Gas rebate debate
Re:”GOP floats gas rebate,” April 28 Page 1 story.
With mid-term elections approaching, our congressional representatives are once again strategizing about ways to get themselves re-elected. This year, they are considering sending us a check for $100 just before the election in November, purportedly to help with the cost of gas. At $3 a gallon, that would pay for 33.3 gallons of gas. My vote is not for sale at any price, but if it were, it would take more than 33.3 gallons of gas to buy it.
Carol Andersen, Denver
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The Senate Republicans’ proposal to send a $100 rebate to all taxpayers as a means of “helping American consumers” deal with high gasoline prices is reminiscent of the infamous “let them eat cake” response of the French royalty during the French Revolution. In other words, throw a little money (cake) at them and they will be quiet.
Heaven forbid anything substantive be proposed to deal with the problem, such as a comprehensive energy strategy or an investigation of oil company profits or an effort to be less dependent on oil.
Oh, I forgot, they also suggested an “oil profit tax.” What is that misguided idea supposed to do? Drive down gas prices? The oil companies will simply increase the price at the pump to cover the new tax.
David Briggs, Broomfield
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The Republican solution to our long-term energy problem is to give us all $100 to buy gas with. This solution is extraordinary in its audacity. First of all, the $100 will put us deeper in debt so our children and grandchildren will end up paying the bill, and all it does is subsidize the petroleum industry and foreign producers. The Democrats’ solution is not much better: They are suggesting a gas tax moratorium which must also be financed.
If this is truly a supply-and-demand problem, then we must attack the price by reducing demand for petroleum products in this country. We need a long-term plan directed at energy independence from petroleum and the leadership that will make it work. Soon all of our money will be going to China, health insurance companies, foreign oil producers, and to pay the rest of the world who own the paper that is underwriting $100 giveaways and the lobbyist middlemen that dream this stuff up.
Kent Hunter, Centennial
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In August, President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress handed billions of dollars in tax breaks to the oil companies, but with the 2006 elections approaching and polls showing that Americans are ready to throw the bums out, they now want to tax oil-company profits. Am I the only one getting a sore neck watching the GOP twist with the political winds?
The Republican proposal to send out $100 “rebate” checks is the most shameless effort to buy off voters that I have ever seen.
Lawrence Jones, Conifer
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Re: “Gas costs mobilize Bush,” April 26 Page 1 story.
I found it slightly ironic that, right in the middle of this article on The Denver Post website, there were alternating ads for Conoco’s weekly “Fuel the Fun!” Colorado Road Trip contest and for United, urging me to buy airline tickets.
Only later in the day was there an ad from our utility company, offering Colorado businesses some tips on conserving energy.
Nowhere in the story did I see any suggestions on how consumers can cut back on needless car trips or otherwise curb our abuse of petroleum products.
Let’s keep the discussion open for positive – yet minor – lifestyle changes that would put a decent dent in our dependence on oil, leave more dollars in our wallets, and keep the inconvenience factor to a minimum.
Lise Neer, Denver
President Bush has ordered an investigation of increasingly high gas prices. In addition, he has called on energy companies to re- invest their profits into the expansion of refining capacity, development of new technologies, and research of alternative energy sources, and has eased air-quality standards for gasoline.
Allowing gas-guzzling SUVs to burn dirtier gasoline and meekly requesting voluntary research and development of alternative technology and energy sources does little to ease our addiction to oil.
A good first step in producing long-term solutions to our addiction would be for Congress to pass the Automobile Fuel Efficiency Improvement Act (Senate Bill 1648). This legislation would raise gas-mileage standards for passenger automobiles from 25 miles per gallon to 40 mpg for those manufactured after model year 2016, resulting in a savings of 5.4 million barrels of oil each day when fully implemented and a savings of $29 billion a year at the pump by 2015.
Laura Harper, Denver
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The Associated Press recently reported that President Bush “urged the waiver of clean air rules to ease local gas shortages.” Well, of course he did. This is just what we’ve come to expect of George W. Bush & Co. Make it easier for the polluters to pollute more.
The administration should instead toughen environmental regulations and institute much stronger corporate average fuel economy standards for all vehicles sold in this country, and those exported to others.
Petroleum is peaking, possibly right about now. The rate of extraction cannot be sustained, because the resource is starting to dwindle. Demand is outpacing supply. And if that were not enough, the combustion of these fuels imperils the planet because of increasing CO2 in the atmosphere, bringing on the prospect of global climate change, and all that will likely come with that.
What to do? Change needs to be swift and even radical if we’re going to have a livable future.
Senators Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard need to stand up for Coloradans and the rest of the nation by co-sponsoring the Automobile Fuel Efficiency Improvements Act. It’s not perfect, in that it doesn’t go far enough, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Karl Hanzel, Boulder
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Wake up, America: It’s time for Gasonomics 101. In regular economics, when the price of something goes up, the amount people buy goes down. They use less or buy something different. But not with Gasonomics; when the price goes up, the amount people buy goes up.
Perish the thought that we would drive smaller cars, car pool, drive less or anything like that. And we blame the oil companies and the politicians. Cheap fuel is our birthright. Do you want to get a good look at who is responsible (or maybe irresponsible)? Grab a mirror and smile!
And it’s going to get worse. Gasonomics has spread to the whole world. The price goes up and countries buy more oil. To make it worse, ninnies control a large portion of the world’s oil supply. And our government is selling our country in order to supply us with all the oil we want.
As Pogo (Walt Kelly) said, “We have met the enemy and he is us!”
Keith Campbell, Denver
