I don't presume to possess more than an intermediate knowledge of economics. No Milton Friedman, or Adam Smith , am I. Yet, I can't help but wonder how any of the current political candidates can seriously believe that removing gas taxes, or in McCain's case making the Bush tax cuts permanent, has any true feasibility in our current situation.
Why do we keep putting Band-Aids on the symptoms, ignoring the real problems facing us. We need viable alternatives for our energy use. We need to conserve energy when we can. We need to stop pouring millions and billions into the Iraqi War. We need to refuse sending out "rebates" which are really nothing more than loans made on the back of our nation.
I don't know. Maybe that seems too simple. Last time I checked, spending money you don't have doesn't improve your financial outlook and cutting taxes removes revenue for the government to fund essential programs.
I want a candidate who will come out and say,"I'm going to raise taxes. I'm going to fund the rebuilding of our aging infrastructure and the elimination of our debt."
Instead, all I get are a bunch of liars and panderers claiming that if we cut enough taxes the economy will magically improve.
The sad thing isn't that politicians throw out such complete tripe, but that scores of people actually believe it.
[/grumpiness over]
2 comments:
It makes me angry that a country like Brazil has FLEX fuel cars all over the place (cars that burn either gasoline or ethanol), as well as ethanol gas stations to fill them.
it would be nice if our politicians would stop making the oil companies happy and do what's best for this country.
It would be nice if people, in general, were interested in doing what's best for our country. Although, I guess everyone has a different idea about what "good for our country" means.
Still, you would think that there would be some things we could all agree on every once in a while.
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