Hillary Clinton - Gas Tax and the Economy

1. $.185 tax "holiday": In reality this amounts to:
a. 10 gallon fill up $1.85 per fill up or a savings up to x 12 weeks = $22.2
b. same car filled up 2x/week x 12 weeks = $44.4
c. SUV taking 16 gal on fill up once a week would realize a net savings = $35.52
d. same vehicle filling up 2x/week x 12 weeks = $71.04

So for the "average" family the savings would be about $30 over three months. For families that drive more, have bigger cars, SUVs and trucks and therefore fill up more frequently the savings would be significantly more. Truckers would save even more on top of that.

John McCain says with the $$ a family saves at the pump it may be able to allow them a "better meal" for themselves or their children.

yeah "up size that happy meal for me"

The amount saved at the pump upon fill up is insignificant and it does nothing to change driving habits.

2. "Finally get tough with OPEC. OPEC is basically a monopoly of the 13 biggest oil producing nations" "OPEC has refused to increase production"...

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_pro-energy-oil-production

a.#1 Saudi Arabia: 9,475,000 bbl/day
#2 * Russia: 9,400,000 bbl/day
#3 * United States: 7,610,000 bbl/day
#4 Iran: 3,979,000 bbl/day
#5 * China: 3,631,000 bbl/day
#6 * Mexico: 3,420,000 bbl/day
#7 * Norway: 3,220,000 bbl/day
#8 * Canada: 3,135,000 bbl/day
#9 Venezuela: 3,081,000 bbl/day
#10 UAE 2,540,000 bbl/day
#11 Nigeria: 2,451,000 bbl/day
#12 Kuwait: 2,418,000 bbl/day
#13 Iraq: 2,130,000 bbl/day

* Denotes NON OPEC member Countries

Two question here:

a. Is OPEC daily output of crude oil at or near its peak? If they are at or near their peak output capacity then there is nothing they can do?
b. It has been stated for several years now that refining capacity here in the US is very close to capacity. We have as a country built a new refinery in 20-30 years. Even if we were to see more oil flow we do not have enough spare capacity to handle it. The emerging markets of China, Russia and India are using increasingly more and more oil and their economies continue to expand.

3. "Make sure the price of oil is not being determined by speculators and market manipulator's"

Certainly we don't want any laws broken but in light of the flight of investment away from the US Housing market it seems that investment in not only oil but commodities is a rational trend when considering the continued expansion of emerging markets which are mainly Russia, China and India.