Tom Friedman takes on the idiocy of a gas tax holiday

I don't often agree with anything that New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has to say but for once he is right on. He is calling out Hillary Clinton and John McCain for their blatant political pandering in this presidential election year. These two candidates are both supporting the idea of a federal gas tax holiday summer. The reality is that such a proposal is precisely the wrong thing to do if we actually want to reduce oil consumption. Of course, if such a tax holiday were to be passed we would potentially save a few bucks this summer. In fact average, drivers would save about $28 over the course of the summer. Sounds like a plan huh? Meanwhile Congress has failed to do anything about passing any new tax breaks for renewable energy sources like solar and wind. At the same time the roads and bridges of the United States are crumbling. What we should be doing is raising the gas tax, and cutting income taxes on lower to middle income families to compensate. We also need to take a bite out of the record profits that oil companies are earning. But the guy in the White House has already decreed that will never happen under his watch. At least Barack Obama hasn't bought into this ridiculous idea. Yet.
[Source: New York Times]