Sugar Beverages, and Oil & Gas
We have been treated recently to a very small view of what being an American is all about. Spending gobs of money, lobbyists, working on behalf of the makers of soda and other sweetened beverages along with lobbyists from the oil and gas industries, have treated us to a barrage of television ads. These commercials warn Americans that Congress is considering legislation that might tax their products. Their products are quite different and enter the economic mainstream at quite different place, but their messages are strikingly similar.
“Tell Congress not to tax __________ (fill in the blank) because our economy is weak and taxes can’t help”.
Where does anyone think the money will come from to continue extending unemployment checks or how will we fund the proposed $ 250 per senior (in lieu of a social security cost of living increase? And just in case someone may have been sleeping for the past year, the US is facing a projected $10 trillion national debt and appears not to have a clue how to avoid it.
Oh, we have heard Senator Fluster say, “my plan is to cut government spending and eliminate waste”. His colleague, Senator Bluster reinforces this message with, “we have to end big Government and get it out of the way of Americans”.
A more reasoned argument against taxing sweetened beverages is “why me”. These supporters claim the proposed tax is nothing more than a sin tax and that is no way to run the rail road. Strangely, doctors and medical experts all point to obesity as the number one health threat, and these beverages are loaded with calories and generally no other worthwhile ingredients. Citizens of Italy, France and Germany who all consume far more alcoholic beverages and far less sweetened ones, all live longer than Americans.
The proposed oil and gas tax is far more worthwhile than even the sugar tax. With an oil and gas tax, the US could begin the process of introducing disincentives for the wasteful use of fossil fuel. Proceeds could be used to develop alternate energy sources which would have the knock on effect of helping to lower our dependance on foreign energy source (balance of payments) and the chicken hawk’s need to every so often undertake an invasion and occupation.
Senators Fluster and Bluster, however, have never met a tax they liked and would prefer to hid the cost of any new Government spends by borrowing. Like with the Vietnam War Memorial, I hope when the day of our national debt’s day of reckoning, we can erect a similar monument. There, for everyone to see, will be the names of Senators Fluster and Bluster, and all the single interest (at the expense of everyone else) lobby groups.
This entry was posted on October 20, 2009 at 8:56 am and is filed under Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Politics, Republican Party. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: balanced budget, congress, health care reform, national debt, oil and gas tax, sugar tax, taxes
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