My Zen Arcade

During the summer, McCain proposes that the $0.18 per gallon tax be dropped.  Now, lets just forget how much this will cost and how many government programs will suffer.

Lets also forget

The federal gasoline tax represents a flat fee of 18.4 cents a gallon nationwide. With gasoline currently averaging $3.39 a gallon, the tax represents a mere 5 percent of today’s pump price. While that’s not trivial, consider that gasoline prices have more than doubled since 2004.

The problem is that lowering gasoline prices at the pump would encourage more consumption. So in the long run, it would push prices up.

Here’s what will happen.  As above, the price drops, then, as consumption increases, the price rises.  At the end of the summer, the tax is returned so the price rises another $0.18.  Everyone complains, the oil companies say “Hey, it isn’t out fault the price is so high.  They brought the tax back.”  Neglecting to remember that they raised prices all summer. 

So, in effect, this plan will really allow the oil companies to raise prices without the bad PR.

McCain, please, leave economics to people smarter than you.

Some days, after hearing about McCain not supporting the GI Bill expansion, after watching the MSM rip into Obama because of some poorly chosen (though ultimately accurate) words, after seeing Clinton use that same cheap attack, after watching some of the worst political reporting in history, I almost want to move into the mountains and set up an armed compound.

And on the topic of Clinton…please…drop out.  You will not become president this round.  I’m sorry, but its true.  There are only two ways this can go for you.

1. You don’t win the nomination.  And so you don’t become president.
2. You win the nomination by getting enough super-delegates to overcome Obama’s lead, basically over-riding the will of the people.  That splits the party.  McCain wins.  You don’t become president.

Personally, a big-ass disaster for the Democratic party might be just what we need.  My concern is the timing.  The fact of the matter is that McCain is a promise of 4 more years of a failed administration.  McCain is completely unqualified in knowledge, experience, and temperment for the office of president.  We have real people with real problems.  Its time we started acting like they matter, like the 57% increase in foreclosures matters, like the fact that there’s no end in sight to the bloodshed in Iraq, like the fact that the rich get richer and the poor are just shuffled off.

McCain doesn’t care.  Maybe he used to care, but he’s decided he gets more votes from the filthy rich who don’t have any problems.

Hm.  I think I always get a little pissed at the rich around tax time.  Not because they make more than i do.  But its the complaining.  Look, I make a decent living.  I’m not rich, but I’m doing pretty good, probably better than my parents ever did.  I consider myself to be part of the ‘group that always gets screwed’ when it comes to taxes.  Not enough wealth that anyone cares about me, not poor enough to be a cause.  And I’m OK with that.  I pay my taxes.  I do so, basically, without complaint (I don’t necessarily think we spend our money wisely…).  I can’t stand people making twice what I do who then bitch because maybe this year they can’t buy the third house so they can vacation on the east coast AND west coast.  That sickens me.

I like being part of this country.  I like having roads, and hospitals, and firemen.  I like having services and defense and all that.  I know that my taxes going to help the poor also helps me, and that someday I may need that same help.   I am an American, and I am a patriot.  And I believe we should stand together or not at all.

What about you?

McCain Asks For Donors To Pick Up Rudy’s Tab

“The Giuliani campaign is trying to retire the debt they incurred during the primary campaign. As the leadership of this campaign, the Senator and I are asking you to help in this effort,” wrote Davis, who praised the former New York City mayor as “a national hero” and thanked him for his “dedicated support” of McCain.

According to the most recent March 20 filing with the Federal Election Commission, the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee reported more than $4 million in cash, but more than $3.1 million in debt.

So, if you are a homeowner who has gotten screwed (regardless of how), you have to take personal responsibility for how you and your family are losing your home.  Obviously, you gambled and lost.

But, if you run for the Republican Nomination (which, I think we can say, is a bigger gamble), you realy shouldn’t be held accountable for your wasting of money.

3.1 million dollars.

Over 150 families could each receive 20K towards keeping their homes.

Rudy, millionaire, obviously needs the money more:

Giuliani reported assets of between $18.1 million and $70.4 million. Because the FEC allows candidates to report assets within ranges, the actual value of his assets lies somewhere between those figures.

(By the way, I’m not saying that I understand the complexities of campaign finance.  Its entirely possible that this HAS to get paid off through donations.  However, I think it does illustrate a point)

In contrast, when McCain was asked whether the Federal Reserve went too far in extending a $30 billion credit line to finance the takeover of Bear Stearns by JPMorgan. “It’s a close call, but I don’t think so,” he said.
The article goes on to note how irresponsible Bear Stearns has been with all this.
So, the messege here is, if you are big enough you need help because you are so very important. If you are simply trying to keep your home, its your own damn fault so we don’t care.

(I apologize…I’ve been trying to avoid any more McCain posts, the feeling being that I’ve really said all there is to say. But the man keeps opening his mouth…)

I will be the very first to admit that the housing/credit crisis is complicated and probably doesn’t have any kind of simple solution, and is even less likely to have a solution everyone likes.
However…
1. I don’t think that lumping individual borrowers with massive banks is reasonable. I do understand that some people were stupid and irresponsible. And some people certainly should have known better. And some people were intentionally blind. But I am a smart guy and mortgages and such are complicated things that make my head spin. Further, some of these people were very much taken advantage of (there’s an investigation pending here in Baltimore).

2. While I don’t think that the US banking system is going to collapse tomorrow, when Bear-Sterns goes from $169 a share to $2 (I guess $10 now) a share in 12 months, the situation has gotten beyond simply a problem.

3. People losing their homes is EXACTLY what government should be helping to prevent. If not, then why have much government at all? Oh, right. Republicans don’t like having government do much. Unless its keeping you form having sex. And, of course, the rich aren’t losing their homes. Not their primary homes, at least.

Newsvine - McCain to Address Housing Crisis Options

“I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers,” McCain said. “Government assistance to the banking system should be based solely on preventing systemic risk that would endanger the entire financial system and the economy.”
…
McCain has acknowledged in the past that he knows less about economics than he does about national security and foreign policy…

No, the White House would never obfuscate, evade, or otherwise keep the truth from the American people.
Ms. Perino, do you cry yourself to sleep at night, a bottle of bourbon next to you on your pillow?
Do you?

Crooks and Liars » Dana Perino “Under Strict Instructions…To Not Talk About The Dollar”

MS. PERINO: Wendell, I’m under strict instructions, and have been from the beginning, to not talk about the dollar, and I’m not going to get fired to satisfy your question.