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Posted at 9:08am on May 3, 2008 Gasoline-Tax Demagogy

Three Presidential Candidates, Three Weird Approaches to Economic Policy

By blackhedd

I’m going to let you in on a secret you may not have heard yet: The price of gasoline has been rising.

And since it’s a Presidential election, this is populist gold. Each of the candidates has proposed something to do about it. Of course, the high price of fuel is a complex phenomenon with a lot of causes, very few of which are responsive to policy. So the candidates are stuck talking about the thing that government actually can affect: the level of Federal taxation.

Their responses are distinct, and illuminating.

Let’s start with Senator McCain, who kicked off the gas-tax derby a few weeks ago in Pittsburgh, with his proposal for a Federal gas-tax “holiday” over the summer months. Sounds great, feels good, doesn’t do a whole lot of anything permanent, and certainly does nothing to alter the underlying market dynamics.

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