Monday, June 30, 2008

3 Ways to Lower Gas Prices

Check this out, Newt is honest and smart. The speculators need to be stopped, the strategic oil reserves is a good way to do it, and drilling should be increased (though perhaps not on the level he's talking about).



We've already noted Gingirich's disdain for his party's current message and trepidation about its chances in November. If they started talking more like him, and reclaimed innovative solutions to problems of average Americans, they'd be far better off. But, the Republican Party is light years away from the Reagan-era pragmatism that Gingrich now channels, rather, it's stuck in the combative partisanship he championed while in power.

I wonder whether he can see the irony.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

dont know who is right but another perspective...

.http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/27/news/economy/birger_oil_speculation.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008062709

Anonymous said...

I don't know about "punishing" the people who played by the rules and speculated. I don't know much about the speculation debate beyond the Enron analogies and the allegation that many of the speculators are gaming the supply. If that's true, that's something very different from investment--that's fraud, and the way to "get back" at these people is something different from dumping gas on the open market. (And won't these speculators buy options on the oil market in anticipation of the US reserve running out in 6 months?)

Also, one side or the other seems to be dead wrong about expansion of drilling options as a quick fix: some say we need to open more opportunities to the private sector, others say the current options are actually running under capacity.

Newt's right about alternative fuels. On that note, we should be extremely wary of ethanol (aside from its logistical and economic problems, ethanol will negatively impact the US political economy (think more political leverage for Kansas and Nebraska).

On a sunny note, at least for the foreseeable future, we'll have less traffic and fewer assholes in SUVs.