Posted by
Average Voter on Friday, May 30, 2008 12:52:57 PM
In late May, when a barrel of oil reached $135, prices per liter for the German
consumer rose above €1.50 ($8.78/gallon).
Now the government is doing an about face:
In Berlin, too, views are changing. The same politicians who have always made fighting global warming their top priority are now outdoing themselves with suggestions that will take the pressure off consumers. Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel wants relief for low-income commuters. Erwin Huber, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) -- the Bavarian sister party of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) -- advocates general tax cuts. Even environmental expert Bärbel Höhn of the Greens -- for whom energy prices up to now couldn’t rise fast enough -- is suddenly calling for limits, preferably through the introduction of “red cards for speculators.”
Government does not thinks any more, it tends to just react to the next crises...or non-crises.