As if we needed
proof that many members of Congress are simply self aggrandizing windbags,
here's the latest "newsletter" sent by my Congressman, Rep. Richard Nugent (what is about people named Nugent?). I
assume I am on his mailing list because I sent him a letter months ago regarding
the price gouging taking place at the
USNA gift shop.
"Dear Friends,
The President released his budget on Tuesday and it was much of what we have come to expect out of his office: more taxes, more spending, and more debt. It even included an inexplicable $10-a-barrel tax on oil. You think the oil companies will incur this cost? Absolutely not. They will no doubt pass this financial burden on to consumers, potentially increasing the price per gallon you pay at the pump by nearly 25 cents. And you can imagine what this tax might do to airline, tourism and shipping customers. The point is, the Administration continues to punish the middle class by siding against America’s energy resources.........."(and it continues in another direction).
My response - probably the last, since I think I'm now off the Christmas card list!
Congressman Nugent,
Considering the Consumer
Price Index (CPI) change from 1955 until the current year, gas prices indexed
to inflation are at least a dollar a gallon below what they would be if the
price of fuel had simply kept pace with inflation. Of course, in reality, gas
prices adjusted for inflation are actually significantly lower than they were when I was a lad and that was
65 years ago. Many counties in Florida
and elsewhere have increased tax on price per gallon at the pump in recognition
of this. Yet when this President proposes it you think it will hurt
"airline, tourism and shipping customers." Really?
Adding $10 per
barrel, assuming none of it was borne by the energy corporations (it wouldn't be, because corporate shills in
Congress would make sure it wasn't) would work out to about 23 cents per gallon
of refined fuel (gas and diesel) at 42 gallons per barrel which is the average
across the industry. That would still leave gas prices about $1.50/gallon below
2011 prices, at somewhere close to $2.00/gallon. Why weren't you screaming
"foul" when gas was at $3.75 per gallon, yet you're now heartily
offended by the fact that it might be $2.00 per gallon? Do you even read what
you or your staffers write?
Federal tax on fuel
has remained at 18.4 cents/gallon since 1993. Over the same time span the CPI
has increased by a factor of 1.8. Even the basic 1 semester economics course required for all Florida high
school students would teach that the impact of federal fuel tax, adjusted to
CPI, has decreased by almost 50% over
the span from 1993 to the present. I assume most who read this have few
resources for critical analysis and read it, delete it and think, "Yep,
old Rich is my guy!" Tragic, that.
And as expected, I see you played the "class warfare" card
again. Please take me off the mailing list.
Michael Dorman MMCM(SS) USN (Ret)
The Villages
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