[Rhodes22-list] Political Gas (all kinds)

[Brad Haslett]

Ed & Elle, Andrew

I truly don't understand what's going on in Nashville and Knoxville
with gasoline availability. Maybe they have a boutique fuel
requirement?  Some cities do. But let me address Andrew's comment
about "gouging".  If I put my house on the market for $100,000 over
its value am I gouging?  No, I may be greedy and stupid but I'm not
gouging anyone.  Right after Hurricane Ike, the Texas Attorney General
and even President Bush felt it necessary to get on their soapbox and
rattle sabres about "gouging". Bush has no excuse, he does have an MBA
from Harvard and knows better.  This is capitalism at its finest!  You
have a limited supply of something, you raise your prices to reflect
the new spread between supply and demand, buyers either pay for the
spread or conserve what supplies they have on hand.  If the demand
remains in place, opportunists fill the need and the price comes down.
 How simple is that?  Where were all these Attorney Generals when the
real estate market was inflating beyond all reason? It was a bubble
and it popped, period, end of story.

Now I'll address the core of the "toxic" mortgage meltdown that no
politician has the guts to address.  Politicians from both parties
forced lenders to loan to people who had no business borrowing money.
It may not be fair that Blacks and Hispanics are poorer, and greater
credit risks, but those are facts.  A lot of these bad loans were made
to illegal immigrants (a whole other problem that needs to be
addressed) and in some cases, especially in places like Las Vegas and
others, they were used as pawns by bigger players in fraudulent loan
schemes. In the California market (a huge chunk of the problem) Asians
were often given a pass on proof of income because so much of their
income is "under the table". If the government wants to make
homeownership easier for minorities, then do so, but put a price tag
on the cost of this social service and don't put lipstick on these
mortgage pigs and sell them just like and other piece of paper. Yeah,
we have a serious financial and economic problem on our hands and
there's plenty of "bad guys" all around to blame.  Hopefully some
heads will roll. But let's keep our eyes on the ball here and identify
the root cause.  We experimented with a social solution to a free
market issue and the experiment failed.

Are we as a nation stupid enough to try this failed experiment twice?
Yeah, probably.

Brad

On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 6:55 AM, Tootle <ekroposki at charter.net> wrote:
>
> Elle:
>
> 1.  Automotive gas - the shortages and outages are random.  For example here
> in Greenville, we have a big Murphy station on a major road.  I often go
> there.  Typically they are at the lowest local price.
>
> Yesterday, I specifically went there.  There were many pumps with bags and
> long lines - price posted at 175.9.  So I headed on to my destination which
> took me near three small convenience store type stations also known to be
> low priced.  They sit on the edge of a low price neighborhood and just south
> of I-85.  Prices posted there were 165.9 and 169.9.  No lines and no pumps
> shut down and no problem, but they have no signage on the interstate.
>
> The answer is auto gas is out there, you may have to shop around or stay in
> lines.  On 20 gallons at a nickel extra that is only a dollar.  So if you
> are in a hurry or do not want the hassle, a dollar more should not be
> critical.
>
> 2.  Reply about Herb.  The last round of diatribe stopped because we
> stopped, not because of your post.  You need to find a liquor store that
> carries that high end rum, "Ron Zacapa", recommended by Jim White and take a
> couple of onces before you pass gas.  If you note, Herb does not use foul
> language, and is replying to overtly neo marxist and anti religious comments
> posted to provoke him.
>
> 3.  So go to Nashville while you still have the freedom to do so.  Under
> socialism, you will have to apply for an internal passport demonstrating
> alledged need[and it will cost for the application][you might need to hire
> an attorney to navigate the paperwork][could that be why attorneys are
> supporting socialism].  If you do have dollars left over after buying car
> gas, while you are in the Nashville area, locate those former members of
> this forum and share a bottle of Mt. Gay Rum.  Become known as the lady from
> Cheers. Let your daughter be the designated driver.
>
> Ed K
> Greenville, SC, USA
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/Elle%27s-Gas-%28all-kinds%29-tp19667987p19667987.html
> Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
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