|
If Sen. Clinton's plan for a moratorium on consumer gas taxes was enacted and the oil companies took the hit, some economists believe that the oil companies will simply up the price to make up the difference. Bush says there is no answer (wow, what a shocker). I think that the government should simply set a limit, a percent, on the amount of money that oil companies can charge above cost on oil. I would also like to see "excess profits" taxed at 75 cents on the dollar. I understand that ideas like this have been attempted before, just ask New Yorkers about rent control, but I don't see how Exxon could create a black market for oil. Maybe I'm being naive???
I also enjoyed Sen. McCain's recent comments concerning corn ethanol. Sen. McCain argues that corn is too valuable as a food stuff. Maybe he's right but maybe before we start talking about how we can't afford to lose corn as a food stuff in order to use corn ethanol as a fuel source, we should start talking about not paying farmers NOT to grow crops or to burn excess crops. I live in Montana, I know farmers who grow absolutely nothing and get a big check from the government each year for doing so. Perhaps we could encourage such people, in areas where corn can grow, to start growing corn.
I don't know if it all matters anyway. We are witnessing a bureaucracy crumbling under its own weight, a President who has destroyed the economy and our image and, worst of all, a new generation that could easily identify Paris Hilton's dog but not British P.M. Brown or al Sadr. We live in a time where people who are "informed" usually pick one issue they identify with and disregard all the other issues. One has only to look at how many poor white people vote Republican. Maybe they want gun rights or less taxes or are Pro-Life but what they don't understand is that Republicans would prefer to cut all funding for the poor, would seek to destroy the middle class, etc.. I've lost all hope for our country. I think there is going to be a revolution. Hopefully it's peaceful. But there is no possibility for our country to continue down the current path and there is no hope of the government reforming itself. The question is not if but when. I don't look forward to it but I see no other alternative.
|