On Sunday May 4th Sen. Clinton was asked on ABC’s This Week to name a credible economist who supported her (and McCain’s) idea to suspend the federal tax on gasoline for the summer.

Her reply was, “We’ve got to get out of this mind-set where somehow elite opinion is always on the side of doing things that really disadvantage the vast majority of Americans.” Elite opinion you say, you mean educated opinion that does not sit well with populist pandering to people who have no clue as to why the price of oil is so high and likely to go higher? Clinton also wants to impose a tax on oil-company profits to help fund the transition to higher efficiency energy technology. Excuse me but I thought oil company and every other company profits were already taxed and the more profit there is the more taxes are paid, at least that’s the way it works with me, the more I make the more taxes I give to the federal and state governments. You mean it’s not supposed to work that way?

Masking the real problems and creating incentives for Americans that help us hold on to our old ways is exactly the wrong idea and attempting to shift blame to the oil companies is just plain self-serving and stupid on Clinton’s part.

Why don’t we tax the windfall profits of agriculture companies to help lower the price of corn and rice, no wait, we subsidize them. Perhaps we should add an extra tax on companies that outsource work overseas or let the AMT drift lower and lower to fund more Congressional pork projects, oh my gosh we did that too. How about adding a surtax on the earnings of college endowment funds given the cost of a college education goes up each year at nearly double the rate of general inflation – not unlike health care? Talk about elite opinion, who better than college professors (who by the way spend a good part of their time not doing their job in any case) have been able to divert scrutiny over costs away from their business. And talk about elite opinion disadvantaging Americans, have you been to Hollywood lately Hillary?

When you see more Smartcars ® on the road than SUVs and hemi engine trucks that haul nothing heavier than the weeks groceries (lighter these days I suppose because food is so expensive), then talk to me about an effective energy policy.

QuinnsCommentary

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Quinnscommentary.com

This is why Obama will win, or we'll get what we deserve. Anyone who thinks that all analysts are wrong and we should ignore them, deserve what they get. It's a shame we can't just have 3 USA's where you pick your candidate and live with their consequence.

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The government takes enough of our money as it is... I would like as much back as I can get. I am tired of supporting people who can't support themselves! People have lost their jobs, and can't afford the gas to go and find a new one! When you have no money - every dollar counts. A few bucks to one person is a meal to someone else!
ALL taxes on gas should be eliminated until the economy gets better. The government got us into this situation - and THE PEOPLE will have to work to get us out!

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Who would Jesus Bomb?

Of coarse it hurts. Your being screwed by an elephant.

Barak Obama - Half honkey - all donkey

"It doesn't matter who votes, it matters who counts the votes"- Joseph Stalin

Well, oil companies buying politicians has been part of the problem....

But yes, the McCain/Clinton gas "holiday" is not even the start of a solution.

Hillary and McCain are tickling our ears to get elected. I have to hand it to Obama for standing against this. It's revealing that Hillary mentions "elite opinion". That term insults me and I'm in no way surprised that it was Hillary who used that term. That's exactly how she thinks. She and hers think of themselves as our ruling class.

Times are tough and getting tougher but the gas tax holiday won't help. Hillary and her type are the problem and somehow that's what we need to work on.

Exactly... this "tax holiday" was the worst kind of political pandering and you know what makes me EXTREMELY PROUD of my country because they saw through Clinton's "trick" and realized that we need a LONG TERM SOLUTION.

You know everyone gives Jimmy Carter shit as being this terrible president, but when he entered the Whitehouse, one of the first things he did was to install solar panels on the roof of the home of the president. This was a great example for the rest of the country to begin to push for alternative energies.

When Reagan took office one the first things on his agenda was to rip the solar panels OFF of the Whitehouse roof.

The rest of the world laughs at us as "fat", "lazy", "uneducated" and "naive" idiots who love their big cars and their big military.

The countries have been dealing with the fuel issues for decades, now we are COMPLETELY FUCKED and are the closest to another Great Depression than any other time since that those hard days.

We have Reagan, George I and George II to thank for our current position and guess what their politics are...?

Your party has ruined this country and it will take decades of Progressive control, both in the Whitehouse and in the Congress to turn this country around.

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BuildtheDream.org

Foreign oil imports dropped by 5.1% last month, and that will do more for our economy than any tax relief at this point. If they want to do something good, which they won't, they should end taxes and abolish the FED.

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"I did but teach the age to quit their cloggs By the plain rules of ancient Liberty, When lo! a barbarous noise surrounded me, Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes and dogs." John Milton
The jews need to throw a holocaust, they owe us one.
http://zionistwatch.files.wordpress....ng-zionism.jpg

The gas tax holiday doesn't make sense, but repealing tax incentives and subsidies to the industry does.

Currently the Oil companies enjoy many tax advantages. For instance, they wingle through a tax loop-hole that allows them to understate foreign oil and gas income. In 2004 a new deduction was slipped into the American Job Creation Act that allows them to deduct production costs--that piece of legislation costs us 1.4 billion annually. The list goes on and on.

This industry doesn't need to be penalized, but they currently don't need special treatment either. Really, do they need tax incentives and government subsidies to chase $100-plus a barrel oil?

I think oil has reached the point where oversight, such as any utility, should be maintained. I'm not saying interfere with their work or profits, unless they are operating outside the laws.

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"I did but teach the age to quit their cloggs By the plain rules of ancient Liberty, When lo! a barbarous noise surrounded me, Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes and dogs." John Milton
The jews need to throw a holocaust, they owe us one.
http://zionistwatch.files.wordpress....ng-zionism.jpg

I hope the public will start consistently seeing beyond gimmick politics, but it remains to be seen how long it will take before we really rise as a nation to solve our problems...so far it's been easier to blame Iraq, or Iran, or terrorists....anyone but ourselves.

I've long respected Carter for the positions he has taken, and for the work he has done.