A few weeks ago I wrote about how John McCain’s proposed gas-tax holiday was complete BS. And I got some great responses to that article. One of my favorites goes to someone who thinks the U.S. somehow ‘deserves’ lower gas prices.

He says…

You just wanted to increase response, didn’t you? I get so tired of hearing U.S. gas prices compared to Europe. So what if Europe pays more? Everyone knows in a free market companies which purchase in larger quantities pay less (look at Wal-Mart). Our “company”, the USA, buys fuel in larger quantities. We DESERVE lower prices, because we use more than Europe does. In fact, it’s not even close. Virgil S

Virgil you somehow missed the point that one of the biggest reasons why Europe’s gas is more expensive has everything to do with the taxes they put on fuel. For example in France, taxes make up as much as 70% of the pump price!

In the end, they pay slightly more than we do for gas before taxes. Does this make sense? Only slightly. Yes, we consume more gas. But our gas travels much further. So transportation costs should be more than in Europe. Instead, we are ‘rewarded’ with cheaper fuel prices. Just thank Uncle Sam for not taxing the heck out of us.

After Virgil’s e-mails, I got a few others. Here’s another one of my favorites, based on how silly it was.

He said…

Charles, it’s easy to criticize McCain – wish you would also do that to the democratic candidates. How many lies have they brought to the forefront in the last couple of months? Anything to say about that? Who could/would trust either Clinton – with her record in the Whitehouse – or Obama – with his ’experience? Just to vote for ‘change’ is the answer? – How much of a brain does that take? I can see on which side of the fence you are sitting!
Keep it up Charles; I don’t like what I read. Think you should know why people unsubscribe to your letter. Renate R

Renate, I wish you would have read my previous articles Clintonomics 101 and Obamanomics 101. Had you read these two e-articles you would see that I don’t just pick on one presidential candidate. I pick on all of them.

Let’s face it: they all have some very bad ideas regarding what they think will fix the economy. Both Democrats want bigger government and more spending. They also want to bail out the ‘ownership’ economy we just went through.

And the Republicans just want to cut taxes. But ask them to back that up with a spending cut and you’d be asking too much.

That’s the same point Mike L. wanted to make when he said…

Charles’ assumption that McCain (or any Republican) will remain tough on taxes and spending is dubious, particularly after the last 8 years. I can remember “Read my lips – NO NEW TAXES.” (Bush Sr) and even “no nation-building” (Bush Jr campaigning for his first term — just what the heck are we doing with Iraq then?!).

Mike – I was never under the assumption that McCain would control spending. I know better than to ever think such fantasy!

But not everyone went on the defensive. Alan C. definitely wrote in with…

“Your assessment of Sen. McCain’s gasoline tax holiday scheme was spot-on”

Owen K. also agreed, writing in…

“Charlie is right in that the big savings are going to go to buy food or pay bills. Wake up all you politicians!!! You had damn well better start facing reality, if you are capable (which I doubt).”

But out of all the people who wrote in agreeing, Alan G. had the funniest response:

I agree with Charles assessment of McCain’s idea to create a holiday for the gas tax. Instead of suspending it for three months, let’s at least double it and use the proceeds to create a fund that would pay bounty hunters to shoot environmentalists! Maybe after we shoot enough of them we will be able to explore for and use our own natural resources instead of paying the Middle East for theirs!

Now Alan, while I don’t agree that we should shoot environmentalists (I think we need them very much) I definitely feel your passion. I happen to think we should use tax revenues to develop the infrastructure needed for hydrogen fuel or electric cars. But to each their own, right?

The end-result of this gas-tax holiday is that it’s a bad idea. I say it’s a bad idea because it doesn’t do anything to fix the problem causing higher gas prices. I also think it’s a bad idea because it takes money away from our roads.

But I didn’t know the seriousness of the road situation. Chris S. wrote in with a piece that showed that in 2008 up to 37% of the money devoted to the U.S. highway trust is being diverted!

So what would the solution be? Raising gas taxes by up to 213%!

I’m not even going to talk about that idea, because it would take another article (at least).
Instead, I’m going to end this by saying that I absolutely love getting feedback from you.

Reading your e-mails allows me to get to know you better and write future articles that really address what’s concerning you. Often times I’ll see different takes on any given situation. And other times I’ll get a real good tid-bit of information like the one I got from Chris S.

In the end, I always want to keep this line of communication wide open. So if you ever have a question to ask or something you want to show me, feel free to write in at feedback@investorsdailyedge.com

I’ll always make an attempt to respond to your feedback.

To your success,

Charles