Posted on 10/17/2008 1:28:34 PM PDT by reaganaut1
It would be a tragedy if falling prices were to extinguish such alternatives and — given the time lag inherent in energy development — leave the country vulnerable to a yet another round of shocks. There is no disputing, as Ben Bernanke said, that recently falling oil prices are giving the economy a shot in the arm. But new energy projects also create jobs, and though oil prices impose a cost, Europe has lived with high prices (because of the imposition of taxes) and adjusted to them.
...
What the country doesn’t want is to remain dependent only on oil — to lose the urgency to develop alternatives. It happened once before. After the gas lines of the ’70s, Jimmy Carter declared that solving our energy problems was the moral equivalent of war. Then, in the 1980s, Americans forgot.
The way to avoid a repeat is to dust off an idea that Gerald Ford once proposed: a tax on oil. Ideally, it would kick in only if the price fell back to, say, $70 a barrel. The beauty of this tax is that, very likely, no one would have to pay it. The tax would merely serve as a floor — a new lower bound. Auto companies would never have to worry that cheap gas would tempt consumers away from efficient cars; investors could finance development of batteries and fuel cells, because cheap oil could never undercut them. Oil itself would be used more sparingly and last longer. The oil market did its part when it sent the price to almost $150. The government should make sure there is no going back.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Someone should try to entrap Obama in the following way: "Senator Obama, would you support a federal tax on oil to make sure it does not fall below $70 a barrel and discourage conservation?". Mr. Spread-the-Wealth might say yes.
Drill here! Drill now! Nobama ever!!!
I love the line about Europeans “adjusting” to tax-driven high gas prices. Now, tell me about the European economy. I’ve been there several times on business and can tell you that their attitudes (generally speaking, there are exceptions, of course) are lousy. They’ve accepted the premise that it’s not so good to work so much. (I actually had a German say that to me.) When you’ve accepted that, what’s another couple of Euros per gallon. Let’s see how the Europeans adjust to the Islamization of their continent.
I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.
I love the line about Europeans “adjusting” to tax-driven high gas prices. Now, tell me about the European economy. I’ve been there several times on business and can tell you that their attitudes (generally speaking, there are exceptions, of course) are lousy. They’ve accepted the premise that it’s not so good to work so much. (I actually had a German say that to me.) When you’ve accepted that, what’s another couple of Euros per gallon. Let’s see how the Europeans adjust to the Islamization of their continent.
“What’s Really Wrong With the Price of Oil?”
- - -
The fact that its global price can be manipulated
by such a small number of players, that’s what.
Welcome to Europe, where taxes ensure $8.00/gal gasoline no matter what the underlying cost for a barrel of oil.
No, we were subjected to the rising communist influnce of the radical environmental movement after their Mother Russia faded away. They realized the only way for them to get back into power would be to use the "earth friendly" sounding tactics of the envirnment to control our economy. So they prevented us from gaining energy independence at every turn. No drilling, no nuclear and no wind if it could be seen from the shores of the Kennedy Compound.
Well, they've succeded beyond their wildest expectations. Our economy is in the tank, as a result we are seeing nationalization of our banking system and soon if, as appears is likely, we elect a committed Marxist (albeit a puppet on George Soros string)much of the rest of our economy like health care, etc will be in their control.
God help us!
What, are you buying into the global warming BS? We have plenty of oil here, in America. Montana’s sitting on more oil then Saudi with the Baken Formation, but do they think of drilling here? I’d love to see some of that oil money come our state’s way. People are hurting here. Why is it they keep harping on this alternative energy bogus and buying foreign oil when they could just get it here? Or would that mean helping real Americans too much?
“What, are you buying into the global warming BS? We have plenty of oil here, in America. Montana’s sitting on more oil then Saudi with the Baken Formation, but do they think of drilling here? I’d love to see some of that oil money come our state’s way.”
So would I! I think you read the excerpt I posted but not my comment.
If Larry Summers is so smart, I wonder if he can tell us what OPEC would do if we placed huge taxes on their commodity? I bet they’d follow through on all that talk about dropping the dollar as the medium of exchange for oil purchases. That’s just for openners.
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