Wednesday, October 15, 2008

8c extra a liter

The budget hiked the cost of a liter (okay, litre) of gas (okay, petrol) by 8c (that's $0.41 per US gallon). That's a substantial, punishing increase on the already overtaxed motorist. Okay, it's a "tough" budget as everyone's been saying. This is just more pain, right?

Not if you're John Gormley, who's clearly happy about this measure, which only makes me angrier at the government.
Mr Gormley also pointed to what he called "Green Party gains" including: a substantially increased budget for water services; new funding for home energy efficiency and warmer homes scheme; increases in petrol prices; the bicycle initiative; and an increase in motor taxes.
Gormley is Fianna Fail's (that FAIL has rarely seemed so accurate) partner in government. Think about that: FF is sharing power with people who are today reveling in the pain being endured by millions of voters.

Even though I'm not sure if a Fine Gael-Labour government would do much differently, I'd be happy with the change in tone. On the one hand you have Fianna Fail acting as if this budget mess is a mystery to them, like they've only recently come to power. And there holding their hands in government are people who are sneering and laughing at the vast majority of Irish citizens. Time for a change?