Mismanaged to the nth degree...

Is it just me, or is the USA (mostly) run by a bunch of morons and populated (mostly) by the same?  The country is over 9 trillion dollars in debt!  The governments' answer for a slow down in the economy:  give everyone that filed a tax return a rebate check for 300-600 dollars?  What kind of answer is that?  Let's go deeper in debt?  Let's mismanage to even a greater degree?  Let's show the world what a complete bunch of idiots we are?  Oh my goodness.

Gas prices are too high.  What to do?  Oh, I know, let's do away with the gas tax at least temporarily?  Well, what are those taxes for?  Where does that money go...what does that money accomplish?  Where is that money going to come from if it doesn't come from those taxes?  Oh, I see, let's go further in debt...or rob Peter to pay Paul.  We'll pay back Peter later.  Good planning.

What plagues America that it has been reduced to a laughing stock?  Could it be that the whole political system is based on a popularity contest?  Could it be that anyone actually trying to deal with the real issues that the country faces has no real chance of ever being elected because changes of the magnitude necessary would require a complete restructuring of America and would likely impact just about everyone's current life style?  Is the problem now too big to address responsibly?  Must a new beginning be birthed from catastrophe?

My Christian Interpretation would be that countries rise to power and countries fall from grace.  What precedes the fall?  A distancing from God, and all things called holy.  A man reaps what he sows, and so does a country.

Gas prices...

Caught between a rock and a hard place. Currently, we need fossil fuels. There is only so much of it and it’s located wherever it’s located. Its quantity is finite. In a capitalistic society, if you own a piece of it, you will want to make as much money as you can from it. That’s the way you do business. If the consumer uses less, the owners will just charge more for less. It’s a win/win for them. If you use lots of gas, they will make lots of money, if you use less gas, they will make even more money. Bottom line, if they can get you to conserve, they can make the most from their finite supply.

I remember the ‘energy crisis’ some years back. Lots of people cut back on electricity. Lots of people bought energy efficient lighting, heating, refrigeration, increased their insulation, etc. What happened? The cost of energy went up. Your bill went up even though you conserved. Same thing will apply with oil. For the consumer, it’s a lose/lose.

There is a balancing act, though. The oil industry has to find out just what the market will bear and still stay healthy. They wouldn’t want the bottom to fall out of the economy. If they get too greedy, that could come back to bite them. If they are smart, they also wouldn’t want to upset the powers that be. That could also come back to bite them. An economy is like a circulatory system. If that circulation is impaired, the life [style] that economy provides is impacted. Some countries might get aggressive to preserve a ‘way of life’. I can think of a few ways that countries could get aggressive. They could impose new regulations, the government could take control (like Chavez is doing in Venezuela), they could wage war against a country that is controlling oil pricing, or they could attempt to assassinate the key players.