(no subject)
Thousands dead in New Orleans...
2 main supply lines to Athens shut off at 3pm today...
Lines at the gas pumps backed out to the road...
Should hit 4/gallon here in Athens by tomorrow...
Solutions such as federal gas price ceilings have been suggested by Bush. What do these ceilings create? Shortages and even higher prices... how? The quantity demanded of gasoline is so much higher than the quantity businesses can supply (and still pay the cost of staying in business) - at this artificially low price - that there becomes a black market where people pay extra under the table to get their hands on a precious few gallons.
In addition, current laws require split all vehicles up into a couple of simple classes
based on size and function with minimum MPG requirements. Bush has also proposed dividing these categories creating further complication and having undesired effects.
Instead of letting market forces drive people to demand more fuel efficient cars over time, these new requirements force car manufacturers to design smaller, lighter, less safe vehicles. If market forces were simply allowed to work, people would get tired of driving gas guzzlers and begin reducing their miles while demanding change.
Even cowboys should study economics, and need to.
Supplies of gas in the southeast are falling fast and what is making it worse? People are panicking trying to get every drop they can. Ever seen what happens in economics when the supply curve shifts back and the demand curve shifts up at the same time?
PRICES JACK EVEN MORE.
This goes for every other basic good that people are rushing to buy. There is stocking going on because people are afraid low fuel supplies will interrupt the transfer of basic survival goods, thus the demand rises again and so does price.
30+ billion federal aid package has been prepared for disaster relief raising the federal budget deficit to 331bil.
Not to mention we have a national trade deficit to finance our rich lifestyles. What does this mean? Every year we import more than we manufacture and export because we can't make enough here, and how to we finance this? More credit.
The average American has several thousand in credit card debt.
We have ridiculous bankruptcy protections where people can charge up thousands more than they can ever pay for, consume it all, and then throw their hands in the air and never pay it. And who eats the cost of this unjustified consumption?
Some of my friends have wondered if this is all leading up to something.
Did someone say Apocalypse?
Now....
Keep in mind so many people thought the same things about Y2K and 9/11.
You could protest... we could sit around at waffle house and come up with world-changing
solutions on a napkin like so many times before but we just haven't had the time
or opportunity to put them into practice yet.
Or maybe no one has listened.
Nevertheless, I know what I'm gonna do. Live each of these days as if it were my last.
We may have 100 hours or 100,000 years left, but either way... enjoy it while it lasts.
This may be the dawning of the fall of one of the world's great civilizations, or maybe, just
maybe... the beginning of something even greater.
No one knows exactly what He has in mind.
So sit back, relax by the stream, have a drink (or two),
and pray a little prayer that everything works out for the best.
Because it will.
Just give it time.