A gas tax holiday?
Are you serious?
It amazes me that people want to hear things to make them feel better, regardless of that fact that it will make things quite worse for the world of the working class and the poor.
What happens when you lower the price of a good / product? Generally, if the product is a commodity, then demand for that item goes up, sales go up. As sales and demand goes up, the price goes up, because the manufacturer can get away with raising prices because he / she knows you are hooked.
So, drop the price of gas by the federal tax / state tax amounts, and what do you think will happen?
A> the price will drop, people will go back to buying it with the cavalier attitudes they had. As such, and the demand increases, and the supply dwindles more, the prices will shoot right back up
B> the price will drop for the wholesaler, but the retailer will likely not drop his prices in a effort to offset the higher energy and fuel prices they have been absorbing over the last few years.
The net result, the price of gas will stay where it is, or even get higher.
I'm not an economics major, and I certainly don't know everything about everything. I barely know anything.
Sometimes, however, things are so simple that adults can not grasp them. In an effort to deny a problem, many refuse to utilize some critical thinking. Add a healthy dose of skepticism and re-read the above if you don't believe me.
We are hooked on oil. The president knew it, he said so.
We all know it.
Yes, I love my SUV. Yes, I will probably buy another one. Yes, I can afford expensive gas because I don't commute large distances to work. However, I have curtailed my extra-curricular driving. I have resorted to shopping online for things I would normally run to the mall for. I consolidate my trips out to the grocery store, and I'm able to go over two weeks without filling up my tank, and even then I still have nearly 1/3 of a tank left.
If you want gas prices to go down, stop buying gasoline. Stop buying large amounts of it. Stop driving around like a lunatic. Consolidate, conserve, and relax.
If the demand goes down, the available supply will go up, and then the prices will drop.
One final ranting note, the dollar is weak. As such, the cost for that same barrel of oil is more expensive for us to import. If the dollar came back up in value by about 10%, our gas prices would likely drop a healthy amount as well. Think about that next time you ponder charging something on your credit card, and pay cash for your purchase instead. And if you can't pay cash for it, you don't need it.
*ranting complete, enjoy your day*
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2 comments:
indeed!
and if you stop using so much gas then you wont actually *care* so much about it's price. so it's a win/win.
gimmicks, like Greatest Hits tapes, are for housewives and little girls.
unrelated - Did you hear that your uncle's electricity bill in Juneau will be approximately $1600 next month? Btwn that and his mother's pending $70,000 condo special assessment... it's going to be a fun year in the recession!
Yeah, I had heard that Juneau was going to eat it. I wouldn't want to be them. What can you do though? Short of buying a generator and trying to deal on your own. That won't work well either with the cost of diesel going up.
Ouch.
I chafe when my bill goes over $100 a month.
Hopefully they can move into a tent into their yard if need be.
Special condo assessment? I had not heard that. Is that due to the fire / reconstruction? Egads.
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