with them. And making gas cheaper will only postpone progress toward developing alternative ways of fueling cars."
Another interesting point in the article is that reducing gas expenditure by as little as 15% would make a huge impact on cost to consumers, but the White House (the article didn't specify which administration) has rejected the idea of putting the responsibility of conservation on the consumer to help reduce gas prices as "a 'personal virtue' that has no business in U.S. energy policy." That may be, but that doesn't mean it doesn't belong in another official forum, like a speech or something, a la "ask not what your country can do for you," etc etc.
Also, I feel I have to apologize in advance. This is supposed to be a cooking blog, but I fear I may stray more often into politics from now until November. I'm from DC. It's in my blood. I will try to be as fair as I can, though, and you can always skip those entries if you like.
1 comment:
Dear KVF, I am pleased that you have been advised by a high quality economist, but you might consider a couple of additional factors before favoring a policy: (1) additional demand as a result of lower taxes, which may raise prices more or less depending upon the size of elasticities (refer to resident skilled economist for explanation) also may encourage more production and exploration. This may reduce the need for alternative energy sources, highly favored (by leftwing sorts), but highly costly in terms of resources, particularly land (wind turbines) and land and water(hydroelectric), etc.
(2) as a chief beneficiary of all assets that are derived by afore said resident economist, you might wish to consider that your personal fortunes might well be tied to expensive West Texas crude oil, which is selling for $123/barrel today, and cheer its rise toward $200. In that case, encouraging demand might well be an excellent policy choice. Love to my favorite (although leftwing) daughter-in-law
Post a Comment