On the surface the gas tax proposed by McCain and Clinton doesn't seem that great (Obama calls it a gimmick).  Hillary plans to try to make the lost governmental income get paid by the oil companies themselves.  While this might seem like a lost cause, I think the effort needs to have more attention.  The fact that she wants to fight the corporate world is the most important idea here.  I feel like she is the one that would try to alter this dependence and compliance we have on large corporations in the capitalistic system.  With so much resting in the hands of companies that span worldwide, I feel like altering these systems while trying to entice human connectivity and hope (seemingly more in Obama's realm?) would both be necessary in altering future directions.  Any ideas just for discussion purpose?

hi megan,

i notice you have a primary coming up the same day as mine, so your question is equally worth both our considerations.

these proposals and counter-proposals by the candidates are symbolic, i think, of their stands. it's a foregone conclusion that neither clinton's or mccain's will actually happen. even if they went to all the trouble of pushing such a thing before congress, mccain's wouldn't make it, and if clinton's did, bush would simply veto it.

i think obama's critique is a fair one, at least, with regard to mccain's proposal, which would end up benefitting the oil companies at the expense of taxpayers, with gas prices remaining more or less at the highest level oil companies feel they can get. this is more or less a consequence of what in economics is called the law of supply and demand. suppliers will ask the highest price they can get, i.e such that demand will at least equal supply.

this means that if clinton's proposal were enacted into law, it, too, would actually do little to reduce gas prices. if gas was $4 a gallon, say, before the law, being the sum of $3.80, say, for the owner, and a .20 tax for the government, then after the law went into effect, gas would still be about $4 a gallon, because the oil companies would be charging the gas station owners .20 more, which would cover this new tax they had to pay, and they could get away with it, because the demand is great enough for gas at $4 a gallon. i'm assuming here that there isn't that much oil that could be profitably diverted from other destinations to the u.s. to take advantage of this tax elimination.

while, thus, it may sound like clinton's proposal does nothing, that is absolutely wrong, imo, and, as i understand it, in yours. first, it sends a strong message to the oil companies that they need to begin taking much more responsibility for this fix that they have played a major role in getting us into; and, second, that government, too, has been altogether too lax in allowing this situation to creep up on us, and continuing not to do much of anything about it. the message she is delivering very forcefully is that she can be counted on to make substantial improvements in this situation, if she is elected president, and, perhaps, even if she isn't the democratic nominee.

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It seems like the situation extends way beyond the oil companies, or the insurance companies.  The balance between government and world corporations seems to be way out of balance.  I'm so sad Hillary won't probably get in (unless hell freezes over :) ) because I feel like she would be so strong in this area.  Obama touched on it in Audacity of Hope, but I still just can't quite find the same sense of something in him.  I don't know what it is, because plenty of people seem to be able to find it, and I've tried to convince myself that I feel the same way.  In fact, I find some people enticed by him, on this board and other places, more endearing than I find him (though I don't dislike him in the least, and he's a good guy).  I mean, if Hillary attacked the companies half as much as she attacked Obama we'd be in pretty good shape :).  Hopefully she can still kick some butt as senator as current trend indicates will be the case!

megan,

i'm with you on everything you've just written. in fact, i could add alot more. but isn't that the way it is in our own lives as well? and somehow it always works out? it may actually be a blessing for hillary to lose. those who have hated and demonized her for most her life may, then, begin to see her in a new light. and she could be an outstanding senator for decades to come.

we're also already beginning to see that campaigning for president, and being president, assuming he wins, is not going to be fun for obama. his call for change has been a rallying cry for the opposition, and, believe me, they are gearing up for war. and if all he does is fight them, we will not move one wit closer to integral, world governance. hopefully, he is learning from clinton how to discourage such negative strategies, without giving up transparency, accountability, etc.

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ralphweidner:

we're also already beginning to see that campaigning for president, and being president, assuming he wins, is not going to be fun for obama. his call for change has been a rallying cry for the opposition, and, believe me, they are gearing up for war.

Agreed!    Hopefully he can enact the change he wants to see.