A week or so ago Senator John McCain suggested a gas tax holiday for the summer. Now, Senator Clinton has joined him in his suggestion. Standing alone, Senator Obama is opposed to the tax break for the summer months.
As reported today in the NYT
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton lined up with Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, in endorsing a plan to suspend the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon, for the summer travel season. But Senator Barack Obama, Mrs. Clinton’s Democratic rival, spoke out firmly against the proposal, saying it would save consumers little and do nothing to curtail oil consumption and imports.
While Mr. Obama’s view is shared by environmentalists and many independent energy analysts, his position allowed Mrs. Clinton to draw a contrast with her opponent in appealing to the hard-hit middle-class families and older Americans who have proven to be the bedrock of her support. She has accused Mr. Obama of being out of touch with ordinary Americans who are struggling to meet their mortgages and gas up their cars and trucks.
It is hard to agree with Senator Obama on this one, but I do. My family falls into that “hard-hit middle class” “older Americans” group. And, yes, for the most part our income is “fixed”. I would love to see a break at the gas pump. But, let’s get really honest about the present economic situation…. and it is a hard pill to swallow.
First of all, most of us have lived well beyond our means for some time. My father believed in paying as you go and that is what I was taught. But, like most Americans I soon learned that with credit I could appear to keep up with the Joneses. The road to hell is paved with good intentions so I’ve been told. And, yes, I paved my road straight to hell. With a credit card in hand I had every intention of paying the balance in full each month. That theory and practice lasted about three months. By the fourth month I was almost paying it off, leaving a little bit of a balance, promising myself that I wouldn’t charge as much the next month. Well, hell! I’m just like everyone else. Soon, I found myself in debt. Now, the debt wouldn’t have been so bad… except the interest zoomed skyward so fast that I could have bought an “haute coutoure” wardrobe for what I ended up paying for a single dress. You get the idea. And, you probably get similar credit card statements each month. So, this has nothing to do with the price of gas, you say.
And, you are right. It has nothing to do with the price of a tank of gas. It has everything to do with how we spend and how we live. Our infrastructure is suffering. Does anyone remember the Minnesota bridge collapse? We have roads and bridges all across our country that are dangerous because we have not repaired them in a timely fashion. Cutting the tax on gas for three or four months won’t help the bridges get fixed any sooner, either. But, more importantly, there are times when we need to face the facts and bite the bullet. This is one of those times.
As the price of gas has gone up… I paid $3.43 a gallon a couple of days ago… I have been forced to plan my trips. Instead of hopping into the car and zipping down the mountain to the grocery market every time I think of something I need, I make a list and have limited myself to one trip a week. Never before in my life have I made a complete grocery list. And, what has this done for me? I find that I am spending less on gas each month. I plan my meals for a week in advance. I stock up on items on the sales shelf that I know our family uses. I don’t buy anything that isn’t on the list. And, I actually have more free time at home… because I’m not running to the store every afternoon to grab something for dinner.
Okay… I know there are people who have to drive every day, going to and from work. But, I suggest that with a little thinking and planning time we can all cut back on our annual gas consumption. And, perhaps, as a nation we will start demanding that car manufacturers create more fuel efficient vehicles or finally get into the alternate fuel program. I know it won’t happen over night and I am so very aware that we are all suffering in some way, shape or manner from the rising prices. But, it is time that we all realized that the rest of the world has been paying these prices for years. And, giving us a tax break at the pump isn’t going to force us to cut back or get us riled up enough to demand more fuel efficient cars.
This is one of those times when we need a reality check. We need to change our habits. We need to bite the bullet and stop looking for band-aids when we need sutures. And as much as it hurts to say it, this is not one of those times when we need to cut taxes on fuel just so we can all feel better about driving to the coast for a holiday. We don’t need to pretend that come next September, with or without a tax break, the price of gas will drop. We need to change our habits and our attitudes. Detroit needs to begin using some of that technology they are sitting on.
Face the fact, the Saudi’s and the other oil producing countries have us hanging over a barrel… literally. We won’t get our necks out of the noose by cutting fuel taxes for the summer holidays.
