Another aide at the meetings warned the executives that no matter what arguments they muster, it would be hard to prevent Congress from acting. Referring to a vote earlier this year to impose new mileage standards on automobile makers, the aide said, "At 90 bucks a barrel, Congress rolled the autos for the first time in 30 years -- is it too much to think that Congress will impose more restrictions on you if oil goes to $150 dollars a barrel?"No, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. Caplan's fallacy, anyone?
In any case, when Paul Krugman, Alan Reynolds and the Wall Street Journal agree on something, it's a good time to pay attention. Stop pretending we can just regulate away high oil prices. Especially you, Democrats (and Republicans, if you care about the environment). Please tell me this is some kind of plot to destroy investment in the oil industry, drive up prices further and thus more effectively promote alternative fuels. That would still be a bit disturbing, but at least it would be logical.
Sometimes life sucks and you become reliant on a finite resource. Pretending that oil price increases are due to Bush deregulating the futures markets is not only wrong, it's buying into a fantasy of cheap oil abundance the world can no longer afford to indulge.
Politicians have an excuse of needing to get elected to spout this sort of claptrap. But for those of you who have complained about the speculators (you know who you are)... You lost yours by getting this far.
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