Re: OT: Shoulda listened to Carter


Nor is it to take us to the Moon, now... is it? Where I come
from, it's called 'leadership'... you're forgiven if you've forgotten
what it's like, it has been a while.

True, a rare accomplishment. Rare being the operative word.

Point two: To ensure that we meet these targets, I will use my
presidential authority to set import quotas...

Import quotas lead to price hikes - and then when you then set price
controls on top you get shortages. Econ 101.

Price controls are the last gasp of an inflating dictatorship...
and nobody but you has brought them up. Red Herring.

Apologies, it was Nixon who set the price controls on oil imports.
But Carter didn't begin to remove them until the end of his
presidency.


Point three: To give us energy security, I am asking for the most
massive peacetime commitment of funds and resources in our nation's
history to develop America's own alternative sources of fuel...


Best developed in the marketplace as a result of price increases and/
or increased demand. Picking winners from above never works. Econ
101.

Yeah, like fighting cancer or AIDS has to be market-driven.
You were arguing *against* price increases recently, like
a few lines ago... new brain?

Huh? I was arguing against government intervention that causes price
rises. Of course prices will rise and fall naturally in a free market
depending on scarcity, innovation, risk-taking, etc.. Fighting cancer
or aids doesn't have to be market-driven - we just probably won't see
success without market incentives being there.

I will soon submit legislation to Congress calling for the
creation of this nation's first solar bank, which will help us achieve
the crucial goal of 20 percent of our energy coming from solar power
by the year 2000.

Picking winners never works.

Solar's pretty obvious... wind too. Isn't the stock market based
on picking winners? Isn't that how the market works? Aren't
you full of platitudes...

Government picking winners doesn't work because they're too far
removed from the issue and the right incentives aren't there. When
private investors put their own capital into a project they do their
own research and make a decision on how best to spend their own
money. When governments spend money there's too much incentive to
follow whatever the special interests want or whatever will win them
votes - and there's less incentive to get it right as it's not their
money to start with. They also simply aren't close enough to the
problem to choose the right technologies, or too bought into one
scheme to pick up new ones as they come along. Carter put $88B into
the synfuels project and it failed miserably. Look at the current
failures in Ethanol.


These efforts will cost money, a lot of money, and that is why
Congress must enact the windfall profits tax without delay...


Tax the profit of producers and you reduce the incentive to produce
more. Econ 101.

And they're producing more *now*? Refinery capacity is artificially
kept low, for just such a reason. Big Oil is also screaming for new
drilling permits when they haven't even exploited what they have.
Producers will only hold out if they think they can get someone to
*repeal* the taxes... if it looks like they're in for the long term, then
they'll pony up.


Of course they want artificial bars raised on where they can drill as
the world's running out of oil. Taxing profits will lower production
further what it is now and prices will go up further.

Point four: I'm asking Congress to mandate, to require as a matter
of law, that our nation's utility companies cut their massive use of
oil by 50 percent within the next decade and switch to other fuels,
especially coal, our most abundant energy source...


Causes producer prices to spike and energy production to plummet.

Over a decade? Bullets must be bitten, as we are finding now.
Would we had started this early!


You don't know that going in this particular direction would've been
better than any other direction. And the whole country being forced
in one direction is the worst situation as compounds the risk - better
to have a free market trying out lots of things and spreading the risk
around.

Point five: To make absolutely certain that nothing stands in the
way of achieving these goals, I will urge Congress to create an energy
mobilization board...


More bureaucracy never solved anything.

Put us on the moon, fool. Won a couple of world
wars. Developed the atomic bomb. I could go on...
government is not inherently evil, no matter what your
guru has told you.


I don't think government's inherently evil, it just needs to be
contained. The moon was a success, but it cost a shitload of money.
Perhaps it would've been achieved at lower cost in the private
sector. Look at the x-prize for an example of what the free market
can achieve in that area. The atomic bombs and two world wars are
nothing too be proud of. If you think they are, then it's you who's
the fool, not me. Most other government projects fail or finish over-
budget.


Point six: I'm proposing a bold conservation program to involve
every state, county, and city and every average American in our energy
battle. This effort will permit you to build conservation into your
homes and your lives at a cost you can afford.


Meaningless.

Energy is best saved at the point of use... saves transmission
capacity and is more efficient. Imagine if every roofing shingle
was a solar cell... that's the vision Carter's having here.
You're not much of a 'big-picture' guy, are you?


Visions are cheap. Achieving them is costly, particularly if the
government is the one doing it. Remove government subsidies on all
forms of energy and let the market choose the most cost-effective
technologies. In some circumstances storing up energy and
transmitting it out might be a better solution than storing at the
point of use - why restrict choices?


To further conserve energy, I'm proposing tonight an extra $10
billion over the next decade to strengthen our public transportation
systems...


Look up 'boondoggle.'

... and you don't live in a big city, do you? How's that
Hummer treating you *now*?


I live in the biggest city in Australia. It's called Sydney; you may
have heard of it. I ride public transport to work as there's no way I
could get into the CBD any other way due to congested roads. Our
public transport system is a mess. It's inefficient, breaks down all
the time, the service is crap, etc.. Planning restrictions prevent
companies from coming in and building new roads so I don't think
things are going to get much better any time soon. I wouldn't buy a
Hummer, they use too much fuel.

Our nation must be fair to the poorest among us, so we will
increase aid to needy Americans to cope with rising energy prices. We
often think of conservation only in terms of sacrifice. In fact, it is
the most painless and immediate way of rebuilding our nation's
strength. Every gallon of oil each one of us saves is a new form of
production. It gives us more freedom, more confidence, that much more
control over our own lives...


Blah.... blah... blah....

Make sure you have a hand free to shoot the messenger
while you've got both fingers in your ears... not easy.


I was referring to the emptiness of Carter's rhetoric - outcomes sell
themselves, they don't need elaborating on unless you like hearing
fairy tales. Personally I'd rather focus on how to get there. Note
that Carter began to employ free market solutions towards the end of
his term after noting his policies were a disaster. Such as lifting
price caps on imported oil.

I do not promise you that this struggle for freedom will be easy.
I do not promise a quick way out of our nation's problems, when the
truth is that the only way out is an all-out effort. What I do promise
you is that I will lead our fight, and I will enforce fairness in our
struggle, and I will ensure honesty. And above all, I will act. We can
manage the short-term shortages more effectively and we will, but
there are no short-term solutions to our long-range problems. There is
simply no way to avoid sacrifice.


Blah... blah.... blah...

You probably *like* being in Iraq... you'd probably vote
to do it all again. Guess what... your time at bat is gone,
for decades probably. Nobody's buying that crap any more.


Ahh - the assumption that if I oppose a statist like Carter I must be
a Republican/conservative. No, I didn't vote for my country to go
into Iraq and I wouldn't have voted for yours either if I could have.
I'm a libertarian. War is a terrible thing when it's necessary - and
when it's unnecessary like Iraq it's just mass murder. The current US
administration and previous Australian government have blood on their
hands, that's for sure. I note that Obama wants to move on to killing
more Afghans instead while McCain wants to kill Iranians. Nice choice
you have over there.


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Thanks, America's crazy right wing. We couldn't have ignored our most
important problems for three decades and thereby made them much worse
without you.

You are clueless. The only answer is to reduce the size of government
and let the market work. If you try and control the market you get
the conditions that existed in soviet union, cuba, etc..

Not much on history either... take a look at Europe... a
real hell-hole, eh? That Euro's a piece of toilet paper now,
isn't it? Once you understand the difference between
Communism and Socialism Hell will freeze over, who
am I kidding?


Are you saying that the Euro is a great currency? It's not. It just
happens to be a stronger than the US dollar. Blame the US federal
reserve and their printing press for that. At least the EU central
bank shows a little constraint and attempts to preserve the value of
its currency. Australia seems to manage it's currency reasonably well
too actually, although I think we'd be better off without centralised
banking at all.


If you let
the government grow big alongside a free-ish market you get fascism
(what we have now.) You must collapse as much of the government as
possible and let problems be solved though free people and free
markets. Reagan was right (even though he did nothing about it during
his terms): 'Government is the problem'.

Ah, another McVeighite. Well, go blow some government
up. Or do like Bush, and get elected on the '*** *** up'
program... *he* certainly put the truth to your truism.
You don't like government? Then don't let me find you
doing the Pledge Of Allegiance, or standing for our National
Anthem... because you just *** all over them. Wish I could
punch you, right fucking now. Come on over.
__
Steve
728 Abbey Glen Castle Dr.
Pflugerville, TX
.

Hmm, really? You might have to fly me over for the privilege. It'd be
nice actually, I've never seen Texas.
The fact that you could get so worked up over stupidities such as the
Pledge of Allegiance and other patriotic nonsense is really quite
sad. Smoke a fatty and loosen up a bit.

Greg
Sydney
.