Here's what you could buy if you got an extra $4 a week from Hllary's gas tax holiday.

[cali]

Say you're an economically strapped family of four: You could buy an extra gallon of milk. Or 18 eggs. Or a pound of inexpensive sliced ham. Or a box of cereal. Or a few chicken thighs. You get the idea. And that's assuming that a windfall profits tax miraculously passes Congress and even more miraculously is signed into law. Gas tax relief without such a shifting of burden would be detrimental. Very detrimental.

I can't believe that so many folks here are touting this as a real help for people who are economically disadvantaged. It's better than nothing if it's attached to a windfall profits tax, but not by much. In this day and age, $4 a week just doesn't really provide help to those struggling and it's inconsequential to those who are food secure.

If this was a pander that actually had had the potential to help economically struggling people, I'd get behind it, but it's not. And it troubles me to see people defending something so patently absurd.

[CreekDog]

1. a latte

:beer:

:rofl:

[cali]

2. there you go. an extra latte a week.

fabulous.

[BattyDem]

3. LOL!

:rofl:

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. Four lottery tickets!

You, too, could be a multi-millionaire!

[Aloha Spirit]

20. ha... so true!

[ClassWarrior]

5. The elitist, Rape-Publican "gas tax holiday" discriminates against those without cars.

NGU.

[TahitiNut]

29. Well, they're just a bunch of "New York City lefties" anyway.

:eyes:

[TayTay]

6. If that gas tax thing passed, how much would people pay

for repairs to their cars from going over roads that aren't being repaired any more?

How much does it cost to repair broken axels in your area? More than $28-$40 dollars?

[cali]

7. and of course that's the only way it has a snowball's chance in hell

of passing. Also if road work is cut back due to this boonswoggle, that means more people out of work.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

9. Bush has vetoed popular bi-partisan legislation.

No way he'll support a tax on his best friends. He's out of the white house in less than a year. He's going to need friends.

[nebula]

8. 4 bucks a week! I'm rich!

The Queen tosses the her supporters a bone and they act as if they won the lottery.

[Auntie Bush]

19. Not too much less than that $300 stimulus for the year. I don't see people complaining about that.

[Skwmom]

27. The amount is ZERO b/c the oil companies (as they have in the past) will just raise

the price.

[Auntie Bush]

35. Do you really think they need that as an excuce to raise taxes.

Smell the roses! The price of gas is going up this Summer.

[MercutioATC]

10. ...and it would be even less than that.

If, like some Clinton supporters here argue, consumers would see an average of 60% of the cut at the pumps (with oil companies taking the other 40%) you'd be looking at about $1.80 in savings per week.

[cali]

12. yeah, I know. I just made the amount more generous than it would

actually be so as not to hear hillfans insisting that the amount would be greater than what I posted

[Andy823]

11. But the fact is

You will get NOTHING because congress would never pass such a bill, nor would the pass one that taxed oil company profits. Even if they did Bush would veto any bill that taxed big oil! It's really that simple. Hillary is full of it, period!

[cali]

14. true. but I wanted to show that even if if did come to pass

it would be of minimal assistance.

[Andy823]

49. I know

I was just pointing out the reality in hopes that maybe some of the Clinton supporters might finally get it, but that doesn't seem to happen.

I am so tired of Hillary and her lies, and even more tired of the Hillary camp refusing to admit that her gas plan will never come to be this year. Nobody will get a break this summer from her BS about a gas tax holiday paid for by big oil!

[DMorgan]

22. You summed it up nicely! Full of it! This is a pander with fantasy money!

How low can Clinton go? None of this will happen in 3 weeks, but she touts it and her campaign touts it as though the check is in the mail.

What fools believe this stuff?

Whatever happened to an HONEST political campaign? Oh, wait, we are talking a Clinton, here!

[Auntie Bush]

13. If that's all we get from that gas tax cut...Why don't we just

raise the tax three or four fold and let the government take in more money to repair roads and bridges? It obviously won't hurt families very much. We can all do without a couple gallons of milk, a few thighs and less eggs. SO I say...we can afford to raise the gas tax immediately and permanently. We'll never notice the difference and our roads will be much better. Right?

[cali]

16. I'm sorry, that's just silly. Threefold would be 54 cents a gallon

that's much greater a chunk than 18 cents. Your "proposal" has zippo to do with my point.

[global1]

15. And Some Scratch Off Lottery Tickets; $4.00 Off A Pack Of Cigarettes; A Beer; Two $2.00 Bets At ....

the track.

[tulsakatz]

17. that's assuming that you actually get to save $4.00!!

more than likely, the oil companies will raise prices again....which means people would be saving nothing!!

And forget about the windfall profits tax, even if that did get approved by Congress (which would be a miracle itself), as soon as it gets to Bush's desk, guess what he will do with it.....veto!!

[WeDidIt]

18. But you'll actually end up paying another $7 instead

Because the oil companies will be hit with a windfall profits tax, the price of gas will end up being jakced up another 24 cents in excess of where they are today.

so in effect, this becomes the Oil Company Tax Relief Act of 2008.

[Skidmore]

21. None of the above, cali.

That extra $4/wk would go right back to the oil compaines to cover the increase in gas prices that will ensue.

[shain from kane]

23. Beer money.

[cali]

24. yipes. that's some cheap brew.

[Skwmom]

25. WRONG analysis. The money goes to the OIL COMPANIES b/c history has shown they will just RAISE

their prices so an economically strapped family of four gets ZERO.

Enough of the Clinton logic.

[cali]

30. yeah, yeah. I know. I posted a theoretical

primarily to demonstrate to Clinton supporters how little this would help, assuming that the public saw any of it. And if you think I'm using Clinton logic, it's damn clear you didn't read the OP- just like Hill and the NIE.

[Road Scholar]

26. A gallon of gas, oh wait, they've raised the price of gas to pay for it.

:shrug: :shrug: :shrug:

[Texas Hill Country]

28. lots of Ramen, spagetti, spam... AND it means that much more to truckers

it would save my trucker father a TON.

[cali]

32. Truckers are a small though not insignificant piece of the public at large

But I don't know that Hll's proposal is inclusive of diesel fuel, and most trucks run on diesel. And $4 does NOT buy "lots" of any of the items you mentioned. Spam is expensive. And ramen is not good nutrition. Pasta is fine but without sauce of some kind and cheese it does not have good nutrition value.

[Texas Hill Country]

41. it is inclusive of diesel, and that affects the cost of EVERYTHING.

and there are lots of people that just want enough to eat and dont have the luxury of worrying about nutrition.

[cali]

47. Sorry, $4 bucks a week is NOT meaningful help to those struggling

and there must be a way to help truckers that doesn't further degrade the national infrastructure and entail laying off hundreds of thousands of workers.

[karynnj]

46. The Small Business legislation that Bush and the Republicans are sitting

on that passed both houses of Congress with huge majorities deals with the Truckers better than this gimmick does.

[JVS]

48. 2 cans of spam is over $4

[stevietheman]

31. And the prices at the pump won't even change -- that's the real sad part. n/t

n/t

[Road Scholar]

38. But look at it like this. It gets ol' Hill votes. Screw everybody else.

[madwivoter]

33. Hillary isn't even going to try to introduce legislation

I'd be surprised if she did. This is a complete pander and she's relying on LIVs and the fact that they won't take the time to find out what it would really mean.

Here's a link to a great post over at Daily Kos:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/3/65227/97777/281/508229

[Catherina]

34. And the poorest who need $4/week the most who own no car get $0

I love it. A free Latte for car owners and nothing for the poor. Who does she think she's fooling? She'd have been better off offering free public transportation during the summer.

[Evergreen Emerald]

36. Are we in an alternate world where Progressives are advocating that the little guy should be paying

for a gas tax while the wealthy oil companies--record profits by the way--get away with more gouging?

Where in the world are the progressives who would have railed anyone who suggested that the backs of the little people should support those windfall profits?

[cali]

37. Not at all. Progressive strongly support a windfall profits tax

We also recognize that the possibility of passing said tax in this Congress is about the same as seeing chimpy impeached. And without that tax, the gas tax holiday is not only no help to the vast majority of consumers but it's damned dangerous.

[Evergreen Emerald]

39. So, we are allowing the government to be bullied by the oil companies?

This is silly. The people should not have the burden of the tax...I don't care how much it is...and the oil companies should not be allowed to bully the consumers or the government.

And for progressives, to side with big business over the little guy, shows what people will do to see their candidate elected.

[cali]

44. There is nothing we can do short of voting in more dems

in the Congress and putting a dem in the White House. Reality may suck but that's the reality. The tax is truly not the major component of the problem here. It's the obscene profits of the oil companies, price fixing, OPEC and the greater demand for oil in such places as China. In the best of all possible worlds the oil companies wouldn't get away with this shit, but this in not the best of all possible worlds.

And supporting a windfall profits tax is NOT supporting big oil. It's dishonest to suggest any such thing. All economists on the left have said this is a very bad idea- including that hillbot icon, Krugman. Supporting such a boonswoggle just to try and get Hill the nomination is disgusting and shameful.

[stevietheman]

40. Bush would never sign on to Hillary's plan, and even if he did, the price at the pump...

won't change. What's progressive about supporting ineffective nonsense?

[noonwitch]

42. Cheaper gas would be good for my state's struggling economy

For tourism-Michigan makes a lot of money off of midwesterners who come here to swim in our lakes.

[cali]

45. The odds that this would actually reduce the price of gas

in any way that actually helped the economy of your state is slim.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

43. More appropriately, you could buy 2 bags of this..