Back of the napkin calculation: if Congress had the guts to impose a tax of $1/gallon on gasoline and diesel fuels at the pump with a sunset of 2026, we might succeed in paying for our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This kills two economic mistakes with one blow: it makes the cost of war obvious to all citizens, including those who are alleged to not pay any taxes. And it brings one external cost of liquid fuels to The Market. (There are still $3 or $4 more per gallon in public costs that are not paid directly by the consumers, yet. - health, noise, environmenal clean up, global climate change, support for anti-Western oi-rich dictatorships. The list goes on and on.) Talk about subsidies!
The international political benefit would be that the rest of the educated world might take us seriously! IF we're willing to pay for our wars, and not just borrow the money from our competitors, like China, Germany, Japan and India. Somehow they seem to be the more serious countries on this planet.
Ask me the odds of the Republican House voting for this tax? Zip, zippo, zilch. Funny game they're playing. Time to grow up and get serious.
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