Oil Profits
Friday, April 28, 2006
So now for my daily conspiracy theory rant.
In the news for the past 24 hours has been the federal government's response to our pending energy crisis caused by extraordinarily high oil prices. My favorite solution? Give everyone $100 to spend on more gas.
See, that $100 (which is basically the political majority using tax dollars to buy votes before the mid-term elections) doesn't actually accomplish anything except to really allow us to subsidize record oil-company profits, whereas it DOESN'T increase funding for alternative fuel research.
So here's my solution, revolutionary that I am: Tax the profits. Increase the taxes (slightly) on gasoline. Spend every dime of that on a) tax cuts for fuel-efficient vehicles, b) oil alternatives and energy alternatives (such as biodiesel, ethanol, nuclear power, etc), and c) mandate that every non-combat government-owned vehicle (tanks, police cars, armored vehicles) run 100% off alternative fuels - not just "flex-fuel", but 100%. The effect will be a national trend towards fuel efficiency and reduced oil usage, while increasing the amount of oil alternatives for our energy-dependent economy. The beauty of this is that once we reduce our dependence on (foreign) oil, our foreign policy will actually start to make sense.
In the news for the past 24 hours has been the federal government's response to our pending energy crisis caused by extraordinarily high oil prices. My favorite solution? Give everyone $100 to spend on more gas.
See, that $100 (which is basically the political majority using tax dollars to buy votes before the mid-term elections) doesn't actually accomplish anything except to really allow us to subsidize record oil-company profits, whereas it DOESN'T increase funding for alternative fuel research.
So here's my solution, revolutionary that I am: Tax the profits. Increase the taxes (slightly) on gasoline. Spend every dime of that on a) tax cuts for fuel-efficient vehicles, b) oil alternatives and energy alternatives (such as biodiesel, ethanol, nuclear power, etc), and c) mandate that every non-combat government-owned vehicle (tanks, police cars, armored vehicles) run 100% off alternative fuels - not just "flex-fuel", but 100%. The effect will be a national trend towards fuel efficiency and reduced oil usage, while increasing the amount of oil alternatives for our energy-dependent economy. The beauty of this is that once we reduce our dependence on (foreign) oil, our foreign policy will actually start to make sense.
posted by Burton at 11:04 AM
2 Comments:
Not a bad idea, but it would make more sense to just have all of the oil company execs thrown in jail under RICO laws.
That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
Jail? screw that...My Firing Squad is ready and waiting.
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