Economy disaster

Why aren't politicians using their brains? (Oh I forgot they don't have any!)

Prices are going up on EVERYTHING and talk of gasoline being $4.00 p/g by summer mostly because of another tax hike per gallon.

If they drop the interest rate again we are setting up for inflation rise and what good would lower interest rates do anyway? There is no money to buy anything extra- look at the housing market....with lower rates whoopi! you'll be able to get a cheaper mortgage but what good would that do if your dollar still buys less at the grocery store or gas station?  

All politicians can do is blame Exxon ( the new "n" word) albeit that very few people understand the vast difference between profit and profit margin, ECON 101

Instead would it not make sense to forgive all taxes on gasoline for awhile? That would benefit everybody! Lower transportation costs means price drops everywhere including in the construction industry to then build  the houses (people working again! another benefit) in order to make use of the lower interest rates on mortgages. 

 The monies being "reward to us good citizens"  in order to jump start the economy- what a farce.....I am stupified as to the non-sensical, blatant ignorance running so rampant among the decision makers.

This brainless boost the economy effort to me is like dangling a teeny carrot on a stick that is 10 miles long....you want this to work? Shorten the stick you dum-bass, dipsticks!

Phew..feel a little better now after this vent....

Interesting point, and I feel your pain.  You realize, though, that gasoline taxes, at least in theory, go into road construction and maintenance.  It is essentially a use fee.  So if the tax isn't collected from motorists who buy gasoline, it will be paid for with tax revenue collected elsewhere (income tax or tolls), by inflating the money supply further, or the roads won't be built and maintained.  Higher mileage cars are already creating a situation where the government receives fewer tax dollars per miles driven, as it is, since the tax is a fixed amount per gallon rather than a percentage of the price of the sale.

Higher gas prices are a pain in the patooty, but they do inform us that we need to be more frugal with gasoline and they encourage oil companies to increase exploration, production and refining capacity.  Of course, they are severely hampered by government regulation, so it may take much higher prices to see much investment.

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I see your point but I live in a state that has one of the highest gas taxes and our roads and infrastucture are in very poor shape.

IMO, a 6 month hiatus on gasoline taxes will do wonders- much more than mailing out measly checks to then run and spend at Walmart for a new TV made in China!

The taxes collected is NOT spent wisely, but whenever one has goverment spending money you have waste and cost over-run to start off with. If taxes are forgiven the contractors building the roads would be able to quote cheaper jobs since the overhead costs will be lower.

With all the taxes now on cigarettes do we have all the things promised it would do? Nothing has changed.............. where is all that money going????

Bush's stimulus package is really only a Band-Aid on a malignant tumor......dumb dumb dumb!

 

Legalcitizen,

I agree pretty much with your entire last post.  I was only making a point on the gasoline tax that we need to be careful what we ask for and we need to be vigilant in watching over what the government is doing to us!

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We better all start riding bikes.   At least leg power can't be taxed .

We hope (OMG I used THAT B. Hussein Obama word).....the way things are going they will figure out a way to tax leg power too

If gas goes to $4, I will be spending about $100 a week on it. This really hurts.........................

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Well its  all Exxons  fault, if   you  dont  believe me  just  listen  to O"Bama and  Hill, but  they are  going  to fix  that,,,,,,they  are  going   to  take  oil  company  profits  and  distribute   for  the  good  of  us  all.....Never  mind  that  those  profits  have  investors,,,,,and  are  made up of  retirement funds for  people like me,,,teachers  retirement,,,police,  firemen,,, etc etc and  stock holders,,,, the  ignorance of these  2  running  for  president and  the ignorance  of people  who  believe  what  they  spew  out is appalling.

The people voting for them are more likely stupid than ignorant.  Or to be charitable, perhaps misguided.  Obama and Hill are neither.  They know exactly what they are doing.  They are conniving and power hungry and smart enough to fool much if not most of the country.

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Last I heard they were trying to take the tax breaks away from them that they were granted a few years ago when gas was cheap.  Now that they have record profits (indeed Exxon I believe paid their retiring CEO a couple years ago a $450 MILLION buck pension--and that was not even a DENT in their profits!) and use those tax breaks (estimated $18 billion bucks) to help fund solar and other alternate energy sources--which is a GOOD idea!  Imagine how much oil/gas we can save if we could get 5 million homes on solar for 75% of their energy useage?  or 10 million?  Remember, tax breaks are given for a reason when companies need breaks to keep in business or to aid their businesses, and the oil companies don't need that break anymore, but alternate energy sources do.

Frankly, if I could afford the approx $20K cost of re-roofing with solar shingles and tying into the grid, I would do it in a heartbeat!  Places like Florida, Calif, AZ, NM, and the lower parts of the gulf states could really use these well and really cut down on our "money to terrorists" that we send to the middle east every time our furnace or air conditioner kicks on.

Besides, IMO we have a ton of closed down factories, especially in places like Detriot, and one of the reasons solar shingles etc cost so much as that we have only one/two small factories making them...so why can't we use some of this $18 Billion and get some of those empty factories up and running making MORE of these solar shingles, once we have several more factories churing them out, people will have jobs, the cost of them will plummet (remember, it was just about 4 years ago or so that an LCD or plasma TV cost in the multiple 4 digits, now you can find them for well under $1000) so that more of us can afford to install them!  Why can't we be a leader in manufacturing/supplying things like this to the world?  I mean the sun shines the same in India and Africa and Mexico and Norway as it does here!

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VeeBee, the only reason solar shingles cost so much is that Chinese factories aren't ready yet.  You just wait.  They make the shingles so we can save energy,  while they pollute the air by making and shipping them.

 

 

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Couldn't agree with all of you more! Ignorance should be a physically painful experience and ignorant peons should not be allowed to vote!!

First of all, people need to smarten up about the difference between profit and profit margin (as I stated in the beginning) before they throw stones at Exxon. Out of all the profit Exxon made, they paid a whopping $41 mil in taxes- a fact! A fact that the bleeding hearts and their illustrious pres candidates forget to mention.......and McCain doesn't have a clue either!

And come to think of it, with the stimulus checks going out- how much of it will be paid back to the government in taxes- especially gasoline taxes!

All I can say is we are going to be screwed, glued and tatooed for the next 4 years whoever gets the White House......the political mentality out there reminds me of Jim Jones and his Kool Aid stunt!

Now let's run out and go buy those (Al) Gore-y lightbulbs so that we can poison ourselves with Mercury..................God help us!

Elaina your post is so right on!