Remember when............
Do you remember the days?
- Congress was calling for investigations. Presidential candidates were demanding a tax on excess profits. The intellectual elite were calling for a federal payout to taxpayers.
It was an immediate crisis that had to be handled! What was it? High Gas Prices.
That's right, less than 6 months ago, the largest crisis facing America was high gas prices.
Congress had all types of solutions, most of which were based on a lack of economic understanding and merit. Yet, our leaders were pontificating on the various "solutions" that they had concocted.
In the end, (thankfully) they didn't generate any wild schemes or payouts. And what happened?
Well, six months ago, I paid as much as $4.25/gallon for fuel. Yesterday I paid $1.75/gallon.
In that six month span, market forces took over. Consumers voted with their wallets, and the artificially high price on oil and gasoline plummeted to a price we haven't seen since 2004.
Isn't the free market system great?
This should be a powerful example to the elected officials that, when it comes to Government intervention, sometimes doing nothing is the most effective solution of all.
- Congress was calling for investigations. Presidential candidates were demanding a tax on excess profits. The intellectual elite were calling for a federal payout to taxpayers.
It was an immediate crisis that had to be handled! What was it? High Gas Prices.
That's right, less than 6 months ago, the largest crisis facing America was high gas prices.
Congress had all types of solutions, most of which were based on a lack of economic understanding and merit. Yet, our leaders were pontificating on the various "solutions" that they had concocted.
In the end, (thankfully) they didn't generate any wild schemes or payouts. And what happened?
Well, six months ago, I paid as much as $4.25/gallon for fuel. Yesterday I paid $1.75/gallon.
In that six month span, market forces took over. Consumers voted with their wallets, and the artificially high price on oil and gasoline plummeted to a price we haven't seen since 2004.
Isn't the free market system great?
This should be a powerful example to the elected officials that, when it comes to Government intervention, sometimes doing nothing is the most effective solution of all.
The government should be in the business of governing not marketing. Leave marketing and business development to the professionals. Government should supply basic needs such as roads, utilities, parks, security, and judicial practices.
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Why is it that when gas prices were high, it was the speculator's fault. And when gas prices are down, it's because of a lack of demand. It's either the market or not, Washington needs to decide.
BTW, with record oil company profits also come record taxes paid by those companies, but we don't hear about that.
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Regarding this post and yesterday's: head over to the NY Times and read Gov. Romney's OpEd on Detroit. He's a smart cookie. Then read the comments by Times' readers. About 97% will make your teeth itch.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19romney.html?_r=1
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