Liberal Answer To High Gas Prices? More Taxes.
Dear God,
Before I put my head down for the day atop my satin-cased pillow, please hear my prayer and consider answering it in my (our) favor?
Please? Please, God … Please release us from the insanity of the left in this country … before we cease to exist at our own hand?
Oh, and Lord, thanks for making our military the best in the history of the world.
We just might need them here in the Second Revolution …
Thank you.
Maggie
Yglesianomics
Noah Pollak - Commentary Magazine
The Dean of the Credulosphere was trying to write about economics today, to hilarious effect:
And if we made gasoline more expensive through, say, higher gas taxes or a carbon tax then not only would we secure the public health, congestion, and environmental benefits of expensive gas but the government would have a good source of revenue with which to mitigate some of the consumer pain.
So . . . higher gas taxes are the solution to the consumer’s problem of high gas prices. Got that?
But there is a serious point to be made here, which is that it’s very interesting to observe the contradictions among liberals between their desire for progressive taxation and their advocacy for higher gasoline taxes. Demand for gasoline, in economics jargon, is inelastic, meaning that a change in price is not rapidly followed by a change in demand. In other words, the working mother who has to commute 10 miles to work each day cannot in short order switch to a job closer to home or buy a Prius, and so she is forced simply to pay the higher prices and reduce spending in other parts of her budget.
Normally, this is exactly the kind of scenario that would register significant rumblings on liberals’ economic seismographs, which are finely tuned to detect injustice: gas taxes are a classic example of regressive taxation, in which the tax burden falls disproportionately on the poor. New gas taxes wouldn’t have the slightest effect on the behavior of rich guys living high-consumption lifestyles, but would eat up a significantly higher portion of a poorer person’s budget. Yglesias and his tax-loving co-religionists can either be champions of the working classes, or they can lead a campaign to tax America’s carbon footprint into submission. But they can’t credibly do both.
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a little off topic (great post drill) but “10 miles to work each day” ?? is this supposed to be a long distance?! Hell I know people who have to commute 50 miles to work cuz there ain’t shit for jobs where I live but anywho…
June 20th, 2008 at 10:10 pmSeriously!! … My son-in-law was driving about that far, or more, everyday to his teaching job in Cleveland (one way) … so you figure he was doing atleast 100 miles a day five days a week …
A couple weeks ago he interviewed for a teaching job at a closer school system and got the position … thankfully!
June 20th, 2008 at 10:17 pmVote Dhimmi.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:21 pmEconomic and political disaster you can believe in.
*bangs head on table* stupid, stupid, stupid…
June 20th, 2008 at 10:31 pmFriday, 11:45 PDT
Hey, Noah Pollak, I would like to respond to the statements you made in “Commentary Magazine”…
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH
and I ain’t talking about liquor.
( don’t get it, then see the original “JIHADIKILLER” T-SHIRT, in fact buy one, stare at it and think about it and wise-up Dip-shit
)
June 20th, 2008 at 10:51 pm…and now the politicians want to quicken the collapse of our economy by taxing more on the pump! It was bad enough Speculators with their greed jack up the prices. While the environmentalists made sure we can’t drill anywhere in the USA. And that some of the corrupt oil companies sitting on their fat a$$es laughing alllll the way to the bank with a huge profits that some countries budgets don’t come even close. If we do not stand up to these idiots they will gladly destroy our way of life and living standard to be like the 3rd world countries that you see today. One thing for sure who ever is going to be President better fix this problem very soon or he will only be a ONE TERM President or worse impeach! And that’s goes for Congress too!
June 21st, 2008 at 5:35 amYa just tax us to freaking death; the people wll loose all and any incentive to do any work at all.
June 21st, 2008 at 6:13 amWhen O’bambam talks about change, it is not change as in something different; it is the change in your pocket that he wants after he has pilfered all of your dollar bills.