Not So Straight Talk On Gas Prices

Sometimes a person is accused of not being able to keep two contradictory thoughts in his/her head at the same time. Not so John S. McCain. The first quote, about gas taxes, is from McCain at his speech at Carnegie-Mellon University on 4/15/08, the second, about global warming, from an interview on MSNBC's Hardball on 4/16/08:

I propose that the federal government suspend all taxes on gasoline now paid by the American people — from Memorial Day to Labor Day of this year. The effect will be an immediate economic stimulus — taking a few dollars off the price of a tank of gas every time a family, a farmer, or trucker stops to fill up.

Climate change. Climate change. I believe that climate change is real. I think we have to act...
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

And I’ve said that for many, many years. I would just like to put the question this way to my fellow Americans. Suppose that we are wrong and there’s no such thing as climate change but we go ahead and adopt green technologies and we reduce greenhouse gas emissions? All we’ve done is give our kids a cleaner planet, OK? But suppose...
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

Suppose we are right and do nothing. Suppose we just continue this endless debate and continue the increase of greenhouse gas emissions, and we hand these wonderful Americans a damaged planet? I think the answer to that is pretty obvious. And by the way, that question was posed first by former prime minister Tony Blair.

So JSM is exorcised about global warming- except that he proposes to increase the release of greenhouse gases by suspending the federal gas tax, thus encouraging driving.

Admittedly, McCain claims that by temporarily ending the 18.4% federal gas tax and 24.4% diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day the American consumer will benefit by spending less. However, I don't recall McCain recommending this 2-3 months ago as Congress was debating the proper form, and extent, of an economic stimulus package. Then, a cut in gas taxes likely would have resulted in the cost of driving, because it is a period when most driving is for cummuting and thus unavoidable. A cut in the summer months- the peak driving period as Americans drive for leisure- may instead prompt Americans to drive more, hence increasing greenhouse gases, a strange urge for a guy professing concern about climate change.

Consider, therefore, an alternative scenario: the oil companies, seeing a suspension in a gas tax and thus a cut in cost to the consumer, realize that they can raise the cost at the pump to near what it previously was- and thus increase their already extraordinary profits, all without the increase in driving and hence greenhouse gases decried by McCain. Could this be what John McCain is after? The Straight-Talk Express guy- perish the thought!