The Pander Bears

We’ve just had a litmus test that shows which of the Presidential candidates will pander endlessly for votes and which tells it like it is. Because of the ridiculously high price of gasoline these days, it’s become fashionable to call for a “gas tax holiday”. The federal and state gas taxes would be waived during the summer driving season to give the weary consumer and truck driver a break.

It’s hard to get economists on the left and right to agree on much these days. But that difficult feat has been achieved with the gas tax holiday. They all agree that waiving the gas tax is a terrible idea. There are innumerable reasons, but I’ll give you just a few. First, It probably won’t reduce the real price of gas that the consumer pays. There is tremendous demand worldwide for gas right now and limited supply. If you reduce taxes on gas, that will increase demand. With limited supplies, the price of gas is likely to go up. Second, most of our highway construction and maintenance is paid for by gas taxes. Our highway infrastructure is already in a state of crisis. Cutting gas taxes will make it even worse. If you like big potholes and failing bridges, just wait till we cut the gas tax. Third, cutting the gas tax will increase the demand for gas. We need to create alternatives to gasoline, like solar and wind power, not incent consumers and businesses to buy more gas. We’re fast running out of viable oil supplies and heating up our planet.

So, which of our Presidential candidates favors a gas tax holiday - Hillary Clinton and even alleged conservative John McCain. Economists as liberal as Robert Reich, a cabinet member in Hillary’s husband’s administration, agree that a gas tax holiday is one of the dumbest ideas in history. Hillary and John are showing us their true colors. They will say and do anything, no matter how demonstrably foolish, to pander to the swing voters. Only one candidate refuses to take the bait, Barack Obama. He realizes that we need a responsible energy policy that cuts incentives on oil companies and encourages energy conservation and the development of alternative energy. The question is, will the American people take the bait?