Archive for February 24th, 2022

Biden channels Meatloaf …

February 24, 2022

… and I wish he’d stop doing it!
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Everybody remembers the Meatloaf classic, right?

The tease:” I would do anything for love”

The punch line”: “But I won’t do that !”

If you need a a refresher or just want to kick back and
listen to an all- time great song, clock here

image
click to listen

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Biden (and Psaki) have appropriated a variant of the Meatloaf classic.

Now, every time Joe steps behind the podium, he squints and reads a version of:

Gas prices are high and are going to go higher because of Putin.

I feel your pain and, rest assured, I will use all the tools available to minimize the prices at the pump.

“Anything” in Biden-speak includes plays at the margin like temporarily waiving the 18.4 cents per gallon Federal gas tax … and releasing some of the strategic oil reserves.

Reading between the lines is the punch line “But I won’t do that.”

What are the won’t-do-thats?

Well, for openers there are:

  • Buildout the Keystone XL pipeline
  • Enable aggressive fracking (again)
  • Re-open drilling in the Alaskan ANWR Region
  • Fast track off-shore licensing
  • Permanently disable the Nord Stream pipelines (both the NS1 that’s in operation and the NS2 that’s awaiting for final approval)

Those are moves that stand a chance of moderating inflation pressures in the U.S., slowing the flow of oil profits to Putin, providing some oil & LNG to Russian-dependent European countries and restoring. U.S. energy independence.

But, of course, Biden “… won’t do that”

The AOC “squad” and the climate control zealots won’t let him.

Too bad…

Posted in Biden, Joe, Bidenomics, Oil & Energy, Ukraine | 2 Comments »

More: Gas tax “holiday” is a dumb idea…

February 24, 2022

What about the budget impact?
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Following on to yesterday’s post…

Team Biden has floated the idea of waiving the 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal tax on gasoline through the end of the year.

Bloomberg’s assessment: A gas tax holiday would do nothing to fight inflation but would do lasting harm to the federal budget.

Yesterday we drilled down on the inflation effect, concluding that:

Based on common sense behavioral economics, temporarily waiving the gas tax is a play “at the margins” that is likely to have a minimal effect in curbing inflation at the pumps.

Today, let’s look at the budget effect…

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Again, building on the Bloomberg headline…

Keep in mind that revenue from the gas tax ostensibly goes into the Highway Trust Fund, which is the primary way the U.S. pays for repairing and maintaining highways

It is estimated that suspending the tax through the end of 2022 (as the proposed Dem-sponsored bill envisions) would cost about $20 billion).

Hmm.

Didn’t the Feds recently pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill intended, in part, to repair roads & bridges?

Specifically, $110 billion was earmarked and split roughly 50-50 for roads & bridges.

For details,see: What  is in the bipartisan infrastructure bill?

So, jacking $20 billion from the highways budget is the equivalent of cutting the infrastructure bill’s commitment to roads by about 40%.

So much for the commitment to infrastructure rebuilding.

They’re not trying to snooker us again, are they?

Posted in Bidenomics, Gas Prices, inflation | 1 Comment »