Verdad Verde

The party primaries sure have brought out the green talk among the candidates.  In fact, John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton all have climate change plans as part of their platforms.  Really, how many times have you heard lately that America has to break its addiction to foreign oil?  While this sounds like a great goal and one that all Americans can get behind, it appears the candidates who push this talk have no real intentions to follow through with any actions.  Take for example, Senators McCain and Clinton’s recent proposals to suspend the federal taxes on gasoline for the summer travel season.  Making gasoline cheaper for consumers does not seem like a step towards reducing America’s dependency on foreign oil.  It appears to be a quick-fix in an attempt to buy votes with lower prices at the pump.   

What makes Senators McCain and Clinton’s plans even more ridiclouis is the fact that Americans already have some of the cheapest gas in the world.  According to a recent CNN article the price of a gallon of gas in the United States is the 108 most expensive out of 155 countries surveyed.  Looking at it from the opposite end, the price of a gallon of gas in the United States is the 44 cheapest out of 155 countries.   

Compounding a federal mistake would be if state politicians also looking for a quick-fix got in on the action.  So far state politicians in Florida, New York, Missouri, and Texas have all proposed breaks from state taxes on gasoline during the summer months.  While in North Carolina and Indiana candidates for governor are looking into similar gasoline tax breaks.  All this talk of summer gasoline tax breaks has prompted an outcry from economists.  In an open letter on the Environmental Economics blog numerous economists are united in their oppostion to such gasoline tax breaks as bad policy.     

While Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida is correct when he states that he is ”supposed to respond to the people and try to make them happy,” he is overlooking the fact that he was also elected to do the right thing for the future of Floridians.  Clearly what he and others are doing is pandering to the people in the hopes that it will win a few votes come election time.