The proposed Gas Tax Holiday smells like it has been stuck up the ass of a politician for years and is only now being pulled out at election time. No matter how you try and sell the plan, the results still stink.

First there is nothing to prevent stations from simply offsetting the 18.4 cent discount by raising their prices. In fact most economists believe this will happen unless the holiday comes with a price freeze. I like that second part a lot better as a driver, than I do the Tax Holiday.

Secondly, if you figure out how much gas you use in a week the saving just don’t amount to squat. My wife and I burn about 20 gallons a week in the summer between the two of us, which is better than the average single driver who burns roughly 14 gallons. If you multiply the tax savings out over the twelve weeks we save as a family $44.16 while the average single driver will save $30.91. I know you are excited about that! Face it what can a single person or a family get for between $30 and $45. Amortized over 12 weeks you will hardly notice the difference. Read the full story

Retail gasoline prices pulled back slightly from record levels Tuesday and gave some consumers a small break, but a new government forecast said gas could reach as high as $4 a gallon during the summer driving season.

This story in from Yahoo via Digg.

Well Duh! Is what I have to say about gas hitting four bucks a gallon.  That was inevitable when we decided to invade Iraq and give bureaucrats control of a situation they know nothing about.  Of course $4/gallon is nothing in comparison to what will happen after that.  If it is $4 this summer you can guarantee it is $5 or higher next year.  There will come a point people when we will finally break down and say enough is enough and start to produce our own biofuels in mass quantity.  Don’t think for a minute that these oil companies have been buying up all this foreclosed on farm land in the midwest for the possibility of oil and gas production, they knew there would come a time when it was just too expensive to import oil and the public would demand a switch to biofuels.

I don’t think we will ever see the $6/gallon mark, but you can bet if we make the switch without reducing demand you will be paying $6/loaf for bread as wheat is replaced with switchgrass.  When corn gives way to sorghum, you can damned well believe the price of everything from bubble gum to meat to ice cream is going to skyrocket too..

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