$4 dollar gas stinks

Of course it's better than $5 gas, but I really don't even want to talk about that. What you can see in Washington right now is very important. We have a major problem right now. Gas prices have DOUBLED in a year (and they really weren't very good a year ago). This has put an enormous strain on the budgets of almost every American family. Personally, I drive 30 miles each way to work. My kids go to a very good charter school that is 15 miles from my house. That's a lot of driving. That's a lot of gas.

The Democrats want to act like they care about this issue and try to show that they are looking out for the little guy, especially in an election year, so they have introduced several new taxes. The first was the CO2 cap-and-trade fiasco, which was a multi-trillion dollar tax grab on corporations, especially those that produce energy. Even the EPA (not exactly a fiscally conservative bastion) said that this would increase the gallon of gas by $1.50. More realistic estimates had it as a $4-$5 increase PER GALLON. What a mess!? Fortunately they pulled it back, not because they realized it was a bad idea but they think (and they are probably right) that either Obama or McCain would sign the bill (Bush said he would veto it). So keep paying attention next year, because we will need to SHUT DOWN the Washington switchboards with phone calls on this one. Anyway, after that failed, they tried to push through a windfall profit tax on the oil companies. Huh? How is this going to help? Are we forgetting here that oil is a commodity, therefore the price is not controlled by these companies? If they sold it cheaper it would only be gobbled up FASTER by China and India who are increasing their demand for oil by double digits each year! Plus, these companies are corporations, that are held by 401K management companies and their stock holders EXPECT them to turn a profit. So if their taxes went up (currently around 40% anyway) they would have to... cut costs to increase profit. This would mean less domestic oil (taxed at a higher rate, thanks to lawmakers) and more foreign oil, leaning more on OPEC. None of these "solutions" make any sense and they all tell you what the Libs are all about. The solution is always higher taxes and more government regulation, which is contrary to a free market system or as I like to call it, a healthy economy.

Check out the solution that the Republicans are FINALLY putting out there. Hello! Increase production! Invest more in clean energy (like NUCLEAR). Give tax incentives to business and individuals to improve their efficiency... DUH! FINALLY PEOPLE!!! This actually makes SENSE and it will work. Finally someone has brains AND a back bone.

Now the Libs will pull out their favorite old trick. Even if we open up ANWR and the gulf to drilling, that oil won't hit the market for 5 years! Which is true. But it will affect oil prices NOW because a big part of this run up is futures contracts. If the market knows that supply is going to increase... prices will come down. And... in five years they will be right.

The only way to fix this problem is to increase supply. Trust me, this whole $4 gas fiasco has increased demand for a better solution. It's out there. I know it. Companies are coming up with good solutions all the time and they are going to start coming to market even when gas prices come down. People will remember this and will want to be immune to it. I personally like this solution that has been used on trains for years now. Diesel-electric... 150 miles per gallon. Nice.