In 2009, the Obama administration appointed Dan Akerson to the board of General Motors. Then last year, Akerson went on to become CEO of GM. Now, unfortunately, he has joined the Obama administration's call for higher gas prices.
Yes, you read that correctly: The administration and the head of GM alike think that higher gas prices would be a good thing.
Speaking with The Detroit News, Akerson declared, "[W]e ought to just slap a 50 cent or a dollar tax on a gallon of gas."
Like the Obama administration, Akerson believes that if Washington artificially raises gas prices, more Americans will buy cars that get better gas mileage.
However, he is not quite so extreme in that view as U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.
Chu declared, shortly before becoming energy secretary, "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." (Gasoline in Europe often costs double or more what it costs in the United States.)
Around the same time, Obama suggested that a "gradual" rise in the price of gas would be desirable.
Obama also seems to approve of increases in the cost of other types of energy. In 2008, he told the San Francisco Chronicle that his plan to fight "greenhouse gases" would mean higher electricity rates.
"Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket," he said. "Coal-powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers."
Do you agree with the Obama administration that the American people are not paying enough for gasoline and electricity? Do you favor new taxes and environmental schemes to force the price of energy to go even higher - particularly in a time of economic crisis, when many Americans are struggling to make ends meet?
We don't believe any of that is what most Americans want.