I saw Congressman Dennis Kucinich on TV today advocating a windfall profits tax on oil companies to cause a reduction in the price of gasoline. He generously agreed that the price of gasoline is not a partisan issue, though I do recall that in the 2006 Congressional elections the Democrats promised to do something about the price of gasoline if elected. (A empty promise since they are unwilling to do anything constructive, like open up more territory for drilling.) Kucinich obviously doesn't understand free markets. In 2004 Senator Kerry argued that an, and besides it wouldn't come on line for a few years (like now). Kerry doesn't understand markets either. For that matter, I saw O'Reilly on TV last night, and he doesn't understand markets either. We need more fuel. The price of oil will go up until alternatives become economical. Environmentalists don't like the viable alternatives, and oppose development of them. They like things like solar and wind power which require huge capital investment because they are not viable as the sole power sources. (This should be obvious to anyone, since the wind only blows part of the time, and the sun only shines part of the time, in any given locale.
posted by James Williams | 3:46 PM
3 Comments:
You seem to suppose that the run up in the price of petroleum is merely a matter of market adjustment (free markets, that is). When most of the free world's oil supply is in the hands of OPEC, an oil oligarchy, which can dampen down supply quite easily, it is disengenous to talk about free markets and their self-regulation. It is not a case that the world is running out of oil, it is actually awash in the stuff, with a lot more where it came from, without new drilling. Let's put it this way, the price at the pump has almost doubled in less than 2 years -- have the world's proven reserves fallen significantly in that time?
My point is that the American oil companies do not control the price of oil, and punishing them will do no good. Increasing domestic production is possible and would surely help to some extent, but is strongly opposed by politicians. Our politicians are two-faced about the issue; they oppose doing anything positive because they actually desire higher prices because they want to reduce consumption. Our policies have allowed the oil producing nations to dictate oil prices. They have figured out that they have us by the throat, and we aren't willing to do anything about it.
The price of oil has as much to do with our crumbling dollar as the availability of oil. So perhaps you're the one who doesn't fully understand the "free market".
Kerry and Kucinich understand it fine. They understand it doesn't work. Note the credit crisis.
Also note, rivers have different amounts of water in them, depending on the year. That didn't stop us from putting dams on them to generate electricity. Neither did the cost.
The right is wrong. Get used to it.
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