gas prices FLOUNDER ALERT

Guy in the audience: Gas prices are too expensive, Mr. Preside,t what can you do about it?

Obama: Well, you need to stop driving a big SUV that gets 8 mpg, you don't have that many kids.

Guy: I have ten kids

Obama: You need to trade in your SUV for a hybrid van.

Talking points:

"I can't afford gas for my truck means buy another vehicle?"

"What hybrid van?"

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/04/what-you-need-is-a-hybrid-van/

stupid answer from obama...

but.. How can the president, aside from subsidising, affect commodity prices? The federal taxes on motor fuel are really not so high.. IIRC $0.15-0.30.gal... So he lifts that tax.. what does it do.. no much.

Or that dude should buy a diesel excursion and get near 20mpg.

10 kids? He can fit that many people in ANY SUV? I would think that needs a 15 passenger van. Those don't get 8 MPG, but more like 8.12 MPG. That's a HUGE savings

huge-O-chavez wrote: stupid answer from obama... but.. How can the president, aside from subsidising, affect commodity prices? The federal taxes on motor fuel are really not so high.. IIRC $0.15-0.30.gal... So he lifts that tax.. what does it do.. no much. Or that dude should buy a diesel excursion and get near 20mpg.

I agree. Most past presidents, Obama included, probably feel that they do control that, but the executive branch should have absolutely no authority to do so.

But telling someone who can't afford gas to buy a new car, especially one that doesn't exist, is a pretty odd thing to say.

10 kids?! Really?

I enjoy making babies as much as the next guy, but I really don't have any sympathy for him.

If you are living on the edge so much that you can't afford a 25% jump in gas prices, you have other problems.

Stupid answer by the pres, but if you have that big of need for a huge vehicle, and you have no margin in you finances, I think you are being stupid also.

^+1.

If you can't afford an increase in gas to STILL LESS THAN WHAT MOST ARE PAYING ELSEWHERE, then maybe you should have thought about that before you decided you wanted to support 10 kids.

What I wish Obama had said: "You know, a pack of condoms costs less than a gallon of gasoline..."

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: ^+1. If you can't afford an increase in gas to STILL LESS THAN WHAT MOST ARE PAYING ELSEWHERE, then maybe you should have thought about that before you decided you wanted to support 10 kids.

Ding!

If you can't support ten kids wrap it (or similar). If your religion forbids wrapping it, and you can't afford more kids keep it in your berkeleying pants.

1988RedT2 wrote: 10 kids?! Really? I enjoy making babies as much as the next guy, but I really don't have any sympathy for him.

I just enjoy the practice, we stop at 3. Got 1 extra by default (twins)

In reply to Grtechguy: Buy 2, get 1 free?

ReverendDexter wrote: What I wish Obama had said: "You know, a pack of condoms costs less than a gallon of gasoline..."

WINNER! It'd be the smartest thing that ever came out of his mouth! "Thuh guhvurnmunt shuld doo sumthinuhbout deeez gahs prices" sounds just as stupid coming out of a Republican's mouth as it does a Democrat's.

Some old berkeleyer was giving the attendant at the gas station down the street a hard time about gas prices a few days ago, and said "Three danged dowlars uhn sumpin' cense fer gas. Ya'll should be uh-shamed-uh yerselvz. Ahmuh go down thur tuh the shevvy dillership uhn get mee one o' them EEEEE-Lectric ve-hickles."

I almost enganged him until I realized I'd rather he go broke because he's horrible at math. I should've offered to build him a "Hydrogen Generator" for his truck.

I'll say the same thing I said when all you hippy liberals here on the board were complaining about how Bush was making millions off the high gas prices: Gas gets me to and from work. Work is where money comes from. Gas is therefore like berkeleying gold, and I'd gladly pay $5/gallon for it...or move closer to work and ride a bike.

If he was not over taxed he could pay for his gas. And I am not refering to fuel taxes but all of the taxes.

Someone who can't even afford gas is probably not a paying a lot of taxes. If he has 10 kids he is definitely not paying income taxes. (getting more then he gives would be a good guess)

aircooled wrote: Someone who can't even afford gas is probably not a paying a lot of taxes. If he has 10 kids he is definitely not paying income taxes. (getting more then he gives would be a good guess)

Exactly. With that many kids, he's almost certainly gets more back than he puts in tax-wise. If he doesn't get more back than he puts in, it's because he's making a tidy sum and he only gets back most of what he puts in, or he's making enough money that an extra buck (or even two or three) or so a gallon should be next to irrelevant.This is all in terms of federal taxes, state stuff is hardly relevant when bitching at the president.

No matter which of the three is the case, the "if he wasn't over taxed he could pay for gas" is pretty ridiculous.

He pays property taxes or his landlord does and passes it on to him. The farmer that grows his food pays taxes and passes the cost on. Everything we use is taxed or has fees added by the government. It is not one tax that makes it oppressive it is cumulative. A little here and a little there soon adds up to serious money.

pilotbraden wrote: He pays property taxes or his landlord does and passes it on to him. The farmer that grows his food pays taxes and passes the cost on. Everything we use is taxed or has fees added by the government. It is not one tax that makes it oppressive it is cumulative. A little here and a little there soon adds up to serious money.

Not near as much as the "ZOMG taxes!" crowd would lead you to believe. But I'll not bother arguing that here.

You could tell people to quit using it as an investment commodity, I suppose. Otherwise, I'd gladly buy something gas efficient if they made it for a nearly grown family of four.

Reminds me of the TV sensation "Joe the Plumber" who apparently thought he paid tax on his gross income of $250K rather than his net income. And nobody in the mainstream media seemed to pick up on this. They were too excited to put Joe the Plumber on TV every five minutes.

I guess my point is maybe Idiot with Ten Kids will be the next sensation and nobody will ask him the obivious questions that you guys nailed immediately.

Focus guys. I was saying how... oh nevermind.

In reply to tuna55: Yup, gas is pricey. Here in Flint it jumped 40 cents per gallon last weekend. Due to government requirements according to my dealer.

Gas prices are a source of frustration for me. I hate hearing the news reporting on the sky rocketing prices, because that will in turn, increase the cost as those in the commodity market see it as a good investment that's going up. So, don't make a huge stink about it and it may not go up as much. Next, what value does the commodity market add to the process? When the price of the barrel doesn't directly correlate to the price at the pump, where's the disconnect? Am I supposed to believe that the word demand for petrol has more than doubled since 2004? I don't understand that market, but I know I'm getting the short end of that stick.

My response is to sell the XJ, get a used TDI, and cringe less. It's far from the point where I can't afford to drive, but I will definitely say that it curtails other activities that cost money.

In reply to Brotus7:

Good point. You know what, I buy actual oil, in motor oil form. It's hardly ever changed in price. huh.