Question about eliminating oil tax subsudies.

[napi21]

I'm listening to a replay of the Randi Rhodes Show and she's talkingabout Wisc. and the sugestions many of the demonstrators made to balance the budget. One of them was eliminate the tax subsidies to oil & gas co's. If that were done, would gasoline, heating oil, etc prices skyrocket?

The reason I ask is because I've herd that europeans pay much more for those products because WE SUBSIDIZE them and they don't.

If we won the fight and those subsidies were eliminated and prices did skyrocket, don't you thik the general populace would look for revenge against the Dems?

I'm FOR eliminatig the subsidies, but since we live on SS alone, I don't know that I'm able to pay $6-$8/gal or fuel either.

edited for typo

[defendandprotect]

1. Rather, we should NATIONALIZE oil industry -- and all of our natural resources --

why have private interests controlling them for their profit?

And the subsidies are ridiculous!

We have to STOP burning fossil fuels -- for the sake of the planet, for the sake

of our health and our children's health -- and move on to green/alternative energy.

[inademv]

2. It only forstalls the eventual spike

called post peak oil. Eventually, regardless of whether or not we kill the subsidies now we will be paying $8-10 a gallon. Killing them now while there is enough oil left in supply to drive conversion is the only sensible option. Furthermore, paying the actual cost at the pump will be more of a driver for things like public transportation and electric cars. Honestly it's a win-win situation where we either take the pain now or later where later isn't actually an option from which we can reasonably expect to recover.

[napi21]

3. I agree with you in the long run, but in the near term (elections)

by far the majority will vote AGAINST every Dem because they will blame the Dems for all this hurt to their already skimpy wallets. THAT
S what scares e. I'm not saying Obama or any Dem for that matter are perfect, but our SCOTUS is already heavily loaded to the RW. If Obama loses in 2012, not only will Scalia retire (he's in his 70
s ya know), but it's likely that Thomas, Kennedy & Ginsberg will too. If thathappens under a Pub Prez, we're screwed for decades!

[northoftheborder]

4. European gasoline is so high in price is because they tax the heck out it.

I saw a graph on DU recently showing this.

[napi21]

6. That's also the way they maintain their roads. The taxes they apply

were first done to discourage gasoline use and move people to diesel. It worked. Most of the cars in Euro are diesel and get much better mileae than our gas vehicles do, adn even our diesels do. Their origianl plan was to wean people off of gasoline and it appears to have worked.

My youngest son visited his brother inSicily this past summer.He rented a small SUV, diesel, and it got much better mileage than any of our deisels do and perforned great. FWIW, both sons are eal car nuts and know what they're talking about. I asked the one who lives & works in Sicily why cars in the US can't be made to get the mileage as the ones there do. He said it's all a matter of making $$. The oil co's don't want the US cars to give up gas, and have lobbied hardto make sure diesels are unpopular in the US. The whole thing pisses me off big time! The technology is there and working, but MONEy & POLITICS are penalizing US!

[defendandprotect]

5. kick