[biblewonk]

At what point does the government step in and help out?

That would be socialism.

[Jaysin]

I agree with you on that, but a temporary rollback on gas tax would be appreciated and at least show that the government is doing SOMETHING to help us out.

some states might want to do it too.

[mysterio]

That would be socialism.

Slightly, yes. But government has its hand in the cookie jar when things are good. That means it needs to do something when times get bad, like with this gas situation. There are small things that could be done which would have an impact. Speculation needs to be temporarily suspended, we need to reduce the number of blends, and we need to stop exporting finished product to other countries. It's $2.70 a gallon here. The economy is going to tank if this keeps up.

[newgeezer]

> At what point does the government step in and help out?

That would be socialism.

Not if the government help comes in the form of removing its restrictions on free enterprise.

[Texas Federalist]

That would be socialism.

Not if the government stimulated demand by removing restrictions to free enterprise. How about ANWR drilling or lowering the gas tax? There are plenty of things they could be doing and aren't.

[sandbar]

>>>At what point does the government step in and help out?
>>>That would be socialism.

Oh, I see. So the government can step in and create situations that allow the price of gas to be so high, but to do something about it would be 'socialism'. Take your pick, either in or out.

[ctdonath2]

No, what we HAVE is socialism: your gas prices are twice what they should be because of TAXES!!!

[Schwaeky]

only if it results from subsidies. not from relaxed regulations (inhibiting drilling and new refinery construction) and perhaps some tax amnesty to take a bit of the bite out of the price of the fuel...not everyone on FR makes $100k a year...