Was the Stimulus Program not mean for "Shovel-ready" projects? Such as road improvement, bridge refurbishment, and other "necessary infrastructure" projects?
Question: How much have state and local taxes risen on gasoline since the early 80's?
Question: If the Federal Gas tax goes into a trust fund, and said trust fund is completely exhausted, does that mean that there have been no tax collections to cause said depletion? If not, then what other factors have affected the highway improvement costs? How have environmental sustainability studies, indigenous species reports, and unionized labor costs affected this fund's disbursements?
Question: If construction is the primary driver of the unemployment figure (and I sincerely doubt that), then why have four years of non-construction not created a higher unemployment number?
Question: Who was in charge of the Senate, House of Representatives, and Executive Branch up until 2010? Could you say that there would be some culpability by those parties in not passing that all-important SAFETEA legislation?
Question: Those environmental studies - how effective are they?
Question: How much does a petroleum company make off off a gallon of gasoline? 2-4 cents.
Question: What is the combined amount of taxes on a gallon of gasoline, on average? 45-55 cents.
Question: Is another 17 cent increase going to make things better, if as you point out, the current fund is tapped out, and unable to start work in a timely fashion?