Gas Tax Hike?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Prices at the pump could be headed higher, but don't blame Big Oil or OPEC this time.
A transit panel set up by congress is proposing a huge hike in gasoline taxes - by as much as forty cents a gallon over five years. The money would be used to repair aging roadways and bridges and ease congestion on highways. The National Surface Transportation Policy And Revenue Study Commission suggests raising the current tax of about 18 cents a gallon for unleaded gas about 5 to 8 cents a year, for 5 years. The tax would then be adjusted for inflation.
The panel was set-up following that bridge collapse in Minneapolis to give recommendations on how to fix U.S. roads, ports and mass transit systems.
It is estimated the cost of doing all this work would be $225 billion a year for the next fifty years... Which means we'll probably do the same thing we've been doing for the last 50 years when it comes to maintaining our infrastructure... Mostly nothing. So here's the question: Should the gasoline tax be raised by 40 cents a gallon over five years to pay for improvements and repairs to the nation's infrastructure?
Here’s my question to you: Should the gasoline tax be raised by 40 cents a gallon over five years to pay for improvements and repairs to the nation's infrastructure?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Kucinich Battles to Debate
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/images/01/15/art.kucinish.wife.gi.jpg caption=" Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich."]
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The saying goes "Be careful what you ask for, you might just get it." That's the position Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich may find himself in tonight at the democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, Nevada. See the debate organizers don't want Kucinich to participate. But a judge has ordered MSNBC to include Kucinich or he will issue an injunction preventing the debate from happening at all.
Kucinich was originally scheduled to be part of the debate with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. Then he failed to make much of a showing in Iowa and New Hampshire and was told he was being uninvited. Kucinich went to court, and a judge has decided it would be unfair to exclude him.
MSNBC said it is appealing the judge's ruling, but as things stand now Kucinich will be there whether they want him or not. So here's the question: Should the courts be involved in this sort of thing?
Here’s my question to you: A judge has ordered MSNBC to include Dennis Kucinich in a debate. Should the courts be involved in this sort of thing?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
A Boost for the Economy
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Fed chief Ben Bernanke met Monday to discuss how Congress might act to stimulate the slowing economy. (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
President Bush has some pretty big problems to contend with when it comes to the economy... The unraveling of the housing market, the so-called mortgage meltdown, sky-high oil and gasoline prices and growing concerns about rising unemployment and inflation.
Economists at Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch nd Morgan Stanley have all said the economy is likely slipping into a recession.
Most Americans think it already has.
Now suddenly everyone in washington is talking about various stimulus plans to turn the economy around.
The problem is the same partisanship that has kept much of anything else from getting done is going to make this more difficult as well.
The president and the republicans will likely lean toward tax rebate programs and business investment incentives while the democrats will push to restore a tax credit for lower income families.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke yesterday to discuss some options.
She is hopeful both parties can work together.
One measure both sides seem to agree on is a one-time $500 tax rebate for every household in the U.S. to be spent by midyear.
So here's the question:What would you include in an economic stimulus package to help the economy?
Here’s my question to you: What would you include in an economic stimulus package to help the economy?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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