How to increase the cost of gasoline while appearing to be in favor of reducing it in 4 easy steps:
Step 1 – Slap a 2.5% tax on every gallon of gas sold in Wisconsin. I’ve already exploded that one, but I bring it up again because the WMC took a look at what Jim “Craps” Doyle figured gas prices will be in Wisconsin ($2.70/gallon) and said that it would add 7 cents/gallon. They’re closer, but at an average of $3.50/gallon, it would be 9 cents/gallon.
Step 2 (with a hat tip to Sean Hackbarth) – Sue OPEC, as most of the House, including the entire Wisconsin delegation voted to do yesterday. The only way to get any sort of judgement against OPEC (side note; the “C” stands for “Cartel”) is to sue domestically because the international courts the Left is so fond of would properly laugh us out of there, and the only way to enforce that judgement is to invade and occupy each and every member of OPEC (not that I would necessarily be against that). Talk about your “blood for oil”.
Step 3 (with a hat tip to Peter) – Just as oil companies begin to think about finally expanding refining capacity in a meaningful fashion, threaten to mandate a fivefold increase in the use of corn-a-hole in a bid to meet President Bush’s irresponsible call to reduce gasoline consumption 20% over 10 years and threaten to make that mandatory, which has the (un)intended consequence of having those oil companies drop plans for expanding refining capacity. Never mind that a 20% drop is impossible, especially with millions of fresh illegal aliens pouring across the border seeking to cash in on the next coming amnesty. Never mind that this country simply cannot increase corn-a-hole production fivefold (the best it can do is a doubling, and that’s already in the works).
Step 4 (from the same New York Times article linked to above) – Threaten federal penalties (on top of state ones) for price gouging, while ignoring market reality. Gee, price controls worked SOOOOOO well in the 1970s </sarcasm>.
What’s missing? Incentives to increase domestic production for one. Any effort to reduce the 47 (or is it more now?) flavors of Algore/Whitman Memorial RFG for another.
