Temporary Reprieve

I think we absolutely ought to 1) seize oil company excessive profits as they are announced this week, and 2) eliminate the federal gasoline tax.

Wouldn't you agree?

Uh-huh. This would absolutely drop the price at the pump, most certainly. Bus as these profits are sure to be the biggest political football this year, I am eagerly awaiting the next twelve weeks of congressional bipartisan grandstanding to arrive at absolutely nowhere and to perform absolutely nothing here. This will give me a lot to blog about, he-he.

I'm a regular Elk Grovian bicycle commuter, perhaps one of nineteen others in this city of one hundred and forty three thousand auto-dependent consumers. Come on...bicycling has always been a nice way for me to get around but hot damn, it's again fantastic to be a bike commuter! I only wish for even higher gasoline prices. I don't do this to gloat...no. I could easily argue that because we fail to charge the user (through gas taxes/charges) the true costs of extreme auto-dependency, bicycling makes no financial sense until the price exceeds $7.25 a gallon. At least. Until then...fuck yeah, I'm gonna gloat.

But, as I've heard grumblings from those around me about how we ought to cut out that federal gasoline tax to lower prices, I'd be particularly pissed if this came to pass...but I could easily see a spooked Congress vying for their 2012 elections pass something like a "temporary reprieve for the good folks of America." Pissed, because just more of my general tax dollars would then be plowed back into the maintenance of a gold-plated roadway system designed to function on $3.50 gas and below. We already don't tax the user sufficiently; watch, a sustained high cost of gas would most certainly prompt such legislation, just you wait.

Then, Obama might just want to take this week's opportunity and push for an "excessive profits" tax on oil companies. To which I'd also be a bit pissed, but mainly because my 401(k) holds perhaps ten thousand dollars worth of Exxon, Mobil and Valero shares. It would be another tax on me, yes. Not only that, we're clamoring for more drilling -- what, exploratory wells come free? They have to take their profits (save for a few dozen billion for the top brass and us shareholders) and plow them back into finding new reserves. Go ahead -- tax the shit out of them, gain for a few months/years, then scratch your collective heads in 2019 in wonderment, asking why domestic production is 9% lower than it was back in 2011.

It's a good time to be an Elk Grovian bicyclist, indeed. I just wish my crotch was fully recovered from the surgery! For some reason a stitch or two blew out last Friday and I'm really worried about the ride tomorrow morning. It's not as if I can ride every day, and it's not as if I will be able to ride when I'm 61 around here, either -- not with a planned population/suburban housal unit explosion that will turn Franklin Blvd. into a 6-lane expressway in 20 years. It's not as if I'll be able to take Light Rail either, certainly not when federal tax dollars being diverted to road maintenance to compensate for the temporary permanent "gas tax holiday" will no longer be available for things like national parks and public transit.

I'll just have to climb into one of my several vehicular units and remain angry to no end: