Easy Win
Tom Friedman, respected columnist for the New York Times, says it's time for a national gas tax: "Win, Win, Win, Win, Win . . . " He had previously argued Bush could've used our post 9/11 patriotism to swallow such a blow to our love of gas guzzlers and open spaces, but he didn't.
Obama similarly has political cover, especially if he trades a gas tax or carbon tax for a payroll tax cut. But time's a wasting; in the article, Friedman notes that CNNMoney is reporting that trucks and SUVs will outsell cars in December 2008, and that sales of hybrids are way down. Apparently, the memory of $4 a gallon gas isn't good enough; gas actually has to be $4 a gallon to get us to do the sorts of things we need to, from a long-term environmental and geopolitical standpoint.
Obama similarly has political cover, especially if he trades a gas tax or carbon tax for a payroll tax cut. But time's a wasting; in the article, Friedman notes that CNNMoney is reporting that trucks and SUVs will outsell cars in December 2008, and that sales of hybrids are way down. Apparently, the memory of $4 a gallon gas isn't good enough; gas actually has to be $4 a gallon to get us to do the sorts of things we need to, from a long-term environmental and geopolitical standpoint.
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