Bonded By Blood

California Legislative Democrats pushed a bill earlier this week that:

1. Eliminated the state gas tax of $0.18 a gallon.
2. Raised taxes in the same amount, offsetting the lost gas tax, and
3. Created a new state gas "fee" of $0.39 a gallon.

This would have raised several billion dollars to close the gap on our state budget deficit.

The two "taxes" offset one another, preserving revenue neutrality, so they don't need a 2/3rds majority and can piss on the Republicans. Fees aren't taxes...so the Democrats, who don't have 2/3rds of the votes in the legislature but who do have more than 50%, sent this bill to Schwarzenegger.

Who promptly vetoed the bill.

It's really too bad because I would have liked to see higher gas taxes. Err...gas fees. Maybe they're gas surcharges. Perhaps gas assessments? Or gas tariffs? Call them what you will.

The Republican legislators won't raise taxes. They either bonded by blood or convened a circle jerk but they are steadfast in their opposition to raising taxes. And the Democrats are steadfast in finding shortcuts around them to raise taxes and/or not cut as much spending.

This is La Boisselle, 1916. A stagnate, ineffective legislature. They are failing in their most fundamental role; they are failing to govern. State workers may soon be sent to furlough...and this might only be the start of a total fiscal meltdown. EDD will be running a $2+ billion deficit by the end of '09 -- too many unemployment checks written and not enough unemployment insurance payments to cover them. And of course, we recently extended the number of weeks people are eligible, making the whole fucking problem worse.

We fail, we consistently, utterly, and hopelessly fail, to recognize that we want services but refuse to pay for them. We want home values to appreciate 20% per year but refuse to pay when they don't. We want our vehicular toys but refuse to pay for them today, and if we're asked to pay for them in the future, we refuse and declare bankruptcy. We want the cheapest shit we can buy from discounted big box retailers, wiping out whole local communities, while we refuse to pay Merkian wages to make them.

And we refuse to believe our drunk-on-credit, drunk-on-indebtedness could be the cause.

The Return of $3.XX

While the purslane and brown rice is getting ready, I along with all the other 300 million Americans are breathing a sigh of relief! The return of $3.XX gas is right around the corner! Oil and natural gas futures are down! Way down!

A few good returns on how demand destruction is working its way through the Merikan economy and speculators are now short on oil. Speculators don't give a whit about the absolute magnitude of price; they only care that they are on the right side of its movement. They predict us curtailing use.

And apparently we've cut back 5%. That's actually respectable! And it wasn't due to any action on the part of the Franklin Monologues...it was the rest of you. I don't think public trans ridership, bicycling, or scootering to work had a whole lot to do with that 5%, it was likely we just simply stopped recreationally using oil.

My observation is that demand inelasticity increases as demand destruction progresses. That first 5% is easy to get; we air our tires, drive a wee bit slower, combine trips...all the shit we should have been doing from the beginning but were too lazy and stupid to do. 5% does not impact our lifestyles, outside of bringing energy to the front of our reptilian minds. The next 5% will be a lot more difficult; if it takes a 40% price increase to effect a 5% reduction, what price 10%?

And at $3.XX, we can fergettabout conservation!