McCain calls for offshore drilling, says it would help in the "short term"

[mawilson 2,133]

I think they're happy enough not paying state income taxes.

I have heard stories of people registering car in one state, having a home in another, and paying taxes on something else (investments?) in a third to get around paying more taxes.

Not possible in NYC, unfortunately. NYC taxes non-residents even if they live in Florida and tele-commute.

[mendeleev 68]

Dearth of Ships Delays Drilling of Offshore Oil

It isn't clear of McCain et al. are poorly informed or demagoging the issue -- but calling for offshore drilling is pointless when rigs are in such short supply that oil companies need to wait 5 years to get their turn to use one.

Unless McCain's "short term" is ten years out, there's no way his proposal will help in the short term, even if there is (and there likely isn't) really large deposits on in our deep water.

Edited June 19, 2008 by novotul

[Fuzzness 2]

Drill all that damn oil in Alaska!

[MrsCat 6]

You guys are not paying attention - many people will believe that this will make a difference to them. Perceptions can be just as important, if not more so than realities. The gas tax holiday was easier to dismiss as a gimick, this, not so much. We have seen the articles, the calls for drilling. Many people believe this is the answer. It'll take a smart move to persuade your working voter that drilling for US oil will not automatically lead to lower gas prices.

I understand your point of view... I just don't think that most American voters will equate fast relief at the pump with going through the investment, manufacturing, and refining procedures in order to deliver higher volumes of gasoline, thereby lowering market prices which have components greatly beyond the actual supply of crude petroleum. Besides... placing these structures makes it more of a long term investment to tap relatively short term volumes of oil deposits. In that same time better investment can be dedicated to eliminating the majority of the need to utilize petroleum in the first place. I think voters will be looking more at that than perpetuating fast models of relief that will not come any time soon.

As Democratic voters seemingly believed the words "change" and "hope" have meaning out of Obama's mouth ~ I believe that a large # of American voters will be duped by this as well.