restrictions you have a lot of natural gas offshore and natural gas in the rockies. and how about you got more prodevelopment energy here than you did under bush. david: what? you have more pro-development toward nuclear and offshore now than you did under bush. not true. in 2008 and cut the guy a break. back up, quinton. in 2008, when the restrictions were finally not renewed in offshore drilling, bush removed his father s restrictions. the interior department came up with plans for offshore drilling and auctioning big program in 2011. the obama one pulls back on what the interior department was going to do. so we end up with hold on. hold on. david: stephane, final word to you. i have to ask about mike ozania s comment if you re serious about trying to change the habits you have to be europeans here and you have to double the price of gasoline. no, no, no. david: in order to get something really substantively done. no, no. that is just seeing it too
tax in 1992. not raising it has been one of the most irresponsible things that congress has done. it s a joke. lifting it by 15 cents, it s a start. if you really want to get off foreign oil, you have to get more serious than that. david: steve, we are coming out of one of the worst recessions in our lifetime. is now the time to be hiking taxes? no time is a good time to be hiking taxes. first of all, this raises the cost of living, raises the cost of transportation, which is going to be a drain on the economy. you might call it a pain in the gas. we have 4 million miles of highway in the country. what are we going to do? use skateboards? what is this thing against driving. we are a free people. in terms of reducing dependence on foreign sources, how about going full bore and nuclear power. get serious instead of finding way to pick people s pockets. david: mike, we re a free people and we love our cars and we love to drive. we don t need a gas tax.
i say normal correction, more on the down side but no biggie. david asman, forbes on david asman, forbes on fox next. captioned by closed captioning services, inc david: the biggest tax hike ever on the middle class may be coming to a gas pump near you. the senate unveiling the climate change bill next week and word on capitol hill is they want to pay for it jacking up the federal gas tax by 15 cents a gallon. that is enough to push the national average over $3 a gallon. now for the flip side, someone at forbes says hike it even more. i m david asman. welcome to forbes on fox. let s get the flip side from steve forbes, victoria barrett, rich carlguard, mike ozania, quinn on the hardy and new to the show, forbes chicago bureau chief, stephan. what a way to make a premier to offer to hike the gas tax more. why? look, the 18-cent a gallon tax that we have now was 20%
that has nothing to do with the president s agenda, david. he is trying to turn us into europe. if we want to get serious about this so we drive around in tiny cars where we have no room, we have to raise the gasoline tax further. maybe increase it $2 or $3 a gallon to get the price up to $6 or $7 a gallon and that will cut back on people buying gasoline. david: victoria, i can die now. i heard mike make an argument in favor of higher taxes. never heard that before. what do you say? i have been in favor of a gas tax in the past on the show because it s a great way to reduce the dependency on foreign oil. i agree with mike and stefane but it s not the time to do it. if you look at the unemployment levels we have, not time for a broad-based tax on the american economy. david: it s just pleasure driving we are talking about. we talk about the fedex truck, delivery trucks around