(11-19-2019 04:31 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  No, I would NOT call out numbers, since I agreed with him - and you - that adding a few cents to the gas tax might not be a bad thing.

I call out YOU since you were advocating higher gas prices as a method of coercing consumers away from gasoline. Higher prices as a result of antiOil legislation and regulation will hurt lower and middle class NOW, and you suggested riding the bus.

(11-17-2019 12:13 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(11-17-2019 11:57 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(11-17-2019 09:06 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Paid $2.02.9 at the pump yesterday. The anti-oil policies of the Democratic field will take us back to $4.00+, apparently an outcome that will please their leadership.

Very little issue with increasing gas prices, as I generally feel like the positives from actions that would increase costs are more worthwhile. We could better fund infrastructure changes and upgrades if gas taxes increased, and potentially reduce fuel consumption if that money is spent making more robust investments in public transportation.
It’s not a zero sum game where all cost increases are automatically bad, without thinking about what are the positives of the actions leading to those cost increases.

The problem with the anti-oil policies of virtually all the democrat field is not the impact of cost so much as the impact of availability. Significantly reduce domestic production, and you significantly reduce availability of things like chemical feedstocks, and that has a major negative impact on the economy as a whole. The economic growth of the past decade is almost entirely attributable to cheap energy made available by fracking.

I have no problem with increasing price. I frankly think that we would make good use of current low gasoline prices by increasing the tax, in order both to raise some revenues to reduce the deficit and to encourage behaviors toward more efficient automobiles or alternative fuels.

But the solution is not to impose the kinds of draconian limitations being proposed by the like of the democrat left. Those things have unintended and unanticipated (by them, at least) consequences which would do major harm to the lives of hundreds of millions.

Part of me kind of thinks, hey, let Bernie or Fauxcohontas win in 2020 and start to impose their reckless agenda. Let the economy start reacting, and then at least we can hope that those clamoring for those sorts of solutions will be shut up for decades. Hell, republicans might be able to run against Bernie or Fauxcohontas for 50-100 years, the way democrats ran against Herbert Hoover. If only I thought republicans had any good ideas, I'd be okay with that.