"McCain Gas tax holiday is like Crystal-Meth for Economy"

[Scoobs]

Bill Maher brought that up in a quick article that you can find here. Quick read:

http://www.236.com/blog/w/bill_maher/credit_where_credit_is_due_6129.php

Who else thinks that that is the most short term solution they've ever seen?

[ananda]

1. Considering that what we have is..

.. a serious supply problem, and that
oil is going to run out in the near
future, yes..

.. that statement is very very stupid.

[napoleon_in_rags]

2. I was pleased to see Obama being honest about this today.

Saying that he can't do much but investigate for gouging. I suspect he won't find much. I think the real problem is that its running out.

[glowing]

3. Long term yes.. Short term, no. There is more oil than their is a demand

for at present.. and as we move forward with green initiatives the reliability on oil will dissapate. AND that's why they are gouging now.. They know their days of monolopy are going to be over with a progressive agenda.. Europe is already heading and China will be forced with their gigantic size.

[Finishline42]

4. Run the numbers

Ok, how about some numbers. Just to keep it simple, say you drive 20,000 miles a year and you get 20 mpg. Here's what you spend a year > 20,000 miles at 20 mpg = 1,000 gal @ 3.50 = $3,500.

$0.18 / gal tax x 1000 gallons = $180 or about 5% saved but wait that would be over the full year and we are only talking 3 months during the summer. Wouldn't lower prices increase (if you count 5% as meaningful - gas has gone up $0.50 this month alone) demand which would increase prices? Is this anything more than drop in the bucket and in fact counter productive?

Is this the quality of solutions we could count on if McBushagain gets elected?