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Is the Obama Administration pushing for high gas prices

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Vigilans
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28 Apr 2011, 3:15 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Vigilans wrote:

I'm not against private investment in HSR but the government should maintain oversight on it as I don't really trust companies to adhere perfectly to safety standards if it means they can save a few dollars here and there


The government is one of the most frequent violators of safety standards. Who will watch the watchmen? Who will guard the guardians?

Think of the space shuttle program. NASA is an egregious violator of safety standards.

ruveyn


That was a problem of bureaucracy- people in NASA have been afraid to rock the boat for decades. Some were aware of the problem (Columbia) and the bureaucrats brushed it off

But its better to have the government there then nobody. If companies were free to do as they wish with products and 'enforce' their own safety standards we'd be back to the early 1900s. Though I'm not in disagreement with you, its certainly not perfect


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ruveyn
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28 Apr 2011, 3:20 pm

Vigilans wrote:

But its better to have the government there then nobody. If companies were free to do as they wish with products and 'enforce' their own safety standards we'd be back to the early 1900s. Though I'm not in disagreement with you, its certainly not perfect


The people in government are very aware that they can rarely be held accountable for their wrong doing.

Government in charge of safety. Safety standards and -enforcement- are the first things sacrificed in a budget crunch. What does our government do. It cuts back on FDA inspections, FAA inspections of planes and then blames the private sector for its own derraliction of duty.

ruveyn



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28 Apr 2011, 3:47 pm

That's a good point. There is no perfect system. I think a balance between corporate self-regulation and government oversight is necessary, but that is just my opinion


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28 Apr 2011, 3:49 pm

Impunity is a risk in any system that gives all the economic power to a single group, whether it is the government or the private area.


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ruveyn
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28 Apr 2011, 4:06 pm

Vexcalibur wrote:
Impunity is a risk in any system that gives all the economic power to a single group, whether it is the government or the private area.


From -Common Sense- by Thomas Paine:





Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, with Concise Remarks on the English Constitution

SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. ..........



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28 Apr 2011, 9:25 pm

I understand that President Obama is also responsible for our exceptionally rainy April.

Oh, and there were also those tornadoes. :roll:

Yes, Barack Hussein Obama definitely ordered those tornadoes. :roll:



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28 Apr 2011, 9:45 pm

pandabear wrote:
I understand that President Obama is also responsible for our exceptionally rainy April.

Oh, and there were also those tornadoes. :roll:

Yes, Barack Hussein Obama definitely ordered those tornadoes. :roll:


He used Islamic magic. He is a Sufi Warlock, clearly


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30 Apr 2011, 9:12 am

In the past, yes I believe that was the stated goal of the Obama administration, higher fuel costs. Some in his administration stated such.

Now with the election coming up, suddenly energy prices being higher is bad.

Victor Davis Hanson has a nice article about this today.

"What To Expect When Amateurs Set Oil Policies"

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysi ... licies.htm

Excerpts from his article:

Quote:
Are high gas prices a good thing?

That is not as dumb a question as it sounds. Examine a few revealing remarks from President Obama and the Cabinet officials who are in charge of the nation's energy use and oil leases on federal lands. Then decide whether soaring gas prices are supposed to be good.....

&

Most in the Obama administration came to Washington from either academia or prior state and federal government employment, where policy is theoretical, without grounding in real experience.

So much of this administration's talk about energy sounds similar to a bull session in the faculty lounge, or what we would expect from lifelong bureaucrats and public functionaries who have never experienced long commutes or struggles in the harsher, profit-driven private workplace.

Now the global economy is recovering and energy use is climbing, as the U.S. dollar sinks. The oil-rich Middle East is in chaos. And more than 2 billion people in India and China are desperate for imported oil.

The result is that American gas prices are astronomical, and the public is furious and starting to demand relief from the administration.

Its answer? Simple: Since re-election looms, the administration now insists that high energy prices are no longer good, but suddenly bad. And the evil oil companies are mostly to blame!