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April 27, 2006
US: Bipartisan Demagoguery and Oil Prices
The "oil debate" going on in the United States today is a national shame. Both major political parties are blaming "Big Oil", without daring look at OPEC, or for that matter, themselves. Worse still, the so-called solutions being proposed are not solutions at all, but feel-good, blame-the-bystander measures bound to make things worse. Thomas Sowell's most recent column touches most of the issues: Oily politicians
If there is anything worse than partisan demagoguery, it is bipartisan demagoguery. Republican leaders have now joined the Democrats in blaming the oil companies for the fact that prices rise when demand expands more than supply.Prices have been rising under these conditions for thousands of years, long before there were any oil companies. This has happened with everything from food to furs and it has happened among people in every part of the world.
What has also happened in recent times has been that higher gasoline prices bring outraged charges of "gouging" by Big Oil. Some of the most emotionally powerful political words and phrases are wholly undefined -- "exploitation," "greed," "social justice" and the perennial favorite, "gouging."[...]
Posted by Ruy Diaz at April 27, 2006 9:23 AM
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