Fool's mate in two...

I like the chess reference...

Look, as I said... no one needs to defend a position against limiting or regulating how much someone can make in profits. End of story. My "hair-pulling" comments were made with that fully understood, okay? This is America, and America runs on profits. That isn't cool to say anymore, but it doesn't make it any less true.

Had you followed my link in yesterday's post, you'd see a shift in gasoline prices between June of '08 and December of '08 of more than $3.50 per gallon of gas. From $4.12 to $1.61 nationally... that's a HUGE shift by any stretch of the imagination... with no change in the supply of crude to account for it. THOSE are the kind of spikes that I think hurt the economy and put the nation at a higher security risk with no measurable reasoning behind the risk... and that means unnecessary risk.

If deregulation of such things as marijuana, opium, alcohol and tobacco still gives you pause because it might impact national security... then how dangerous is an unregulated crude oil market? Every drop of gas, diesel, fuel oil, propane, butane, every ounce of plastic, petroleum lubricants, rubber and asphalt NEEDS crude oil as a start to its production, and every facet of our lives (and I mean globally here) depends on these products... so how can deregulating the crude oil market make things better for America, economically or financially?

How has Bush's repeal of the crude oil curbs helped? THIS CHART, showing the average price of gas since 1979, shows a marked climb in prices AFTER Bush repeals the curbs... with the price NEVER coming below the HIGH point of the previous 20 years at all. Isn't this enough proof that Bush screwed up? (It is even true if you adjust for inflation... go ahead, check it out)

Perhaps its a coincidence that the prices climb at the same time as Bush repeals the curbs, you might say. Perhaps it is... but what, then, is the impetus behind the climb? The War on Terror? Iraq? Afghanistan? Tensions in Iran, North Korea, Palestine? I say no because these were all real and measurable threats long before Bush became President (with the exception of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, obviously).

No... from 1982 until 2001, we see an almost FLAT line of average gas prices, with highs of $1.60 to lows of $.88 a gallon. Since 2001, the price has soared as high as $4.40 to as low as $1.60, but averaging more than $2.75 for the last nine years. That's a 67% increase from what we paid in the 90s to what we paid in the last 10 years... with no appreciable loss in crude availability (but a nearly constant increase in our daily demand as a nation).

So, you'll never hear me say I think curbing profits is a good idea... but changing the way we allow market prices to be determined isn't the same thing. I cannot fathom how YOU, Ryan, of all people, would argue that Reagan's answer to this problem wasn't the best one! I have given you the proof of this time and time again (and again in this very post!)... end speculation pricing as an option in crude oil futures trading, and watch the wild ups and downs of the last 10 years go away... just like they did in the 80s and 90s. The cost of a barrel of crude will be determined by what is available TODAY... not by what might be available tomorrow, or next month. Surely you aren't going to tell me that Exxon-Mobile, BP, Texaco, Chevron, Shell didn't make billions upon billions of dollars in profits throughout the 80s and 90s... because I think they did.

Now... does that remove the threat posed by foreign powers over our economy and national security? NO. You are 100% correct when you say we need energy independence to be safe... but what I am saying needs to be done will surely give the struggling economy a much needed kick in the ass. Stable gasoline prices will allow for a reduction in distribution costs and allow consumers a larger area to "consume" from (meaning more travel and spending). It will put more people to work in industries that have suffered much since the bubble burst of 2000... including the American auto industry and freight hauling.

So, before we can adequately address the tree-huggers and nature-first types of people who seem to want to go back to the days of horse-and-buggy travel... we need to show that this nation can adequately protect the means by which mainstream America commutes to and from work/shop/play at reasonable rates of expense. THEN we can begin to make inroads to supplying our own oil needs and forgoing foreign import dangers.