- So we have this:
- Congress considered billions of dollars in new taxes on oil companies Thursday, looking for ways to punish the cash-rich industry and soothe growing anger over high gasoline prices.
- Wait a minute. Punishing an industry by socking it with new taxes is supposed to soothe my “anger” over high gasoline prices? That seems so childish, political, and class-warfare-ish. But if that is Congress’ job to do . . . .
- Senate Republicans also proposed a $100 fuel-cost rebate for millions of taxpayers, and Democrats talked of suspending the 18.4-cent federal gasoline tax for two months to ease Americans’ pain at the pump.
- In this case, I support the Democrat idea, but for six months, please.
- But even as lawmakers jockeyed for political advantage on the volatile issue, there was widespread agreement among economists and energy experts that the government has few if any weapons to quickly drive down gasoline prices that have rushed past $3 a gallon across much of the country.
Oh, political advantage. Never mind what’s right?