Yes he does. The penny will drop eventually though. Meanwhile though, there will be the wildly entertaining quotes about an economy regulating itself. I nearly spit coffee all over the keyboard when I read that. Great stuff.

Lloyd, you really haven’t supported a thing you said. Why are you asking other people to do so?
You must own an oil company or something, to ask why CAFE standards need to change. Do you really need that explained?

So far there has been no major oil find in the last 20 years or at least since the technology became available to drill in the Northern seas of Europe. Even the most fundamentalist religious whack-job who has Adam riding dinosaurs realize that oil is a finite resource and that big gas guzzlers are unsustainable. Yet to bow to this supposed free market, we are supposed to eat our proverbial energy seed corn so a fill-up for a Sunday drive is a nickel cheaper at the pump. It makes absolutely no sense and is good example of a “free market” not working sensibly. That is unless you want 2070 America to be on its’ knees to Russia, Saudi Arabia and any other tinpot dictator with an oil supply.

You’ve made some pretty good assumptions there though that I wonder if you could explain.

You are right that speculation drove oil prices up but why were people speculating that there would be an oil shortage? What have we done to ensure that there wont be oil shortages in the future? Have we looked for more or purposely not looked for more to force a change on the country that technology isn’t ready for?

Why do CAFE standards need to be more stringent? You just threw that out there but offered nothing to explain your absolute unwavering certainty that this is the case.

You say: “The cars that people most demanded and were most profitable were not efficient and therefore did not constitute a sustainable market.” What right does the government have to determine “a sustainable market” and smother the unsustainable ones in their crib? Wouldn’t pulling the plug on SUV production be GM’s decision to make?

Finally, please explain what a bogus market is, who determines that and how higher taxes and bigger government can grow an economy better than the free men and women working in the economy can.

I believe you’re sincere in everything you say Ron but ultimately what you’re advocating is a command economy and while they may have a rich and long history, it hasn’t been a good one.

No amount of new exploration or drilling would have prevented the recent spike in oil prices. It was all speculative. Oil is a finite resource which can’t be depended on forever and fossil fuels need to be priced more in line with the real cost burdens they impose. CAFE standards need to be more stringent, not less. The cars that people most demanded and were most profitable were not efficient and therefore did not constitute a sustainable market.

My comments about Bachmann’s contribution to our current financial crisis relate to her general anti tax position and her support of deregulation, limited government, and tax relief for the most wealthy among us. These are the policies of the far right that lead to the creation of bogus markets and unstable financial instruments and the eventual breakdown of the investment banking system which has had negative effects globally. Our domestic auto industry suffered the most for some of the reasons you mentioned but all auto manufacturers and indeed most of our states and most other nations are suffering from the sequalae of these actions.

You never answered my question. Do you think Bachmann, as a critic of Obama, would be better equipped to handle the problems we face?

Just what policies did she support that led to GM’s demise? Obama may very well be playing the hand he was dealt but dont blame Bachman for that hand or use her as an excuse for how he plays it.