GAS TAX HOLIDAY - Hillary makes a good point

[panAmerican]

Though Hillary and John are wrong about the gas tax holiday, strategically speaking, she makes a good point by saying she wouldn't cast her lot with economists. Right now, almost nobody wants to use the R-word (RECESSION), even though everybody in the real world knows that we are in one.

When you have 200+ economists get together to say emphatically that she is wrong, but we don't also have such a high number of them unequivocally and publicly confirming that we are in recession, it reinforces in the mind of low-information voters that these economists are elite and out of touch with "real people".

I'm sure Hillary is aware of the fallacy of her plan, but I think it will have the intended effect on her target audience.

Now that I've made my first pro-HRC comment, I'm off to start a 7-day cleansing ritual to redeem myself in DU's eyes.

[BlooInBloo]

1. Yah, that's stupid.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. This is why she should be against global warming.

All those scientists think global warming is real. And what do they know?

[Cali_Democrat]

3. The problem is that Hillary needs reputable economists to say it's a good idea

They are nowhere to be found.

[Happyhippychick]

4. We aren't in a recession. You need two quarters of negative GDP growth by the strict definition.

The economists were right to say her plan was ridiculous and they were right not to declare that we are in a recession.

[Vinca]

5. Uh huh. Much smarter to consult with truckers and soccer moms.

They'll weigh all the options - supply vs. demand, little odds and ends like that, and produce a wise decision.

[Lucky 13]

6. I almost lump this in with the Bush's war on science.

Scientists have been advising that global warning would soon become a crisis. But what do those eggheads know? We had more snow last year than ever before? That ain't global warming if you ask me!

200 economists have gotten together and said this gas tax holiday is a STUPID idea. But what do those eggheads know? They can't even decide if we're in a recession! So they've gotta be wrong about everything!

See how this works?

[panAmerican]

18. That is my point! Unfortunately , those people will equate 2 disparate things

[Lucky 13]

21. It's true. It's faulty logic and she knows it.

[Captain Hilts]

7. I don't agree with the gas tax holiday, BUT, if it points out it's VERY regressive, that's okay. nt

[cali]

8. Actually, many economists have said that we are effectively in a

recession. You realize, don't you, that there's criteria to meet before we're technically in a recession- two consecutive quarters of negative growth?

[Cali_Democrat]

14. Exactly

and it takes months to know if we are even in a recession because of how often GDP is reported and all the revised estimates that take place.

[MattP]

9. I think we are.

That's if inflation is as low as they are saying we are in the positive and as you can tell by the food prices and gas prices it is higher so there is negative growth so yes we are in a recession.

[BeyondGeography]

10. I know this doesn't mean much politically (even if it should), but stimulating demand for gasoline

right now is nothing short of environmentally criminal. High gas prices encourage long overdue changes in consumer behavior. Democrats should do nothing to get in the way.

[DMorgan]

11. Take a good long cold shower, that should bring you back.

And NO, many people who are on the fence or just deciding at the last minute are smarter than that, and see pandering and empty promises as just that. A few tens of thousands will see it as a $28 check in the mail for their vote for Hillary, but they are the gullible ones, the ones that don't understand how government works, think a Presidential contender who wins a primary in Indiana or NC will get that $28 check right out to them, and don't understand that Hillary has, in 7 years, done NOTHING to make this happen by the end of May.

Those votes would have been Hillary's anyway, if people are that uninformed about how it all works.

[sfam]

12. I don't like to cast my lot with dentists, but I still go to get my cavities removed...

I suppose the "head in the sand" approach is a way to go - we've certainly done that for the last eight years afterall. But perhaps its time for something different...

[Exilednight]

13. Recssions are a funny thing, and technically we haven't hit the threshold ........

to label it a recession. A recession is defined as two straight quarters of negative growth, which has not happened. A recession can only be labeled as such after it has happened, not during.

[scheming daemons]

15. Do you even know what "recession" means?

We are in a severe economic slowdown...to be sure.


But a "recession" is a specific term meaning "2 or more quarters of negative GDP growth".


We "grew" at an anemic 0.6% last quarter.... that's very bad.... but it is NOT a "recession".


It is not a word that you can redefine to your liking. It has a SPECIFIC meaning.... and by that SPECIFIC meaning, we are not in a recession.


We might be soon.


When an economist says we are not in a "recession".... he or she is telling the truth.


WORDS MEAN THINGS. You don't get to redefine them to your liking.

[onenote]

16. so you want to criticize economists for dispassionately following the facts?

The accepted definition of a recession is two straight quarters where the GDP declines. The last two quarters have not seen declining GDP. It expanded by an anemic 0.6 percent in 4th Q 07 and 1st Q 08. That's not good and it requires action. But its not a recession and suggesting that everyone knows we're in a "recession" when, factually, we're not, is rather silly.

[Sequoia]

17. Guess what, no one is going anywhere for vacation.

Just stay home and catch up on those home jobs you've been putting off for years. Go to the park, the river, the lake, the beach nearby. Don't bother coming to Caliornia to camp in our state parks since the idiot governor is closing them down and we can't even go there. Young 'uns, start learing how to shoe horses and hitch up the team....the old days are coming back!

[panAmerican]

19. Yes, I know technical definition of recession - I work in the industry

However, NBER doesn't pronounce a recession has occured until it's well under way, and sometimes after the fact. My point is that Hillary is counting on people making a leap in logic about econonomists being wrong on some other issue, and equating that to their opinion of the gas tax holiday.

People fell for this tactic when Bush linked 9/11 to Saddam Hussein. In fact, there's a segment of the population that still believes there was a link, and that we found WMD in Iraq.

[elocs]

20. Just to be consistent here, if we are holding to economists' strict definition of "recession",

and we are placing economists in the position of being knowledgeable about things dealing with the economy, then if they say that a gas tax holiday is a stupid idea, shouldn't it be considered stupid? I am more than willing to go along with the notion that we are not in a recession if it does not fit the economists' definition of one, but then I also think that if economists say a gas tax holiday is not a good idea, then it probably isn't.

[panAmerican]

22. On Hardball tonight, Harold Ford and a State Senator supportging Clinton confirmed what I said

$30 for the whole summer isn't much, but when you're scraping by, it is a lot.

Personally, having grown up poor (not American poor, 3rd world poor), $30 can be a lifeline. She's pandering. The idea won't go anywhere, but she knows there are people who will hang on to those words because it gives them hope.