The Gas Tax: Barack Antoinette feels your pain

In a campaign speech at Indiana University in 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama ridiculed John McCain and Hillary Clinton's proposal to suspend the federal gas tax for three months:

"Some are making decisions about buying food or buying gas. This is a critical problem that requires a serious response. So what does John McCain do? He suggests that we suspend the federal gas tax for three months. Now, I want you all to understand what this would do for you. You would save 30 cents a day for three months for a grand total savings of twenty-eight dollars.  Twenty-eight dollars.  You can't even buy a cup of coffee at 7-11 for thirty cents a day!"  

In this "Let them eat cake" moment our Martha's Vinyard president demonstrated just how out of touch he is with ordinary families.  While he and Michelle wear designer clothes and send their children to an exclusive $32K/year private school, many other families really are struggling to put food on the table.  They really are choosing between food and gas.  Twenty-eight dollars a month means something to them and it's disrespectful and insulting for an elitists millionaire like Obama to make a joke of it.  

Fast forward a few years and Obama is making good on his promise to keep the 18.4 cent/gallon tax in place, no matter how high gas prices go. That's in addition to your state gas tax. In Ohio we pay 28 cents/gallon,  for a total of 46.4 cents of tax on every gallon of gas, which means the state and federal governments confiscates around 13% of the price of every gallon of gas purchased. 

Obama says the federal government needs this money.  To make sure you neighbor keeps his job. Because it's now your duty as an American to subsidize your neighbor's job through the 18.4 cent/gallon gas tax.  

In a speech on the Palace of Versailles White House lawn last week President Obama warned that thousands- MILLIONS - would lose their jobs if the gas tax is not extended on September 30th:

"For construction workers and their families across the country it represents the difference between making ends meet and not making ends meet. If we allow the transportation bill to expire,  over 4000 workers will be furloughed without pay...If it's delayed even longer, over 1 million workers could lose their jobs over the course of the next year.  That includes some of the folks behind me today...If we don't extend this bill by the end of September, all of them will be out of a job just because of politics in Washington."

So next time you pump $70 worth of gas into your SUV, remind yourself that you are doing your part to make sure those construction workers lined up behind Obama and union boss Richard Trumpka can work another day thanks to your generosity. Aren't you glad you skipped that Slurpee?  

Or we can take Steven Crowder's advice and get rid of the federal gas tax (which panders to the unions) and give the power back to the states:

Some food for thought: I can't help but think there are some parallels between this elitist administration and pre-revolution France.  Let's hope we can elect a new president before he runs this country completely into the ground.

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