Taxing for Transportation

Opportunity is knocking, nationwide transportation reform is banging on the door.

With the decimation of the manufacturing industry and the desperate need to end our dependence on oil, an obvious choice would seem to be the complete overhaul of the nation’s mass public transportation system to be more efficient, convenient and create more lasting jobs.

Unfortunately this choice doesn’t seem as obvious to this administration pumping billions into GM who will eventually make small cars the public wants. Far cry from better public transportation.

Why don’t we don’t see more Democrats seizing the moment to bring this issue to the forefront? And why isn’t reduction on foreign oil more urgent to our politicians?

With Orwellian double speak we’re told we’re addicted to oil. Well excuse me for living and not to worry, just as soon as I cure my addiction to food, then I’ll move on to my oil addiction.

Modern day life depends on oil and they’ve made it that way. The USA put a man on the moon and created the Internet. Is there any reason why we can’t have and maintain better public transportation? Necessity being the mother of invention has been a cornerstone of development in our nation; whatever happened to it?

The answer to all these questions is that Big Oil is in control; this is why the crucial issue of oil dependence is not being addressed or mentioned.

FDR said you couldn’t do anything with the Oil companies and you couldn’t do anything without the Oil companies. During FDR’s time there were hundreds of oil companies, today they’ve been concentrated so that there are just seven or eight, and we can do even less with them.

As of the last week in May, the national price average for a gallon of gasoline is two dollars and fifty cents. This price has been rising as the summer has been approaching. The oil companies are putting more barrels of oil into reserve so there’s less oil for sale.

The only transportation reforms in Massachusetts our politicians can come up with are higher taxes on gasoline and toll roads. The governor wanted to install chips in our inspection stickers to track the number of miles we drive so they can send us a bill for our road usage.

Using Orwellian double speak, the politicians tell us higher gas tax means we’ll drive less and reduce our oil consumption. This places the blame and burden of oil dependence on the backs of ordinary American citizens and not at the door step of the capitalist crooks in Big Oil along with their paid off puppet politicians where it belongs.