John McCain to Give Away Gasoline

What will we do here in Michigan if our roads fall into disrepair... oh, nevermind.

A great irony is that as I was reading this article there was a McCain 2008 banner ad on the left side.

Maybe we can look on the bright side, if he revokes the gas tax than our car based infrastructure will crumble with no funds to support it. There will be no economic incentive but maybe the pot holes and bridge collapses will deter people from driving...

Actually, from my understanding the national gas tax pays for the building of new interstates. In exchange for them being built, the state it was built in agrees to maintain it.

Repealing the federal gas tax is a lot like creating a wood powered tree planter.

Repealing the federal gas tax is a lot like creating a wood powered tree planter.

Please enlighten me how exactly keeping my money is "giving away gas"?

This site is to the left of Marx.

I support McCain, but hadn't heard he was going to suspend the federal gasoline tax. I hope its true.

It is the wisest economic move anyone on either side of the aisle could make. The energy situation (China/India buying up world supplies causing prices to rise) is definitely hurting consumer confidence.

How is keeping more of my money "giving away gas"???

Sure, bash the guy for a feel good move in a bid to get elected that everyone knows won't get passed.

But comparing him to Hugo Chavez makes you look like nut job extremists.

McCain is the Aaron Burr of modern American politics.

You can purchase more gas if the price is lowered. ie "giving away gas". Capitalism dictates that the more rare something is the more valuable it becomes. This doesn't always work. Capitalism creates demand mostly artificial. We make things that aren't necessary, "must haves", ie a bigger car or a bigger house to make neighbors jealous. Capitalism creates artificial demand. It is a pyramid scheme that should eventually collapse unless propped up by lies. Don't look at the man behind the curtain.

This guy is a nut for thinking that this is a good idea and I am going to call him on it. All this will do is create a bunch of potholes and thicken the smog. Great.

If anything, he should be talking about doing something REAL, and thats INCREASING gas prices through taxing it more. No. Really. $4? $5.. maybe even $6 a gallon? Then shift the tax to provide fuel price breaks to shipping companies that green their fleets and to individuals buying more efficient vehicles (tax or up front rebates).

I say this because all cheap gas does is promote more gas guzzlers, more driving, more consumption and less worry about environmental impact. It's more more more when we need less less less. And with all this talk about removing Americas dependence to foreign oil...

And for all of you are going to use some expletives towards me... think twice about it. I come from the front that the ONLY way to make a general population to conserve, is to make it more expensive to do 'business as usual'. I'm not saying you all shouldn't drive but I am saying that everyone needs to be smarter with energy use. Smaller vehicles, more efficient engines, more EV's and hybrids... believe it or not, you don't need a 3000kg SUV to live life. In fact, you might be happier with a smaller, more efficient, easier to park vehicle. (I know I was after selling my F150 Pickup!).

Plus. Are you really going to notice if he takes the tax off? It's a savings of a whopping few dollars on every tank. Whoopee. The guy is just saying this to win votes and really doesn't give half a rats bum about the ramifications. I also find it quite funny when everyone complains when gas goes up by a few pennies.. even 10 cents. Just hold off on buying your second daily Starbucks coffee.

More Tax, More Tax, More Tax!
And put it towards something green. Please.

Clearly, he's nuts.

On the other hand, if the roads go unmaintained and nothing new is built, the expected increase (or non-decrease) in driving due to artificially cheaper artificially cheap gas, then presumably the infrastructure will, as someone else here said, crumble. Unfortunately, in the meantime that means more CO2 is emitted. Plus, don't we want to keep roads/bridges in good shape for public transit? Hmm? If McCain wants votes, why not some solid national health care? Sorry I'm not following the campaign trail, I'm pretty busy with local politics up here in the Great not-so-White (aka melting) North.

That photograph is incredibly creepy. It's like a very old photograph of the first oil pioneers, but in modern day, of rich men sucking the world dry of what is not, in this case, abundant.

@Steve:

Best. Comment. EVER.

Ridiculously true, I laughed for a good five minutes.

John McLame is not giving away anything.

By the time a barrel of oil leaves the ground and hits your tank - 80% of the cost you see is TAXES.

Who is the biggest winner in the high priced oil game - the FedGov, they make 3 times as much as the oil companies.

Giving away ppppffffttt.

Why does comparing McCain to Chavez make somone look like "nutjob extremists"?

As far as I can tell they have a fair bit in common, they've both had a military history, they seem to both promote a certain form of nationalism (I'm lost for the exact words to describe which kind(s)), and both seem keen to tie their nations future to petroleum products (for better or worse).

I don't think that is an impossible comparison to make. If you contend that it is incorrect to make that comparison because you consider Chavez to be extremist, and McCain to not be, you will have to come up with some better information confirming this view.

In any case, reducing the price of fuel is a fools game. It's delaying the inevitable. Even if you don't believe peak oil is soon or already passed, only a fool would contend supplies of oil are not finite. At some point, oil will become increasingly scarce, and at that point there is nothing you can do to keep the price down. That is of course assuming we don't already have other compelling reasons to stop consuming oil (e.g. global warming).

Jon says:

"I'm not saying you all shouldn't drive"

*WHY*?

Why in God's name *should* anyone drive? No, really. Is it so miraculous to think that life is possible without a car? Cars have only existed for the past 110 years. Out of some 8,000 years of human civilization, that's 1.3% of recorded history. That entire time, we must have been wasting away waiting for the automobile to come along.

"This money normally goes to the Highway Trust Fund"

Poor choice of words. Why anyone would trust the Federal government to put our money in a lock box or trust fund is beyond me.

this is obviously just a move to try and gain favor with the election around the corner, if he really cared about american citizens he wouldn't suspend the gas tax during the summer, when driving goes up and people could more easily bike or walk, he'd suspend fuel tax in the winter when people need to heat their homes, with that said, i don't think either of those options is the best way to "spend" money

the $10 million he's taking out of the governments tax rolls could be much better spent to help people avoid gas use for much longer than a summer.

i can't help but think of the saying "give me a fish i eat for a day, teach me to fish i eat for a lifetime" with this proposal: give me gas i drive for a summer, spend gas tax on transit infrastructure i travel for a lifetime (or something like that)

OK, I live in Venezuela and got to tell you this: gasoline prices are being artificially kept low by the government. Yes, here in Chávez-land. Why?

Because nearly two decades ago the entire country exploded into riots because prices went up overnight. And I mean big riots that lasted over a week, the kind that forces the National Guard and the Armed Forces to shoot people. No surprise no one wants to raise the price again.

The price of gasoline here in YV is being kept at the same price for more than a decade, but the un-subsidized price would be almost double than today. Wanna weep a little? Premium gas costs 0.62 USD/Gallon here!!! Subsidized!!!

If I recall, during the 2000 campaign the price of fuel was an issue and Al Gore said he would lower it. I think his plan was to convince OPEC to increase output. Two means- same end. I guess that makes Al Gore similar to Chavez too.