Moron of the Day: Steve Israel (D-NY)

Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, prove that the Democratic party lacks the slightest clue about economics. Re. Israel said, yest actually said, that raising taxes on oil companies will lower gas prices. That's right, higher taxes will lower gas prices.

Here is a transcript:

CHRIS JANSING, MSNBC HOST: "Let me ask you is there anything Congress can do to lower fuel prices?"

REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D-NY): "Yeah, there's lots of things we can do. Start by eliminating the $4 billion subsidy that big oil companies get."

JANSING: "They say, Congressman, they say that will not affect the price of gas."

ISRAEL: "Well, of course they're going to say that. They're getting the subsidies. It doesn't surprise me that a bunch of rich oil executives would go to Congress and say 'don't touch our subsidies, you have to lower our taxes.' That's a self-serving argument. It is just ludicrous that we are continuing to provide $4 billion a year in subsidies to big oil companies that are making more profits than they've ever made. And the notion that we can end Medicare in order to fund tax cuts and tax subsidies to oil companies is really transforming this election and electoral battleground."

This guy is really a moron if he believes higher taxes on oil companies will lower gas prices. He may be even dumber than Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Hard to believe. the rest of his straw man argument is pure demagoguery.

Congratulations to Steve Israel, today's Moron of the Day.

(By the way, I agree with eliminating the depletion allowance for oil companies, the misnamed "subsidy" to which our Moron of the Day refers. However it is talking-point madness to suggest that the elimination of tax breaks would cause lower oil prices. Of course, I think we should replace the entire tax code with the Fair Tax, eliminating all tax breaks in the income tax.)