RWers are defending gas prices very poorly

[TheFarseer]

IMO anyway. Their basic strat is to deny there is a problem. I think this is backfiring. People know that they have less money because of gas prices no matter what Rush Limpballs says. This is a fact, not an opinion that gas prices are becoming a problem for people. The next step is when they say, oh yeah you rich out-of-touch asshole? It's not a problem for your fat elitist limo-riding ass but it is for me!

They could have defended this much better by blaming environmental wackos that won't allow drilling or refineries or the terrorists that bush is trying to defeat or Bill Clinton for not getting us ready but they didn't. I wonder why.

[PatrioticLeftie]

1. Not to worry

Soon enough not even they can deny the rising gas prices

[jsamuel]

2. that is just the natural flow of lies

first ignore it is there
then make something up

[mhr]

3. Peak Oil Means That They Cannot Blame The Fringe Left

eom

[Roland99]

4. Finally hitting here...prices up to $2.69-$2.72

Were $2.43-$2.50 this morning.

[TheFarseer]

11. I made sure to fill up after work

$2.59 (when it was 2.53 last week) but I think worse is coming before it potentially settles down a bit this fall.

[Roland99]

14. I did this morning: $14.00 for 5.66 gallons

$14 used to fill my car up.

[TheFarseer]

12. argh! double post

[Roland99]

18. Well, dropped to $2.48 in many places today

[Inland]

5. I see all the defenses as the same.

They say that high prices brings more supply..and it does..but the increased supply won't LOWER prices. The increased supply is PREMISED on higher prices well into the future, to pay for extracting less available or lower quality oil. And then they tell people how they will be forced to cut back on purchases due to expense, and they hate that too.

So while the consumer just wants prices to go down, the conservative ideologue tells them how the market reaches a beautiful equilibrium at the higher price.

How popular is THAT going to be?

[DBoon]

6. I loved John Maynard keynes' response to that argument

He countered, "in the long run we will all be dead."

[Inland]

9. No, the arguments fine, as descriptive of a process

where price creates an equilibrium. It doesn't address what people care about, which is, the cost of living and lowering it.

[DBoon]

13. I think he meant

that it takes a long time for markets to reach equilibrium, and that by the time it happens we will have long passed of old age.

I think he also said, "markets remain irrational longer than you can remain liquid", meaning you will eventually make money, even if you go broke before then

[Inland]

17. No, the equilibrium IS the higher price.

I don't think the market for gasoline is irrational. Opec intervenes in crude, but the market thereafter is pretty classical supply and demand. None of which the consumer cares about: he wants LOWER prices, and is worried about his finances, and all the talk about equilibrium and supply and demand don't comfort him at all.

[blue sky at night]

7. I saw a formula one time......

about how the price of gas effects economic activity... the cost is added to everything we buy, so I can't see how it won't slow the economy eventually. We must now begin to find alternate fuels, and build smaller cars...getting rid of the giant gas hogs that are "safer" for the passengers and wreak havoc on small fuel-efficient cars. Lets face it, our moranic government only responds in a crisis, and guess what folks...this is a CRisis.

[WhiteTara]

16. first we have to impeach * co before we will be able to

do real work. I'm glad there are a lot of people ready to go when we can have new priorities.

http://worldcantwait.org/
Excerpts:
"No election, whether fair or fraudulent, can legitimize criminal wars on foreign countries, torture, the wholesale violation of human rights, and the end of science and reason."


"It is our responsibility to stop the Bush regime from carrying out this disastrous course. We believe history will judge us sharply should we fail to act decisively."

[ellenfl]

8. i am hearing that gas prices, adjusted for inflation, were

actually higher during the carter admin. that's not my recollection. blaming clinton will be next.

ellen fl

[Inland]

10. That's right. And how were things during

the Carter adminstration? Pretty sluggish.

Energy prices will do that. Did it then, will do it now.

[TheFarseer]

15. so it was Carter's fault?

the only one that tried to do anything constructive and it was his fault. Dear God what a country we live in!

[ProfessorGAC]

19. So Were Wages

During Carter, real wages, adjusted for inflation were higher than now. That would mean that the needed income level for any given purchase would deduct a higher percentage of total income. This leaves the average family with a lower fraction of discretionary dollars. This puts a crimp on economic growth.

So, tell one of these dunces that the next time you hear that argument.
The Professor

[catmandu57]

20. I have to drive down to Kansas City tomorrow

I'll count how many suvs pass me doing eighty like they usually do, myself I'll probably hold to 65 mph, go ahead pass me that's what the lane is there for.