Editor:
The news, almost on a daily basis, discusses the potential of the U.S. reentering a depression.
Like pins in a bowling alley causing other pins to topple, the concern is that if such a thing were to occur Canada could automatically follow.
Several years ago, as a business management student at B.C.’s Institute of Technology, I recall one of my professors demonstrating the economic benefits of a government returning just $10 to every citizen of its country.
In that professor’s depiction it was amazing the effect just $10 could have.
Somewhat like planting a garden, one seed can multiply almost into a basket full. Of course, we know that few governments will ever want to take the bull by the horn and return money to its citizens on a scale such as this, so the professors teaching of that period will remain only a theory.
According to a 2004 news article in the Seattle Times, discussing increasing fuel shortages in the U.S., the problem is the lack of refinery development.
The article points out that the per-day consumption of gasoline in U.S. was in excess of 8.7 million barrels per day, or 382.8 million U.S. gallons per day.
Using these 2004 numbers, if the U.S. government were to cut the tax on gas by 25 cents per gallon for even just one week, the return to the U.S. economy would be almost three quarters of a billion dollars.
Such a cut could be equivalent to returning close to $2 to every American man, woman, and child.
Possibly returning money to taxpayers by a tax-cut method could help turn the economy of the U.S. around and avoid the threat of another recession.
As a side note, one of the reasons why I have it in my mind that the price of gas keeps going higher is, as we increase the efficiency of our vehicles, the oil companies and government taxation offset this by raising fuel prices.
Doug Wilson
Williams Lake