Hillary Ignoring Economists on Gas Tax Holiday
Robert Reich, a former Clinton Secretary of Labor who now favors Barack Obama, says that the gas tax holiday Ms. Clinton supports - as does John McCain - is " economically stupid " and would increase demand for gas while costing the government $9B to finance. And he’s not alone.
(via memeorandum )
…when economists tell a president or a presidential candidate that his or her idea is dumb – and when all respectable economists around America agree that it’s a dumb idea – it’s probably wise for the president or presidential candidate to listen.
…
Even though the summer gas tax holiday is pure hokum, it polls well, which is why HRC and John McCain are pushing it. That Barack Obama is not in favor of it despite its positive polling numbers speaks volumes about the kind of president he’ll be – and the kind of president we’d otherwise get from McCain and HRC.
It is interesting to note that on the previous Congressional giveaway - the so-called Stimulus Act - neither Obama or Clinton cast a vote. Presumedly this was because of their respective campaign schedules and the fact that the compromise bill was going to pass with or without their support.
But both Democratic candidates took great pains in order to vote for a more substantial Democratic version of the bill.
Like the gas tax holiday, the economic stimulus package is a bad idea. Obama’s support for one such plan indicates that he isn’t above voting for feel-good legislation when it suits his purposes.
As far as his negative view of the gas tax holiday, I’m convinced that Mr. Obama has done the right thing by aligning himself with the country’s economists. Moreover, the best thing about his position against the gas tax moratorium is that it’s politically dangerous to resist a giveaway that’s being championed by an incredibly desperate rival.
That’s why Reich thinks he would make a better president than Hillary Clinton. I don’t agree, yet. But one more inane attempt to deceive and/or bribe Americans into voting for here could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in regard to many people’s support for the former First Lady.
If the president does not listen to economists, we are in deep trouble. Economists are not elitists, they are educated analysts of our economy. The McCain-Clinton gas tax moratorium is an obvious voter pandering == aimed at uneducated voters (yes, the lunch bucket democrats, or reagan democrats whop are also likely to disrespect economists because they are college educated). This old style politics leaves us in trouble with economic matters as money is spent on programs that have no chance of working instead of on programs with leverage that may accomplish something. Contrary to what the Clinton campaign states in the press, these lunch bucket dems are not the most important voter. Blacks, Hispanics, younger people, higher income voters, etc. are created equal. Indeed Hillary is the elitist.
I’m inclined to agree with the conclusion that the "gas tax" holiday doesn’t work. On the one hand, there’s a lot of truth in what a commenter at Althouse said, that "[a] lot of economists, like many constitutional scholars, are advocates and activists, pretending to be objective experts"; often, criticism that a politician is ignoring "the experts" amounts to criticism that the politician is ignoring the experts who advance the critic’s preferred view. Nevertheless, it does seem problematic to dismiss the view of the experts without some kind of articulable reason why one thinks they’re wrong; it suggests the kind of anti-intellectualism that plagues the modern GOP, the idea that because most experts have opinions, expertise should be looked on with suspicion.
Just because Clinton is wrong, though, don’t be too quick to think Obama’s grasp of economics is any better. His plan to reduce gas prices is even loopier: he wants to increase the costs of gas production, presumably on the theory that when a company sees its costs increase, they will increase output and reduce prices. No economist has said that Clinton’s plan makes sense, but how many think Obama’s plan makes any more sense?
Holy scripted talking point, Batman!
Suspending the tax on a time-limited basis will initially reduce the price by that amount, but the lowered price will increase demand whic will in turn boost prices…and then there’s the demand increase right before the tax returns as people hoard a bit…
All around, a short-term gas tax freeze doesn’t look like more than feel-good pandering. Temporary effect that gets washed out in short order, offset by a temporary back-end effect that takes back the small front-end gains.
Want to reduce gas prices? More domestic production and expanded refinery capacity.
I am for McCain this election, but the gas tax holiday makes no sense. It has been shown to do just what Tully has stated. Dumb move, McCain does not do things because they "poll well", although Hillary does.
I have liked the way Obama has handled this, on MTP yesteray Russert pointed out that he voted for one while he was in Illinois Senate and he admitted that after six months, just what Tully said happened and it was a big mistake. This has been tried before and failed before, so there is really not much to argue about.
On the other hand, I would not extrapolate this out to: "That Barack Obama is not in favor of it despite its positive polling numbers speaks volumes about the kind of president he’ll be – and the kind of president we’d otherwise get from McCain and HRC."
I think there are a lot of signposts as to how good a president each will make, this one being an extremely minor one.
Hillary’s NBC interview in Indiana last night was reminescent of an old Edward G. Robinson mobster flick. Hillary’s "logic" is about as lame as a 10 year old talking off the top of their head.
Commentator: Hillary, how are you going to ensure the tax holiday will end up in the consumers’ pockets?
Hillary: I’m going to have the oil companies pick up the tax tab. Tot he tune of about 8 billion dollars! Then, we’re going to send OPEC a message. …? Really, what kind of a "message" are we going to send them, schweat-haart? Are we going to obliterate them? The logic being that if, indeed we can "get" the oil companies to eat 8 billion, we can get them to lower the gas prices.
People in Indiana are rooting for this irresponsible nut job. Her "electability" is beyond speculation - it is nonexistent. Watch the superdelegates, it’s a clue.
Bait & switch on Hillary’s part. The oil companies are the ones who would profit most, so she’ll windfall-tax the profits back out of them. Net effect, near zero except for the precedent of whacking Big Oil on the nose.
We still pay the money, the government still collects the money, but it gets funneled through the oil companies first so that the consumer can blame the oil companies rather than the government for taking the money! Sneaky, eh?
Loved the "Beat up OPEC" demagoguery. WHo bells the cat, and how?