[Vision2020] Banditry is Not an Option Was: Economists Predicted $90/Barrel...

[Donovan Arnold]

Chas,
   
  I think you know better than this. This is not about just people putting gas in their cars for snickers at the local convenience store. Some people are very dependent upon the price of energy being reasonable. 
   
  Truckers, farmers, taxi drivers, and poor families living many miles from the city cannot afford high prices at the pump. You must also realize that medicare only pays so much money for the elderly and disabled to get transported to doctors and specialist that they need to see. When the price of gas goes beyond the cost of what medicare or medicaid pays, they are prevented from getting the medical care they need in a timely fashion, which greatly impacts their quality of life. There are also gas heated homes with young children and elderly persons that are vulnerable to temperature changes. Your safety and well being is also at risk when police and ambulances are limited on how many miles they can drive around town. I think the subject of gas prices being high impacts the quality of life for everyone. I think you are oversimplifying the situation.
   
  I am also surprised that you favor an unregulated energy source in our country, since most socialist countries in Europe which you wish the US to emulate, are well regulated or even completely controlled by the government. 
   
  An unchecked, unregulated energy supply causes massive fluctuations in the economy and it can hurt people to a great extent in ways besides the contents of their rice bowl. 
   
  Best Regards,
   
  Donovan
   
  

Chasuk <chasuk at gmail.com> wrote:
  On Sat, Mar 1, 2008 at 2:40 PM, Donovan Arnold
wrote:

> What if the next president did the same thing with oil? What if the military
> forced itself onto oil rigs and started pumping more oil, and build and
> opened more oil refiners to make sure we had affordable energy in the
> country? What would be the consequences of that action?
> If the president forced the private energy market to charge reasonable
> prices by releasing its own oil production efforts and releasing oil from
> its reserve?

I would be uncomfortable with our military acting as bandits so that
our obese pampered citizenry could continue to make midnight runs to
WinCo for Twinkies and Mountain Dew. I know, I'm simplifying, but not
by much. Sometimes, these midnight runs include Twinkies, Mountain
Dew, and Doritos.

Now, being really, sincerely serious, I would never, ever condone
using our miltary as bandits, for whatever reason. Of course, this
"never, ever" has three exceptions, but I'm fairly confident that
these three exceptions are far removed from reality.

1. I'm starving to death. My three bowls of rice and beans have
diminished to a single bowl of rice and beans, and then to a bowl of
rice without beans. The menu might vary, but my bare nutritional
needs are not being met. Banditry is okay by me when it is necessary
to guarantee my literal survival, no other proviso required.

2. The government spends at least $1 trillion on developing
alternative energy sources. If we can spend that much money killing
people, we can spend that much money developing ways to unyoke the
world from the petroleum beast. If our scientists are given that much
money to spend -- with oil companies, oil company lobbyists and oily
politicians put on firm leashes -- thn we would find an oilless
solution.

3. Walk. I didn't get my driver's license until I was 26 years old.
It expired when I turned 30, which I didn't renew for the next twelve
years. Somehow, I managed. Generally, i walked everywhere. This
obviously isn't viable for everyone, but it is viable for millions of
USians who live two minutes from the supermarket and yet still drive
to the store to pick up that loaf of bread, or that all-important
Snickers. In other words, for my able-bodied peers who complain about
the price of gas and yet still walk only when their car is in the
shop, I whip out my smallest violin while simultaneously singing "boo
hoo hoo."

Chas

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