No one likes to pay high prices for gas. With pump prices for regular gas exceeding $4 per gallon at many stations in Chicago, Chicagoans would certainly like to see some relief. But the proposal, floated by Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and John McCain,
First of all, it won’t work. Such a quick fix would only reduce gas prices 30 cents at best ($3.70 instead of $4.00?) and would hardly provide much relief to beleaguered motorists. And even that 30 cents would not be promised, because, as Illinois voters experienced a few years ago, oil and gas companies would simply raise their prices to take advantage of the increased demand. The only relief would come to the oil companies, not to motorists.
Clinton has proposed that the oil companies make up the difference in the $8.4 billion gas tax that funds road construction. McCain would not have the oil companies chip in at all, and just have the shortfall imperil road construction (and jobs related to that construction). Second of all, it isn’t going to happen.
Clinton and McCain are talking loud on the stump about the idea, but there is no hope of any legislation moving through the Congress, during an election year, to allow for such a quick fix. We’re talking about having Congress act quickly enough to lower prices by Memorial Day, or the Fourth of July, peak-driving periods.
It is politically dead on arrival. The fact that no economists have gotten behind the idea as either feasible or reasonable has not deterred the political pandering of the two senators. Instead, they prattle on, even though they admit that it would be a symbolic gesture, at best. Gas prices are fueling all sorts of other price increases, including food and other commodities. Truckers are especially hard hit, with prices for diesel fuel out pacing gasoline prices. Those increased costs for transportation are being passed on to consumers who never go to the pump, and three months won’t make a serious dent in supermarket prices.
Alone among the presidential candidates, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is labeling the gas holiday proposal the hot air it really is. We agree. We’d much rather see proposals from the candidates that provide some real relief to high gas prices, including ways to decrease our dependency on foreign oil (which is now at record prices), and also to find ways to get increased refinery capacity in line. (AP)
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