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| Yes | 49% | 219 votes | Total: 451 votes | |
| No | 51% | 232 votes |
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Add to FavoritesWhen greed dictates market forces instead of supply and demand our government has a responsibility to step in. Oil companies are amassing record-breaking and excessive profits at the expense of other vital industries, including airlines, trucking and manufacturing. We should not protect one industry at the expense of our general economy. We haven't in the past, and we shouldn't start now.
Our democracy is based on the concept of checks and balances. Throughout our history the American government has protected the free market by imposing regulations, restrictions, and/or by providing financial support. The most recent example is with the sub-prime mortgage mess. Bail-outs and legislation were required when it became evident many mortgage lenders ignored marketplace forces and allowed themselves to be motivated by greed. Government action prevented disaster and catastrophe to our overall economy.
Oil is just as essential to our economic stability as mortgages. We are teetering precariously on the brink of a serious recession. The average American business is feeling the squeeze from ever increasing oil prices, the average American taxpayer is struggling more and more each week with its effects on their pocketbooks. Obviously, only government intervention can provide swift relief.
We need to stop resigning ourselves to the inevitability of increasing fuel prices. We need to demand solutions - big and small - that can, and will, reverse the current trend. If that takes congressional hearings to find out whether oil prices are being artificially inflated within the U.S. - we should insist on hearings. If it takes oil refineries producing at higher capacities so prices can be better contained - we should insist on increased production. If it means part of oil companies' excessive windfall profits be used to benefit both short and long term goals for American economic stability - we should demand it.
Are we so afraid of losing our free market that it forces us to succumb to the greed of the oil companies? As a country we have overcome far worse adversity. And each adversity we conquered has only made our nation stronger. We cannot afford - both literally and figuratively - to be afraid now. Too much, way too much, is at stake. We have an economy at stake, national security at stake, and our place in world affairs at stake, A free market only works when it's truly free. When it's not it's up to us and our government to get it back on track.
Learn more about this author, J Robbins.
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No
I don't know what kind of amazing lawmakers you have in your state, or what sort of genius you're sending to Congress with your vote every election, but the ones I elect seem hardly qualified to control their own personal lives, let alone one of the most critical parts of the whole economy.
You might as well ask "do you honestly believe lawmakers are going to make better decisions for you than you make yourself." Seems pretty unlikely to me.
Then, there's the fun to be had by imagining what form of sorcery these miracle-working politicians might use to banish the Evil Fuel Price demon. I have a dark suspicion they'll try to appease the monster by feeding it gigantic piles of tax money. Maybe they will take a page from that great success story, the Soviet Union, and nationalize the whole gas industry. Sure, it worked in the USSR - that's why they are the only super power left in the world today! Maybe they'll just pass a law that says you can't sell gas for more than a dollar a gallon. I'm sure the giant oil companies will keep on looking for new places to dig wells out of the kindness of their hearts. They probably are unhappy about making all that profit anyway, so it will be a relief for them to lose money hand over fist until they go bankrupt. Their employees might even keep working for them without pay. Hey, it could happen!
"Should politicians take tax money away from folks that don't drive and give it to folks that drive?" That's really the question here. A lot of people who don't drive simply cannot afford the gas, the insurance, the maintenance, and the vehicle itself. These folk walk to work, or take the bus, because they have more important things to do with their money than burn it in a gas tank. Buying shoes for their kids, feeding their family, putting a little by in case someone gets sick. I'm as selfish as the next guy, but even I feel a little uncomfortable stealing money from the pocket book of some poor dad working at a fast-food restaurant to take money home to wife and kid.
Gas is expensive for a reason, not just because some rich foreigners are trying to squeeze all the money they can out of us. There's less of it in the ground every day. The places where it can still be found have people shooting and blowing each other up. When they do find more oil, it's harder and more expensive to extract. It's annoying that it costs more to drive to work every day, but at least I can see that it is just going to keep getting more expensive, and I can plan to work around it as best I can. With gas this expensive, I can car pool, dig my bike out of the basement as see if I remember how to ride, or even check out the bus schedules online. With all the money she could make from a discovery that provides cheap energy, maybe some scientist will finally come up with an easy way to replace gas. If politicians were to start hiding the real gas price from us my using our own money to tell us lies, we would never have the information to make up our own minds.
Learn more about this author, David Thill.
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