Posted on 09/08/2005 7:08:08 PM PDT by rockrr
When Rudyard Kipling said it was a great virtue "if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you," he was not thinking of Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington. This week, as gasoline prices remained above $3 a gallon, she proposed giving the president the power to tell retailers what they can charge at the pump.
A lot of people grew anxious seeing long lines forming last week, as motorists rushed to fill their tanks in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. But Cantwell apparently enjoyed the sight well enough that she'd like to make those lines a permanent feature of the landscape. If so, she has the right approach. The government does many things badly, but one thing it knows how to do is create shortages through the vigorous use of price controls.
That's what it did in the oil market in 1979-80, under President Jimmy Carter. He was replaced by Ronald Reagan, who lifted price caps on gas and thus not only banished shortages but brought about an era of low prices.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
EXCELLENT idea. Or do both. I have put off filling up but am getting to E. Think I will use the gas I have in my can for the lawmower and stuff instead of buying this week too. They want to keep the price up high, I will buy less. Bring it down, may buy more. Note to "gougers" if you can sell 1000 gallons at $3.50 or 1500 gallons at $2.50 where do you make more? Do the math "Big Oil"
What if it cost them $3.00/gal to make?
They just don't teach economics in schools anymore. They could even make it racially sensitive: Leroy and his possy of 5 show up at Walmart after the flood and there are 50 TV's available. Later on Tawanda comes to the same Walmart. Tasha and Pimpboy Sally are also there with their possy of 10 gang menbers. There is only 2 TV's left. Who will have an easier time obtaining a TV?
That's easy - the ones packing.
Yo, if that be the same Walmart I saw on the news, I think the police already be taking the last two TVs and there ain't none left.
Fixed it...
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