Re: OT: This Machine Kills Fascists

Tim Daneliuk wrote:

We have met the enemy and he is us:

You can say that again! ;-)


Our lazy, self-indulgent, greedy,
and dishonest fellow citizens make the Enron executives look like
choir boys by comparison. Until said fellow-citizens decide that
it is morally outrageous to use the force of government to *make*
other citizens do "good", Liberty is doomed.

You forgot "stupid." For example: it's clearly stupid to blame the current administration for the high price of gasoline at the pump. Yet those are the comments I keep reading from respondents in poll after poll! It's also a big mistake to think the oil companies are "greedy" because of their current high profits. The oil companies exist to make money, that's what their for. They don't exist to provide you and me with our needs. Their current profits reflect our current desire to purchase their products. If we didn't want what they sell, they wouldn't be so fat and happy.

The media keep adding fuel to the fire (no pun intended), inciting public mistrust by continually harping about high oil profits and CEO compensation, while ignoring the truth: the American consumer is the one most responsible for high gasoline prices. Oil company profits make up only about 10 cents in the price of a gallon of gas, and those huge hundred-million dollar CEO salaries add only a fraction of a penny more per gallon. Even if they were to make *no* profit at all, the price of gas would stay high and keep getting higher. That's because the real cause of high gas prices is simply Supply versus Demand.

Government mandated environmental regulation (demanded by the people) have kept the industry from building more refining capacity, and government mandated drilling restrictions (demanded by the people) have kept the industry from seeking new sources of domestic supply. Supply remains tight but demand keeps rising. What's that spell? High Prices, thats what! Meanwhile, the public keeps right on buying SUVs and high-performance sports cars as if it was still 1970 and blaming everyone else in sight for their dilemma. Those jackasses in the US Congress, instead of explaining these facts to their constituents, and ever eager to avoid taking any blame for *anything* while being more than willing to avoid assuming the responsibility for correcting such imbalances, recently proposed a bill to 'compensate' each one of us for the high cost of gas. They were going to give us all $100 each! Can you believe such audacity? The continuing monumental stupidity demonstrated by the typical American consumer on the "oil issue" deserves some kind of reward. It's too bad the Fickle Finger of Fate has been retired! ;-)

Regards,

Tim Parker ... Samarra in a Savinelli Punto Oro bent billiard

--
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves
up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. - Winston Churchill
.

Relevant Pages

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