Electing Morons (We Did It)
Our government officials have once again presented the kind of warped logic that makes you wonder how they stay in office. Of course, when they can vote anyone anything at any time, it helps to stay on their nice list especially if you are a Wall Street CEO, bank or an automaker. But this is one of those issues that really makes me wonder if we don't need to make some radical changes in who we allow to legislate for us. I am talking about the recent discussions about raising the tax on gasoline.
We have been hounded recently to conserve gasoline. To drive our vehicles less and to trade our gas guzzling SUV's for small economical vehicles. To car pool and take public transportation when ever available. So what is the consequence of all of this? We are using less gasoline. That means that the taxes we pay for gas have also been decreased. The government coffers (someone said the government income, but they to not make anything. They just take.) that go for roads and highways have been dwindling. Again a misstatement as it all goes into a general fund but let those poor disillusioned bastards make believe that the funds are separate. After all we have the social security trust lock box, just ask Al Gore. As a consequence of a decrease in the amount of money the government thinks it deserves, they are thinking about raising taxes.
Since I have heard that the free market is dead, the next statement is just a debunked theory but I still think it has validity. It is called supply and demand. When the price of something does up, we use less or find alternatives. When gas went to $4 per gallon, we changed our habits to use less. Now they want to increase the price of gas to fill their general fund and what do you think will happen. If we stop driving less, will they raise taxes again? Where does it end? The state of Oregon is considering taxing the number of miles that you drive. Can anyone say "Let's see how low we can go?" If you tax miles, people will find ways to reduce their driving even further. It is amazing that we are smarter than our elected politicians. Unfortunately, they do not think so. Click on the title to read the Oregon story.
Icool
Cobb
We have been hounded recently to conserve gasoline. To drive our vehicles less and to trade our gas guzzling SUV's for small economical vehicles. To car pool and take public transportation when ever available. So what is the consequence of all of this? We are using less gasoline. That means that the taxes we pay for gas have also been decreased. The government coffers (someone said the government income, but they to not make anything. They just take.) that go for roads and highways have been dwindling. Again a misstatement as it all goes into a general fund but let those poor disillusioned bastards make believe that the funds are separate. After all we have the social security trust lock box, just ask Al Gore. As a consequence of a decrease in the amount of money the government thinks it deserves, they are thinking about raising taxes.
Since I have heard that the free market is dead, the next statement is just a debunked theory but I still think it has validity. It is called supply and demand. When the price of something does up, we use less or find alternatives. When gas went to $4 per gallon, we changed our habits to use less. Now they want to increase the price of gas to fill their general fund and what do you think will happen. If we stop driving less, will they raise taxes again? Where does it end? The state of Oregon is considering taxing the number of miles that you drive. Can anyone say "Let's see how low we can go?" If you tax miles, people will find ways to reduce their driving even further. It is amazing that we are smarter than our elected politicians. Unfortunately, they do not think so. Click on the title to read the Oregon story.
Icool
Cobb
posted by Cobb at
7:10 PM
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