CNBC Reporter Gives Full-Throated Support for Higher Gas Taxes
On MSNBC's "Daily Rundown" today, Steve Liesman robustly defended raising gasoline taxes as a way to address rising oil prices.
The CNBC senior economics reporter minced no words to show his support for hiking the unpopular consumption tax in the midst of a sluggish economic recovery: "I want to offer that one of the real solutions here is a gas tax."
After positing that the problem with oil prices "is not that they're high, it's how they oscillate," Liesman claimed higher gas taxes "would accomplish two things: one, it would create incentives to use less of it and two, create a little more certainty around the price, which by the way is one of the things making gasoline a bad fuel for the economy."
The problem with oil prices is not that they're high? Ask California residents, who pay the highest gasoline prices in the country – and among the nation's highest state gasoline taxes – if they think high oil prices aren't a problem. Unstable prices certainly don't help, but to imply that excessively high oil prices aren't a problem if they're stable shows a disconnect with the challenges facing most American families.
University of Maryland economics professor Peter Morici disagreed with Liesman and suggested expanding offshore drilling as an alternative.
"I don't believe a higher gas tax will give us certainty, but I do think that developing more domestic supplies will cushion the impact on the economy," explained Morici. "Right now, if we pay more for oil, the money leaves the country. If we were producing more of our own energy, even if the price went up, it would redistribute it inside the country, get reinvested, get used, and so forth."
Morici added that compared to raising gas taxes, the negative impact of expanding offshore drilling "would be far less."
A transcript of the relevant portions of the segment can be found below:
MSNBC
The Daily Rundown
March 8, 2011
9:22 a.m. EST
STEVE LIESMAN, CNBC senior economics reporter: Can I not make a few friends here today? I want to offer that one of the real solutions here is a gas tax.
PETE MORICI, economist: You really do want to make enemies.
CHUCK TODD: I've heard this argument but go.
LIESMAN: One of the worst economic parts of what's happening to oil prices is not that they're high, it's how they oscillate. They're high, they're low, they're high, they're low. It is impossible for business to plan. I believe a gas tax would accomplish two things: one, it would create incentives to use less of it and two, create a little more certainty around the price, which by the way is one of the things making gasoline a bad fuel for the economy.
TODD: I want to go with that certainty issue. This certainty issue – we heard this argument yesterday – that really all anybody wants is certainly. Does he got a point here?
MORICI: I don't believe a higher gas tax will give us certainty, but I do think that developing more domestic supplies will cushion the impact on the economy. Right now, if we pay more for oil, the money leaves the country. If we were producing more of our own energy, even if the price went up, it would redistribute it inside the country, get reinvested, get used, and so forth. So the economic impact, and most importantly, the jobs impact would be far less.
--Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Comments
Another idiot, Higher prices
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 3:50pm.
Another idiot, Higher prices won't help the economy nor will it jump start obama's enviro-scam green projects, it will only drag the US down to the level of Zimbabwe, home of obama's hero and african socialist paradise.
Did this Liesman guy room with Krugman at 'economist school'?
Submitted by SickofLibs on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 3:51pm.
"Gasoline is a bad fuel for the economy"
Sorry, but very few of us own horsesh*t-burning vehicles, so we're stuck with it for the foreseeable future.
My thought exactly. Higher
Submitted by Free Thinker on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 9:51am.
My thought exactly. Higher gas prices do not lead to less use because their is no substitute. It does lead to less spending on other items however, ie. if gas costs me $100 more per month I will eat out less or buy fewer consumer products and services. It also leads to higher prices on everything else. I have raised my prices to make up for the increase cost of fuel for my fleet. The last thing we need is to artificially raise the price of gas through more taxes.
If an alternative to oil was invented today, it would still be 20-30 years before the cost and infrastructure was in place to allow for large scale consumer use. In the meantime we have oil and our country runs on it. Killing the economy by raising the price of gas on purpose is just plain stupid.
just plain stupid
Submitted by jon_torlin on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 9:54am.
That's why it has to be that it's intentional that they are doing this because it does appear to be stupid instead of by design. They are trying to control us through our wallets.
-Jon
Here's a real solution
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 4:04pm.
A 20% tariff on all foreign goods would force us to rethink exporting jobs.
Something to look at....
Submitted by JLin on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 4:56pm.
That is the downside of looking for cheap overseas production. It enriches them for a temporary benefit for entrepaneurs and businesses here. Our system is not capitalist any longer because our capital is moving overseas. it is purely a merchant trading system with no real productive foundation. Eventually we must collapse as a viable economy. Income redistribution on steriods.
Do our economic geniuses see this on the horizon? Doubtful. Krugman has his Nobel though.
You're NOT serious!?
Submitted by LSBeene on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 8:29pm.
You HAVE heard of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act .... right?We have CNBC on at work all
Submitted by jdhawk on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 4:11pm.
We have CNBC on at work all day long. So, I have to listen to this turd. I call his reports, putting lipstick on a pig. No matter how bad the economic report, he is right there with painting the opposite picture.
Regards to his asinine statements, the whole gang at NBC/MSNBC/CNBC must of had there morning telephone conference with Daly and got their talking points for the day.
Like a good stenographer, lessman is just reading back what duhbama would like to have happen. To bad those "obstructionist" in the House are here to stop his crap.
Raise Gas taxes???
Submitted by Maytag on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 4:26pm.
I think I would like to see owebama propose a tax hike on fuel. Diesel was 4.99 this morming when I came home from work. Wi. / Mi, border area. The msm may be ignoring ,but people are pissed and silently seething. When the summer tourist season hits the shi***r because of gas costs the DRILL here DRILL now cries will be loud.
The bad part for owebama is that it will that months to increase supplies.(if he even tries) .
Makes you wonder what his game plan is, riots in the streets? Bush's fault ?
Meanwhile my state sen. Jim Holperin is still at the tilted kilt / waterpark in Ill. on vacation. I hope Scott Walker does not blink. The polls never call people in the outstate area because they would hear something differrent then they want to hear.
I am getting my feather supply and hot tar ready.
Submitted by JLin on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 4:48pm.
It will be a long summer indeed. Hopefully longer still for the Marxian Democrats. The American people are going to be on them like a hungry 30 foot anaconda.
Hmmm... what's the score?
Submitted by retrocon on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 4:40pm.
Liesman: Raise the price to stabilize the price... ding ding ding... no points
Liesman: The problem is ocillation, not high price... ding ding ding... no points
Liesman: Gasoline is bad for the economy... ding ding ding... no points
Final score, in IQ points: Zero, null, nothing, nada.
Is it evil or is it stupidity? Does it really matter?
OPEC IS raising taxes,and fees... Oil is free, made by Gaia
Submitted by upcountrywater on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 4:41pm.
OPEC is one big HUGE EVIL oil company.
Just A bunch of Opeckers.
Thankx Obama for the Misery Index take 2.
You Didn't Build That.
So right my friend
Submitted by JLin on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 4:44pm.
I do so love Gaia. Chomolungma. Mother Earth Goddess. She knew we would make good and wholesome use of her black blood.
Y' know...
Submitted by Army Brat on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 5:46pm.
You may actually be right. I've been hearing more and more about wells that were pumped dry 40 years ago being full of oil again.
I first heard about this about 8 years ago and I've been hesitant to mention it until now. It would appear that oil is the result of biological activity deep in the earth...or maybe not so deep... The biological components of oil led scientists to conclude, at first, that oil was a fossil fuel...yes? Am I gettin' bad info or has anyone else heard of this?
Yes
Submitted by JLin on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 4:42pm.
...and this from pointy heads who know how to start businesses and build wealth? This dim bulb should be fired for gross incompetence. NBC is a professional embarrassment.
Gas Tax vs. Cutting Spendin.
Submitted by Radical1979 on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 4:55pm.
So, cutting spending would hinder the economic "recovery" according to the dems, because there wouldn't be as much money out there to spend. Well, increasing the gas tax will cause there to be a lot less money for spending, so won't that kill the "recovery" also?
It would be nice if these people made sense, even if it's only occasionally.
Liesman is CNBCs Senior
Submitted by inquiringmind on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 5:08pm.
Liesman is CNBCs Senior Economic Reporter!?! WTF!
He must have gone to the same school as Krugman and Freidman.
We don't need their stinking oil
Submitted by BikerHoop on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 6:06pm.
Because we have enough right here in the good 'ol US of A.
Accoding to Kiplinger:
The U.S. is sitting on the world's largest, untapped oil reserves -- reservoirs which energy experts know exist, but which have not yet been tapped and may not be attainable with current technology. In fact, such untapped reserves are estimated at about 2.3 trillion barrels, nearly three times more than the reserves held by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations and sufficient to meet 300 years of demand -- at today's levels -- for auto, truck, aircraft, heating and industrial fuel, without importing a single barrel of oil.
Given current sky-high prices for crude oil and the likelihood that oil prices will remain high -- at or above $100 a barrel -- for the foreseeable future, it is now economically viable to tap some of those reserves.
Read more: http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/forecast/archive/The_U.S._s_Untapped_Bounty_080630.html#ixzz1G33Mw5MN
BikerHoop, 5 years til gasoline arrives at your favorite pump
Submitted by upcountrywater on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 1:58am.
That would happen only if EPA OSHA ETC. is defunded, TODAY.
And capitalism jumped like it has before way back in yesteryear.
You Didn't Build That.
Liesman is a 150% total and complete dumbass
Submitted by Dave. on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 9:00pm.
Sorry, but there was just no other way to put it.
The only way to lower the price of gas is to increase the supply. If this economic illiterate moron does not understand that, he should STFU.
I am sick of stupid people, and even sicker still of the really stoopid among us.
Liesman falls in that latter group.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
His last name fits him very
Submitted by Martin2717 on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 8:52pm.
His last name fits him very well, "LIESman". It's always nice to see Santelli smack him around when they are debating.
CNBC will never be on my hit list, no matter how bad it gets...
Submitted by gopcongress on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 4:21am.
CNBC will never be on my hit list, no matter how bad it gets. Yes, they have some flamin' socialist non-capitalists on that show. Yes, some of the idiots swoon over the "stimulus" bills, Obamacare, and the upcoming attempt to nationalize Big Oil.
But they can't get rid of the fact that on their network, Rick Santelli, ignited the patriotic flame started by the kindling represented by the Sarah Palin VP nomination: the Tea Party Movement, the movement that will save America from the brink.
There is virtually no socialistic nonsense that this network can perpetuate that will ever undo that bit of American magic.
"The news and truth are not the same thing." -Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER
And don't forget that Larry Kudlow,
Submitted by Jer on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 5:03am.
probably CNBC's most prominent host/commentator, is about as far from being a socialist as one can get.
Jer