More Checks! The Gas Rebate Act Is Peak America

A new level of absurdity

Julio Vincent Gambuto
GEN
Published in
4 min readMar 25, 2022

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Photo by Jakob Rosen on Unsplash

House Democrats this week introduced a bill to send “stimulus” checks to consumers to alleviate the ongoing pain at the pump. Under the proposed legislation, for the rest of the year, individuals making $75,000 or less (or couples making $150k or less) would see a $100 check when gas prices exceed $4 per gallon. With numbers like $5/gallon, $6/gallon, even $7/gallon across the country, the answer from Congress is to simply help you pay for it — with your own money.

Is there anything more American than massively subsidizing oil and gas companies with public money, which distorts the market and artificially lowers consumer prices, and then when prices get too high anyway also subsidizing consumers on the other end—again with public money? All to prop up an industry that is killing the planet. And then, to make it all worse, balking at the idea of government intervention to control price because that would be manipulating the free market. This is the level of absurdity we have reached in America in 2022.

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute reported that direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry totaled $20 billion per year, with 80% going toward oil and gas.

I’m not saying I wouldn’t love a check. I live in New York; I don’t drive. I would still love a check. We all love checks. But when you have to subsidize the middle class for basic household expenses like running a car, the system is broken. And yet, we still seem to think that short-term fixes (which — let’s be real — are only intended to secure votes during a mid-term election year) are real solutions to deep, deep problems. The answer from our leaders is to offer a temporary fix instead of confronting the nation with the truth: our way of life needs a major overhaul.

Life in America in 2022 is a nasty blow to your checkbook daily. Not only is gas super expensive, but so are groceries and housing. And most consumer goods. And real estate. And flights, baseball games, and movies. And a laundry list of monthly micro media subscriptions. (Thanks for the increase, Netflix. If you’re going to jack up prices, please make something better than The Power of the Dog.) During the pandemic, our societal failures were exposed in the light of day…

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Julio Vincent Gambuto
GEN
Writer for

Self-help meets the system. Happiness in a fucked-up world. Author of “Please Unsubscribe, Thanks!” from Avid Reader Press at S&S // juliovincent.com