Gas Crisis: Congress Nixes the Gas Tax Holiday

On the news last evening, it was announced that Congress has refused to live up to it's promise of a gas tax holiday for American citizens during the high travel summer vacation months. This gas tax holiday wasn't to be permanent, simply for the summer due to the outrageous and climbing pump prices.

Instead, apparently due to more propaganda out of both Washington and the construction industry, they are now threatening an increase due to projected shortfalls in the budgetary needs for our federal highway system and the profits of the government contractors who are awarded those excessive and overinflated contracts. The current federal gas tax in this country it is claimed has not risen since 1993. However, just imagine that the federal government is getting 20 cents per gallon FOR EACH AND EVERY GALLON OF GASOLINE SOLD IN THIS COUNTRY. The states themselves also make approximately 20 cents per gallon FOR EACH AND EVERY GALLON OF GASOLINE SOLD IN THIS COUNTRY. Those sums also are not primarily used to fund the repairs needed and necessary for our federal highway system, but also used to fund various other "projects" and for non-highway use purposes (like our Social Security system, it seems).

With taxes on a gallon of gasoline already over 40 cents (2005 figures) between the state and federal government "takes," maybe those contractors need to either rebid their figures for those projections accounting simply for "reasonable" (not extortionate) profits, or the federal government needs to stop dipping into every targeted revenue source for it's indulgences or the "pork" needs of the NGOs and foreign governments that line up with their hands out for their "share" of the public trough. The projected increase over and above the already 20 cents levied was another dime, a whopping 50% increase PER GALLON. And the contractors also whined that without those projects, there was also the possibility of layoffs and loss of jobs. Loss of jobs for whom? The illegals who work on a great many of those private/public contracts so that the profit margins for those government contracts doubles due to the "privilege and immunity" of not having to pay taxes even on the public sums they are getting? If the federal highway system maintenance crews are the same as those now working on the levees and reconstruction of New Orleans, most likely AT LEAST 50% of them are Mexican "illegal" migrant workers and not Americans at all. So whose economy would the loss of those jobs effect? Mexicos? And who then might gain by reduction of that gas tax? Americans. Guess we know where those contractor's national loyalities lie.

I think the federal government and those members now on the Hill are truly out of their living minds, and seem to use these special interests groups "protests" to affect their Constitutional decision making. The gas tax funds are being siphoned just as the Social Security sums are. Just who is making these budgets and budgetary decisions now in this country. Houdini?

Maybe they ought to go over those figures again, have the contracts rebid, fire a few of those rip off federal contractors, review the timetables for the projects,cut the profits for their sovereign pork bill recipients, and use those sums strictly only for necessary replacement of the existing federal highways, eliminating any "new" projects. And cut out the middle men at each and every step of most of these projects.

The state's get enormous amounts of money from these gas taxes (in Arizona, they also get money for roadways from the lottery), and also the feds. There is absolutely no reason why there is not enough money, except that it is the price of the oil itself also responsible for some of these added costs (a catch 22 situation, it appears, the repairs will be more since the price of the petroleum products necessary have gone up). This is madness economics at it's core.

Why is it that whatever money that is given to the government, gets either wasted, misspent or goes into the politicians pockets, and then there is always a shortfall for the needs for the truly public governmental functions. I can only assume at this point that they need to justify their existence in some manner, and the more people you have on the federal payroll, the more and more messed up it becomes.

I think those economists need to throw away their calculators, and get back to long division.