Interesting...

Washington Post Editorial via Mankiw, Mankiw encouraging a Steven Chu (Energy Secretary) tax on gas, of up to $2 (it's currently less than 2 dimes) per gallon, of which the money is supposed to go towards road infrastructure.  Mankiw is Romney's economics adviser, so if Romney goes along with this, I would imagine it'll be tough for Romney to win the Republican candidacy.  (1) Taxes, (2) believing in the externalities of consuming gasoline.

I buy it, I think gas is pretty under-priced, even though the price is quite atrocious in Hawai'i.  The only thing I wonder about is how elastic peoples' use of gasoline and driving really is.  You can't do much about changing how far away your job is, and while I'm a big proponent of public transportation, it's a tough thing to rely on, and I can understand driving to/from work.  Buying more fuel efficient cars is a possible outcome.  Thinking out loud, though... most of a car producer's profits are from selling SUVs; would Detroit be in an even bigger mess if the gas tax had kept up with inflation?  Conversely, it's possible people do end up taking more public transportation, and every place has a beastly public transportation system.