What Happened To Market Economy?
A market economy (also called a free market economy or a free enterprise economy) is an economic system in which the production and distribution of goods and services take place through the mechanism of free markets guided by a free price system. In a market economy, businesses and consumers decide of their own volition what they will purchase and produce. Technically this means that the producer gets to decide what to produce, how much to produce, what to charge customers for those goods, what to pay employees, etc., and not the government. These decisions in a free-market economy are influenced by the pressures of competition, supply, and demand. This is often contrasted with a planned economy, in which a central government decides what will be produced and in what quantities.In a recent email exchange, this appeared:
Oil ShockWave Underscores Dangers of U.S. Oil DependenceAnother part of the email linked to a page which linked to this bit of brilliance:
Doug Mills/The New York Times
Last Thursday, Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE) conducted Oil ShockWave, a multimedia 'war game' designed to explore how the U.S. cabinet might react to a major interruption of the world's oil supply.
In the simulation, unrest in Azerbaijan and Nigeria and souring relations with Iran combined to eliminate approximately 1% of world oil production, causing prices to top $160 per barrel. Designed by finance, energy, and national security experts, the scenario illuminated the fragility of the global oil market. With spare supply capacity almost non-existent and global demand continuing to surge, relatively small disturbances can inflict tremendous damage upon oil consumers.
This critical finding comes as Congress is debating whether to enact legislation that meaningfully reduces U.S. oil dependence.
The consequences of the oil-market disruptions in the simulation included gas prices in excess of $5.00 per gallon, two quarters of negative economic growth, double-digit inflation, and dramatically slower job growth. As the participants grappled with the crises, these economic outcomes severely constrained U.S. foreign policy options.
"The Commission proposes that the nationMy reaction and email response was:
devote the resources generated by the sale of
greenhouse gas emissions permits to enhance the
development and deployment of improved energy
technologies. The approximately $36 billion that
Commission analysis indicates will be generated over ten
years by the proposed greenhouse gas tradeable-permits
program — most of which will come from auctioning a
small portion of the overall permit pool — will offset the
specific additional public investments summarized below."
[source]
I was immediately distressed that the red herring of global warming (now referred to as climate change) was so prominently featured. But this is a political document, so I'll attribute the wasted ink to that.Market economy? No, Command economy!I concur that coal is the most maligned and ignored resource in the energy equation for the future and have posted many times on the subject.But this makes me want to puke:
Nuclear power is a must, but because France generates 80% of their electricity from nuclear power, we must abstain. Besides all of France is a nuclear waste dead zone, just as Greenpeace or Envirofart or whatever would like us to believe will happen here.
Expanding our natural gas supply is not only important, but doable. See my post : link
Renewable energy means different things to different regions. I like to think of hydroelectric power as indefinitely renewable and another target of envirofarts. Waste wood is being used in very clean burning wood furnaces wherever trees are abundant and lumber processing is common. Wind power is great off Cape Cod, but the Kennedys have blocked that."The Commission proposes that the nation
devote the resources generated by the sale of
greenhouse gas emissions permits...."
THAT'S SO MUCH FRIGGIN' BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!
Think of all the past and famous scams and that tops all of them.
I'm sorry, but we have manipulators in government and business who are lining up to create one crisis after another by restricting resource development on one hand and taxing the hell out of those resources on the other. Whatever happened to the good old marketplace of supply and demand? Hillary, bless her heart, wants to save us all by mandating we ride pedal-powered cars. Let the marketplace dictate what's going to work and what's going to be purchased. Oh, I'm sorry, I reverted back to capitalism and free market philosophy again. Why the hell does Hillary think that people are switching from trucks and heavy SUVs to smaller cars and lighter weight crossovers and hybrids? Because she is mandating it?
It's the government and envirofarts that have prevented us from developing our resources [not enough oil?... read this] and that has manufactured an "energy crisis." Now they want to solve the "crisis" by penalizing everyone. Karl would be very happy. The ironic thing is that big business is lining up their bandwagons to get on the envirogravytrain. BP is developing alternative energy sources. Ethanol's 30% less energy per gallon will improve fleet mpg to 40 by 2020... and make a mess out of the food market.
How is all of this shit making things better? Oh, and then the UN's Stern wants the U.S. and Europe to pay China and India's carbon fees. [HT: Benny Peiser] I'm going nuclear!
P.S. I got this response to my tirade:
Is there a real crude oil crisis? Probably so, based solely on increasing global demand at some point. I've give them that much. As for the rest, well...they'll have to prove it first. That hasn't happened. Not once. Throw in global politics and conflicts, and the facts get lost in the shuffle.
The biggest problem may be the continuing decline in the U.S. Dollar. Once crude oil hits $120-150bbl, we should see a quick runup in interest rates as global investors dump their U.S. federal securities and wait for higher interest bearing payouts. At that point, we should begin to feel the first wave of hyperinflation in the USA. I have no doubt now that crude will cruise up to $120bbl no later than Spring 2008...maybe Summer 2008. If the Dollar pricing continues on above that level, we're probably in big trouble. My thoughts, anyway.
There is no question that the bulk of the crude oil problem is hype and young broker investors pushing up the price per barrel. Supply isn't an immediate problem. Yet, I find it interesting that non-OPEC production appears to have declined. Where did it go? Were the yields that small?
... "bulk of the crude oil problem" ??? Good pun!
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