Levin To Introduce Gas Freeze Legislation

[sandnsea]

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the following today as he introduced legislation that would provide the President with the authority to temporarily freeze gas prices at or below the levels that prevailed before Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. Gulf Coast until supplies are restored to pre-hurricane levels:

“In the wake of the greatest natural disaster to strike our nation, one million Americans have been displaced, and hundreds of millions of their fellow citizens are opening their hearts and homes to help.

“But there are a few who seek to profit from this tragedy by raising the price of gasoline and other refined petroleum products to unconscionable levels. In a time of national crisis, it is unseemly that a few are exploiting the misery of those afflicted by Hurricane Katrina.

“My legislation would provide the President with the authority to temporarily freeze the price of gasoline and other refined products at or below the levels that prevailed before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the United States . This authority would terminate when the President determines that the domestic supply of refined petroleum products meets or exceeds the level of domestic supply before Hurricane Katrina."

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?view=plink&id=1353

[Obamarama]

1. I am proud to have voted for this wonderful man....

[KareBear]

2. While this may sound good

Am I the only one whose blood chills at the thought of voting Chancelor Palpatine errr *resident Bush ANY temporary emergency powers?

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. More to the point....

Why merely give the President the option? Is anyone really so deluded that they believe Shrub would cut the profiteering of his political puppetmasters? Congress should do it by fiat. (Although, frankly, that precedent scares me, too.)

[Ian David]

5. That way, if the pResident doesn't USE that power...

The Democrats can use it as a stick to beat him with.

"We gave the president the authority to lower gas prices, but he didn't use that power to help the American People. Meanwhile, the oil companies are still making record proffits..."

Genius.

Pure genius!

[Mairead]

8. Exactly. It shouldn't be an option--that's playing politics

trying to back him into a corner. But it won't work because this regime has no future anyway, so they'll just do what they want (which is NOT to prevent gouging) and spin it away.

If Congress were doing their job, there'd already be a unanimously-passed bill to prevent gouging. But they don't do their job, they create an imperial presidency and play politics with our wellbeing.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. And if the international price of crude or refined gasoline did rise

to the point where the gas stations had to sell at a loss, would they be allowed to close? Or would they be forced to lose money? Would that be compensated by the federal government?

[sandnsea]

10. Force the corporations to sell it at a loss

They're the ones who have been making record profits for the last 5 years.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. You don't think they'd declare their refineries need urgent maintenance?

And close them down? I would, in that situation.

I think a better idea would be to set a price that takes into account international prices (over which the US doesn't have control). Pretending you can live in the past isn't a good idea, in economics.

[sandnsea]

14. ???

The cost of oil is international, for starters. Second, you can't really use international gas prices because so much of it is taxes. Third, they would have to cap the prices for a very long time to hurt the oil industry, although people like you would feel sorry for them quicker than you do your dying friends and families, which is why corporations have so much control as it is. Besides, I would imagine it's a very short term cap, a few weeks at most. Mostly, the legislation will never pass but it serves to focus on the gas prices and unwillingness of Bush to do anything about it but let corporate profits skyrocket.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. Sorry, I didn't make myself clear

I meant the capped price should take into account the international price of crude oil (or untaxed refined gasoline). If that price went up, then forcing companies to produce gasoline at an old price could mean that they lose money by just producing gas - in which case they would do everything in their power to stop, thus producing an artificial shortage. Maybe a sensible law would stand a greater chance of getting passed.

Thanks, by the way, for the completely gratuitous slur on my character. Why you bring dying people into it, when we're discussing the price of a commodity, I can't tell. A pathetic attempt on your part, I suppose, to make yourself look superior to me. Stick to arguing, not trying to blacken someone's ethics, in future.

[sandnsea]

17. Because people ARE dying

And because I'm sick to death of free market arguments in the midst of it. If they shut down ONE refinery, the government should force it open. This free market bullshit does not work without stringent government regulation and it's damned time people in this country get a friggn' clue. If you aren't one of these corporate sympathizers, I apologize, but it sure sounds like you are.

[MadHound]

6. Bad, bad bad bad move

Jesus folks, haven't we learned anything from the seventies? This is exactly what Nixon did during the oil shock of the seventies, and we wound up with massive gas shortages.

Frankly, what we need to do is to raise CAFE standards, push tax credits for alternative energy sources, and let the market screw the SUV drivers into the ground, or at least until they buy a more fuel efficient vehicle.

Continuing to pander to America's need for cheap gas, everything else be damned, is what got us into this mess, more of the same will only worsen matters in the long run. We were starting to really make progress until Reagan came along and undid everything, thus we have to repeat the lesson that we failed to learn then. Putting it off with price caps and other such measures will only insure that future energy problems will be that much more severe.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. We're going to have the shortages either way

It's time for the pretzeldent to put up or shut up. By the way this goes, we'll all know where everybody stands. It's a way to put it all out in the open for everybody to see.

[MadHound]

9. Why are we going to have shortages anyway?

Yes, I'm aware of the Peak Oil theory, and buy into it pretty much. But I would rather let high prices force people into cutting back our oil addiction now, than continuing to keep them artificially low, and have that shock come all at once.

There is some merit to the philosophy of letting the market work. High gas prices in the seventies led to an initial outpouring of alternative energy sources, and more fuel efficient cars. Granted, we backslid under Reagan and Bush I, but we did make some marked progress in breaking our oil addiction. The same is happening now. I'm seeing lots of people selling off their SUVs and vanity pickups, opting for hybrids and other fuel efficient vehicles.

[genieroze]

12. that a few are exploiting the misery of those afflicted by Hurricane

Katrina. A few????

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

13. OK kids, repeat after me

You cannot solve the oil issue by tackling supply alone. At some point you have to address demand.

1) Increase tax credits and deductions for alternative fuels
2) Increase tax credits for upgrading home heating/electrical usage efficiency.

Sorry, but the current tax credit for windows and insulation is not enough. Just to give you an example, it is enough for me to go out and buy insulation and replace some windows, which helps, but since I can't take full advantage of the credit, I am pushing off replacement of the rest of the windows until next year when I can claim the credit again.

3) Increase the CAFE standards
4) Either add tax deductions for weekly, monthly and annual mass transit passes or better yet, enact a Transportation Savings Account, like an HSA with no minimum so ANY employee can purchase mass transit as a pretax salary deduction, not just those of us who can itemize.

DBDB

[yppahemnkm]

15. I hope this gets somewhere

I doubt it will though.