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Monday, Aug. 15, 2011 | 2 a.m.
A gas and commuter tax will help pay down our deficit.
We all know that without increased revenue, we’ll never get out of this financial mess we’re in. I propose a tax of 25 cents on a gallon of gas that is solely used to pay down our deficit. This tactic will surely help to also prevent cutbacks in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and also save jobs.
Joe Nocera, in his Wednesday column, “An economy that’s a mess,” is looking for one wealthy person to come forward and offer to pay more in taxes as part of a shared sacrifice — but this is like finding a four-leaf clover.
If I am willing to pay more, and I am by far not a wealthy man, the rich should come up with a shared sacrifice plan of their own. What do you think?
This will do nothing but drive up the cost of living, especially the prices we pay for food.
Close the loopholes that place an unfair burden on those of us who can't take advantage of them and you will see a real increase in revenues.
Any tax increase will just get spent on other stuff, that is the problem. The better idea is to balance the budget with what the income is now then work on these other things later.
Dennis: I'm not sure what you propose as an alternative? Should we go back to horses? Our country has been built around transportation! The only current method we have today to transport us and our goods is via oil. We have no choice. I am not saying we should not change but we cannot do it overnight and we cannot do it without an alternative. If you look around you, EVERYTHING you see was brought there by oil. EVERYTHING! Not just part of it. Not just a little bit of it. EVERYTHING! To expect us to change overnight is naive at best.
Speaking of gasoline. We've gone from rotary phones and black and white television to cell phones that can basically do anything.
.
Clearly and without a doubt, the technology is available for us to radically change the engines in our cars to run on some efficient form of alternative fuel, but it's being squelched.
.
If one of those super rich billionaire type liberals really wants to improve the standard of living for everybody, ensure the technology is released. Enough is enough.
"If I am willing to pay more, and I am by far not a wealthy man, the rich should come up with a shared sacrifice plan of their own. What do you think?"
I disagree with a gas tax, food tax, sales tax and any other tax that targets the middle class...people who are only guilty of trying to survive and get by in this crazy America nowadays.
The 800 pound gorilla in the room is the tax cuts for the filthy rich.
The Bush tax cuts need to have been put an end to yesterday.
And I go even further to say put the tax rates for those who make over $250,000.00 a year to 90 percent; comparable to the Eisenhower years.
For two reasons...
First, they have gotten away with paying far less taxes than I pay. And this has been going on for thirty years or so. If not longer. There is no denying that you and I, the middle class of America, has steadily declined in wages, along with paying more and more taxes. The filthy rich need to step up to the plate and pay their fair share. No. It's not a tax increase. FAIR SHARE. A share they have avoided for a very long time. A share they have shoved off on us, while they enjoy the benefits and make you and I sacrifice more and more and more and more.
Second, the 90 percent tax increase needs to be put in place in order for it to be nothing other than...punishment. I want it to hurt. I want to hear Steve Wynn howl in rage like a disease ridden desert coyote. People may disagree with me, but I am not only satisfied with shared sacrifice. I am not only content that everyone is paying according to what they earn. I want revenge! I want this to really, really hurt them! If they get mad and take their money and toys overseas, more power to 'em. They don't invest it here in America now anyways. Nor are they interested in jobs. Good luck seeking communist Chinese naturalization. Learn how to use chopsticks. Knock yourself out. America don't need you if you place more emphasis on money than in patriotism. If green (money) is the color of your flag, hit the road.
There's gotta be some justice somewhere in America. I don't care if you have to make up some kind of charge, grab Mr. Grover Norquist, chuck him in jail, throw away the key, leave him there imprisoned for life, and tell him nice try with that no tax pledge B.S. So be it.
Our survival as a nation depends on doing something. Not to mention this is not rocket science...it's common sense. We ain't got time to waste on this crap.
Shelve the Bush tax cuts. I'm so sick and tired of this stupid game being played now. We got rid of a certified useless and corrupt President that we suffered with for eight years, and now, into a new administration, we are going over old ground of stagnant and repulsive Bush crap STILL. We need to get out of the past and move on.
You have to end the Wars and trim the Military back 80%. Then you have to regulate basic medical and pharmaceutical pricing. On the revenue side you must raise taxes on the upper end and stop rewarding outsourcing and destruction of jobs. Interest rates need to be raised to reward savers and build a real Capital base.
But as we know from the last 30 years, none of that will be done. Americans are way too stupid and the Government now is 99% controlled by the crooks sucking this country dry. So go ahead and keep voting for one of their two made-up cartoon characters, drink their beer, and watch the rigged sports they provide for you slaves.
Can you get Obama to endorse and run on this as is HIS primary idea?
Can you please, please, please do that?
I give you $50 if you get Obama to make this the cornerstone of his re-election campaign.
Please....with sugar one top......PLEASE!!!!!
If we built an intermodal facility where containers could be moved from rail to truck and vice versa, we could get almost everything at the low cost of rail -- and cut truck fuel usage dramatically.
Obumma's war on coal will make electricity rates "necessarily skyrocket". Why not oil too? The party of No Energy strikes again.
Any tax can reduce the debt, problem is, can you trust the politicans to reduce the debt or will they spend and waste it? I think their track record speaks for itself.
gas and commuter tax is right answer in this timetable; makes one think. Are you sure you can make this tax so fast to collect earlier deficit losses.
Chura!! You came up with another moronic plan. It is bad business to give Obama any more money. He will waste it on some ridiculous scheme to get the money into his followers. My suggestion is as follows, quit spending the public's money such as those idiotic recall elections in Wisconsin. The more they vote the worse it gets. Unions are a passe thing.
rusty57 - "Obumma's war on coal will make electricity rates "necessarily skyrocket"
And your proof of his war on coal is what?
Do you expect people to believe your post without evidence?
Vernos,
Obama indeed make that statement, and in context it could be considered a war of sorts. Politifact has a good discussion about it here: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/...
@Colin - AMEN BROTHER :) I couldn't have said it any better and I agree with every word :)
Obama made the comment, but what has he done to wage war on coal?
Comment removed by moderator. Off Topic
Vernos, from the NY Times no less. New rules based on junkscience, what a surprise.
" EPA war on coal plants threatens air conditioning -- and public health
Posted on August 12, 2011 by Steve Milloy| 2 Comments
Does "EPA" really stand for the Environmental Projection Agency?
In a surprising, off-agenda article today, the New York Times reports that the EPA jihad against coal-fired electricity threatens the availability of air conditioning during heat waves.
The Times reports,
As 58 million people across 13 states sweated through the third day of a heat wave last month, power demand in North America's largest regional grid jurisdiction hit a record high. And yet there was no shortage, no rolling blackout and no brownout in an area that stretches from Maryland to Chicago.
But that may not be the case in the future as stricter air quality rules are put in place. Eastern utilities satisfied demand that day -- July 21 -- with hefty output from dozens of 1950s and 1960s coal-burning power plants that dump prodigious amounts of acid gases, soot, mercury and arsenic into the air. Because of new Environmental Protection Agency rules, and some yet to be written, many of those plants are expected to close in coming years.
While the "dump prodigious amounts of acid gases, soot, mercury and arsenic into the air" is pure exaggeration (e.g., U.S. coal fired-power plants are responsible for only about 0.5% of global mercury emissions which is 99+% less than Mother Nature emits), the article's basic point is not."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/busine...
dip, can you read?
"U.S. coal fired-power plants are responsible for only about 0.5% of global mercury emissions which is 99+% less than Mother Nature emits"
But god help us if its man-made!
"If I am willing to pay more, and I am by far not a wealthy man, the rich should come up with a shared sacrifice plan of their own. What do you think?"
I think -- there's very deserving reasons why sheeple such as Peter Chura are not wealthy and will remain that way.
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Vernos, Obumma war on energy will ensure a no-growth economy as far as the eye can see...
EPA war on coal plants threatens air conditioning -- and public health
Posted on August 12, 2011 by Steve Milloy| 2 Comments
Does "EPA" really stand for the Environmental Projection Agency?
In a surprising, off-agenda article today, the New York Times reports that the EPA jihad against coal-fired electricity threatens the availability of air conditioning during heat waves.
The Times reports,
As 58 million people across 13 states sweated through the third day of a heat wave last month, power demand in North America's largest regional grid jurisdiction hit a record high. And yet there was no shortage, no rolling blackout and no brownout in an area that stretches from Maryland to Chicago.
But that may not be the case in the future as stricter air quality rules are put in place. Eastern utilities satisfied demand that day -- July 21 -- with hefty output from dozens of 1950s and 1960s coal-burning power plants that dump prodigious amounts of acid gases, soot, mercury and arsenic into the air. Because of new Environmental Protection Agency rules, and some yet to be written, many of those plants are expected to close in coming years.
While the "dump prodigious amounts of acid gases, soot, mercury and arsenic into the air" is pure exaggeration (e.g., U.S. coal fired-power plants are responsible for only about 0.5% of global mercury emissions which is 99+% less than Mother Nature emits), the article's basic point is not.
The $15 - $20 a month increase in utility rates per family actually seems to be an acceptable amount of money compared to the impacts of continuing to waste our health, clear skies, water resources, etc with the glut of coal combustion leaving us a heritage of acid rain, mercury-laced water, carbonaceous skies, global climate change, etc.
It is not a bit different than the letter writer's suggestion of raising the gas tax two-bits a gallon.
Blaming President Obama for suggesting an alternative to our present quagmire while pointing out a likely economic impact seems more than a bit contentious when in fact we do need to make considerations of some other ways of dealing with several issues at once.
It's not so much a war as a discussion of how to terminate the trail of destruction we have been inflicting on ourselves and our heritage.
Rusty: "As 58 million people across 13 states sweated through the third day of a heat wave last month, power demand in North America's largest regional grid jurisdiction hit a record high. And yet there was no shortage, no rolling blackout and no brownout in an area that stretches from Maryland to Chicago."
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/ef...
400,000 Marylanders endured periods ranging from several hours to half a day of no A/C during the hottest day of the year a couple of weeks ago. BGE, the investor-owned utility serving them, shut off the A/C units from their central management through the Peak Rewards program for which they pay their customers between $50 and $100 per year.
Rusty, your credibility on these matters doesn't amount to much, does it?