Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Too Little, Too Late

Well, in another spectacular display of glorious ineptitude, GW has struck out again. Flailing at windmills in his attempts to try and drive gasoline prices down, President Bush even went so far as to rape the Clean Air Act.
Bush directed his environmental agency Tuesday to stand ready to ease clean air rules if they interfere in gasoline supplies this summer. Industry analysts said that likely would have only a marginal influence on prices.

In a country using 20 million barrels ad ay of oil for transportation purposes, that could onset quite a storm in emissions problems this summer. Of course the President's EPA spokesman had rosy perfume to spray on the looming stench
The agency also could suspend its requirement for low-sulfur gasoline and diesel - both of which kick in this year - but EPA officials said they do not anticipate those requirements will cause a problem.

"We would have to look at it case by case," EPA spokesman John Millett said.

Millett said the waivers if required are not expected to adversely impact air quality "because it's temporary in nature." Bush's directive to the EPA to be receptive to waiver requests covers the upcoming summer months.

"Temporary in nature?" Do these guys think we are fools? Tell the millions of Asthma, Emphysema, and other COPD sufferers that it is "Temporary in nature"! Hell, their lives are "Temporary in Nature"! Unbelievable what these guys will stoop to. GW is even going so far as to cancel the 10 to 12 billion barrels he had tagged to go into federal reserves this summer. Wow, now that is action. Let's see, tops, 12 million barrels for a three month period, versus 20 million barrels a day in consumption, that's not even the equivalent of a single bird shit hitting one window of all the cars in the US. Brilliant! Have another Guinness, George.

I suppose this will be good news for the Healthcare Industry, 2nd only to the Oil Industry in profiting from this regimes thoughtless, money grubbing policies. Which by the way, George et al managed to heap a hefty 19 % increase in profits to the Big Oil Guys, but at least he suggested taking a 2 billion dollar tax incentive away. That sounds like a lot, but truly it is not, too little, too late.
The country's three largest oil companies - Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron and ConocoPhillips - were expected this week to report more than $16 billion in profits during the first quarter of the year. Exxon Mobil earned $36 billion last year, the most ever by a U.S. company

The Democrats countered with an idea to enact a 60 day "Tax Holiday", lifting the 18.4 cents Gas Tax and saving motorists $100 million per day. The 'immediate relief" proposed by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J, is to be made up by taxing the Oil Companies themselves. Now that sounds pretty damn good to me, Robin Hood!

Technorati Tags:
, , , ,

3 Comments:

Blogger Praguetwin said...

I agree. Another thing to consider is that taxes are levied on gasoline by percentage points. If the price of gas doubles, couln't they cut the taxes in half without affecting revenue?

Wed Apr 26, 12:51:00 PM 2006  
Blogger p_jordan_sr said...

So many ways, with so little pain, except the pain to the PAC's. I do not understand the point of giving a 2 billion dollar tax reversal, when you could impose the "Tax Holiday" at the company's expense instead, so the motorists could realize "immediate releif"!

Wed Apr 26, 05:01:00 PM 2006  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Hey, wait, maybe George W. is on the right track here. Those pesky environmental regulations are the cause of high oil prices. If we could drill for oil in every national park, every forest and all coastal areas, we might bring the price of gas down to only $2.65 per gallon. Come on!

Thu Apr 27, 04:01:00 AM 2006  

Post a Comment

<< Home