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June 12, 2008

What if?

by Chris Feeney

	Copyright © 2001 Memphis Democrat 121 South Main Street Memphis MO 63555
Phone: 660-465-7016 -- Email: memdemocrat@nemr.net

What if we didn’t have President Bush to blame for all our problems? Gas is over $4 a gallon, it must be the president’s fault right?

That seems to be what the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wants us to believe.

They sent me this wonderful press release yesterday entitled “As Gas Prices Soar to New Record, Does Blaine Luetkemeyer Offer the Same Bush-McCain Energy Policies for Missouri?”

Seconds later I got the exact same e-mail except it was targeting fellow Republican congressional candidate Brock Olivo, with another carbon copy just seconds later aimed at Dr. Bob Onder, the three candidates vying for a chance at Kenny Hulshof’s congressional seat.

I’m not going to waste my time on how unprofessional I felt the public relations was on such a canned release, simply inserting the candidates name on the dotted line on three separate, but nearly identical letters to the media.

What I will focus on instead is the message.

It states “For more than seven years, President George Bush and his allies in Congress have given tax breaks to Big Oil companies earning record profits and done nothing to help lower the price of gas at the pump, which is now $3.82 a gallon in Missouri. Are these the same energy policies that Blaine Luetkemeyer (Dr. Bob Onder or Brock Olivo) would support in Congress?”

What the DCCC fails to remind the readers about is in October 2006, when gas prices were $2.26 a gallon.

Then in November a Democrat majority was elected into the United States House of representatives where Onder, Olivo and Luetmeyer are trying to maintain Hulshof’s Republican seat.

“Considering that Missouri’s families are now paying dearly for the Bush-McCain energy policies that prioritize protecting Big Oil profits over lowering prices at the pump, Blaine Luetkemeyer needs to tell Missouri’s families whether he will support more of the same approach in Washington,” said Ryan Rudominer, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “The question for Blaine Luetkemeyer is simple: Will he continue the same George Bush policies that give tax breaks to his Big Oil pals and have Missouri’s middle class families now paying the highest gas prices in American history?”

What the DCCC fails to ask is would any of the trio of Republican hopefuls if elected help push for expansion of energy production, such as the expansion of oil drilling, that thus far has been opposed by the Democratic controlled-house?

The DCCC press release states according to AAA, the average price of gas in America is now at a record high of $4.02 per gallon. Typical politics finds it pointing the finger across the aisle, targeting an outgoing boss as the one to blame.

Before Bush in 2001 gas was $1.38 a gallon. But that was also before 9/11, before Katrina and before China and India’s (and everyone else’s for that matter) consumption of oil dramatically increased while production stayed the same or even declined. Did you know that China’s oil consumption had doubled in less than a decade?

What the DCCC and Democrats as a whole will tell us is that the oil companies are to blame. So lets get rid of the oil guys like Bush and tax the heck out of the petroleum industry.

Does that fix the problem? NOPE.

If consumption is doubling in China, and obviously isn’t going down much anywhere else anytime soon, then the only answer is upping production. It’s simple supply and demand. Instead Democrats like the DCCC prefer deny and stick your head in the sand (note the nifty little rhythm there).

Lets avoid upsetting liberals by discussing disturbing Alaska or anywhere else in an effort to open more oil fields for production. Instead we can fuel the masses (get it fuel…) by burning the oil companies in effigy and putting a penalty tax on them. I suspect that more taxes on the oil companies isn’t going to help lower gas prices, but I’m not an economics expert.

The guy who wrote Exxon’s tax check last year might argue we have already done that. Paying more than 40% tax rate, Exxon contributed $30 billion to the United States government in 2007.

Oh yeah, that’s one other thing the DCCC forgot to mention, how will these candidates effect you when you right that tax check?

The DCCC release says “In 2001, when President Bush took office, the average price of gas in Missouri was $1.38. According to AAA, the average price of gas in Missouri is $4.02 per gallon – an increase of 177 percent.

In 1999 when Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was in the White House, Tax Freedom Day, that point in the year when the average American has finally earned enough to pay all local, state and federal taxes fell the latest in recent history. Not until May 3rd had we made enough money to pay our taxes.

In 2002 under Bush we had our taxes paid for by April 16th.

I don’t know about you, but I like that extra month of making money for myself and not for the government to waste away. As a matter of fact I hope when elected Mr. Olivo, Dr. Onder or Mr. Luetkmeyer, will remind all the other members of Congress about that fact and get us back on the fiscally responsible track their Republican constituents are expecting from one of them. That way we can continue to see Tax Freedom day sooner and sooner. And we can boost oil production as quickly as possible to bust the bubble of record oil prices. Let the economy of supply and demand give us our money back from the oil barons instead on taxing the record profits to give to the government to waste.

Do we want more oil, lower gas prices and a return of a strong economy? Or is it better to have high gas prices and higher taxes so we can expect more government handouts?