BCT Editorial – 6/6/07

This page was last updated on June 9, 2007.

Wasted opportunity; Editorial; Beaver County Times; June 6, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Americans have adjusted their thinking when it comes to the price of a gallon of gasoline.

“A recent AP-Ipsos poll found that 49 percent of the 1,000 randomly selected adults who were surveyed said a fair price for a gallon of gasoline is $2 to $2.99, with another 6 percent naming even higher prices. Forty percent said the fair price of a gallon of gasoline is less than $2 a gallon.

“Of course, when the nationwide average is $3.22 - nearly 50 percent higher than in January and pennies shy of the all-time mark - $2 or $2.50 a gallon looks like a real bargain.

“That’s especially true when there is no sign of price relief on the horizon.

“Basically, American drivers have resigned themselves to high gasoline prices. ‘Markets can train us over time to get used to things,’ Tim Heath, marketing professor at Miami University of Ohio, told The Associated Press.

“This acceptance represents a wasted opportunity.

“For years, a small number of elected and appointed officials and concerned citizens have been pushing for a higher tax on gasoline as a way to encourage conservation and to use the revenue to fund research into alternative energy sources.”

[RWC] Earth to the Times. Research into alternative energy sources has been going on for decades. What bugs the Times is the vast majority of the research is being by the private sector. To libs, research isn’t really research unless some liberal government wonk is directing research using someone else’s money. As a reminder, regardless of the alternative energy source, environmentalists always find a problem with it as soon as it appears it may eventually become economically viable.

Please let me know if you know of an alternative energy source everyone likes.

“Their proposals went nowhere, in large part because taxes in general and gasoline taxes in particular are a political anathema.”

[RWC] Remember this for the future. The Times considers not raising taxes a “wasted opportunity.”

“The same held for hiking gasoline taxes to fund the nation’s and the state’s crumbling roads and bridges. Efforts to raise these taxes by a few cents to fund critical infrastructure needs were shot down because Americans couldn’t afford to pay any more at the pump than they already were.”

[RWC] As I’ve noted before, who in their right mind believes increased taxes would have gone “to fund the nation’s and the state’s crumbling roads and bridges?” Directly or indirectly, increased fuel taxes would have found their way to government-owned transit companies (BCTA, PAT, SEPTA, etc.) and other programs completely unrelated to roads and bridges.

“Now, Americans are paying far more to oil companies and foreign countries than the tax increases would have amounted to - and they have nothing to show for it except lighter wallets and deeper anxieties.”

[RWC] The editorial wants us to believe higher taxes would have kept prices from going up. Where did the author learn his economics? European countries have had very high fuel taxes for decades, yet their prices have risen just as ours have, except they still pay more because of higher taxes.

“Our shortsightedness as a government and as a people is coming back to haunt us. Our refusal to sacrifice a little in the past for the greater good is putting the big hurt on us as individuals and as a nation.”

[RWC] “Sacrifice a little in the past for the greater good?” It sounds like the author is lifting copy from the Mrs. Bill Clinton campaign.

According to the Tax Foundation, we’re already working four months (33%) of the year to pay taxes. If having 33% of your earnings confiscated isn’t “sacrifice,” how much higher must we go?

“We don’t mind seeing billions of dollars in profits go to oil companies or billions of dollars flow into the coffers of foreign countries that do not have our nation’s best interests at heart, yet we refused to spend anywhere near that amount to help our country.”

[RWC] This may be a concept difficult for the author to comprehend, but when we pay for fuel we’re getting something in return. When we pay taxes, we’re simply giving our money to someone who didn’t earn it.

“In a way, we deserve everything that we have coming at us. By doing nothing when we could have done something, we asked for it.”

[RWC] Blah, blah, blah.