Traffic: May 2008 Archives

The Hound spent the past weekend with head out the window, cruisin' the highways of Lake County and catching a few bugs in the teeth. One wonders how those motorcyclists manage not to get a few moths in their molars without a helmet on. During what now passes for country roads here, one thing was certain: The price of petrol wasn't stopping folks from taking a ride.

The Hound expected most Lake County drivers would face $4-a-gallon gas this weekend, but that didn't appear to be the case, unlike Chicago drivers who are closing in on the $4.50 gallon price. You folks in Cook County can thank Todd Stroger for that.

Anyway, the roads were just as packed as if gasoline was $3.50 a gallon. Economists and talking heads keep discussing at what price will be the tipping point when we park the rides and walk or take the bus to the mall. It surely isn't here yet.

And what happens when cruisin' season gets in full swing? You know, like Nostalgia Days in Zion where The Hound knows some folks who are already readying their '80s Monte Carlo to cruise Sheridan Road. What about Scoopin' Genesee in Waukegan? The McDonald's at Gurnee Mills on Fridays; the Cruise on Park in Mundelein? And what about all the parades?

Like The Hound said, that tipping point isn't here yet. So, what are gearheads giving up in exchange for higher gas prices? Food?

Cruise on in this summer of '08 and $4 gas. And, drive on road warriors.

Presidential candidate John McCain and soon-to-be-also-ran Hillary Clinton have proposed suspending the federal gas tax --- 18.4 cents a gallon --- from Memorial Day to Labor Day as a way of bringing relief to Americans at a time when folks take to the highways for summer vacation or cruisin' dates at various county locales. Presidential hopeful Barack Obama dismisses this idea, calling it a "classic Washington gimmick." He's wrong.

So we won't get that much relief at the pump and we may diminish the highway road fund. Yet, it is something government can do for the little people among us. Dismissing the gas tax holiday and siding with those economists is making the Illinois senator sound even more elitist.

The latest poll on the topic, a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey released this week, shows 46 percent of likely voters favor a federal gas tax holiday this summer. The survey found that 42 percent are opposed and 12 percent unsure.

According to Rasmussen Reports, most voters who earn more than $75,000 a year oppose the gas tax holiday. Most who make less than $60,000 a year favor that policy change. Those making less than $60,000 a year are the ones Obama has had a hard time connecting with in the Democratic primaries and are voters he needs for victory in November.

Clinton's idea to replace the highway transportation fund, which will probably be picked up by McCain once she decides to drop out of the presidential derby, is putting an excess-profits tax on Big Oil. It's not like they don't have some profits to spare.

Tax holidays are not new. Some states even have tax holidays for school supplies and for a few years, Florida had a tax holiday for supplies purchased to be used during hurricane season, June to November in the Sunshine State.

Perhaps it's not the monetary amount, but the fact that voters see government as doing something instead of always taking or doing nothing.