Paul says I never say good things when the gas prices go down, so I'm about to correct that behavior.I just topped off my tank for $1.95 per gallon at a Fusion station on Ford Road in Garden City, Michigan. I was at just over half a tank, so I didn't really need the gas. I just had to reward the owner for lowering the price below $2.00.
So I have to give credit where credit is due - to President George W. Bush. His policies have screwed the environment up completely, and the global warming that has resulted is causing unseasonably mild temperatures and lowered oil prices. There is a temporary silver lining that I must recognize. The fact that we are hastening the coming ice age (2012?) isn't a problem for me today.
Of course, his "New Way Forward" will destabilize the Middle East, and oil prices will rise before the winter is out, but for now I'll extend a single digit on my left hand to the president.
What? That's not my thumb?
6 comments:
One rarely understood question in economics: Why do prices rise faster than they fall? Why did petro prices jump faster than they are now easing on down? The reason is simple: When prices rise, consumers rush out to purchase all they can before the prices rise even faster... creating demand that boosts prices. But when prices fall, consumers wait to see how far they will drop. For example, Nadir filled up today for $1.95/gal. Will he regret this if tomorrow he spots $1.85/gal?
Nadir needn't "reward" the merchant who lowered his price to $1.95/gal, and that Nadir felt he was doing so indicates the underdeveloped comprehension of economics that I suffered with for most of my life. That merchant did Nadir no favor by lowering his price today, nor did he punish Nadir back when he raised his price.
Nadir also seems to believe that this non-winter in our area (which includes Michigan) represents some new phenomenon in modern times, and that only human activity explain it. However, similar non-winters occurred in the '60s and '40s.
I leave it to curious and opened minds to examine the debate over explanations for the current warm period. But I assert without qualification that today more humans, and a greater fraction of humans, than ever in the history of civilization live in clean and sanitary conditions, and that humans born today in the modern civilizations are th luckiest, safest, healthiest, and wealthiest ever.
Paul I have no lack of comprehension about economics. I rewarded that owner with my business as I had never spent money there before. Since you aren't a business owner there you fail to comprehend the economics that customers don't have to shop with you even if you have better prices or superior products.
A good business owner would thank a new customer for their business just as a good customer should thank a business owner for good service or a good product. You don't know shit about running a business, so I wouldn't expect you to know that.
I also have no misunderstanding about the nation's history of climate change or irregular winters or summers. Despite what you think, you aren't the smartest person around.
My reading tells me we are due for a major climate shift regardless of man's interference. What Bush's environmental policies and similar policies that have allowed greenhouse emissions to flourish are doing is they are accelerating the climate change events.
As I heard a scientist explain it last week, our actions are "loading the dice" for global warming. If you load the dice for snake eyes it will land on snake eyes more often than if you just left it alone. Will it hit snake eyes all the time? No. But it will hit more often.
Bush's policies are loading the global warming dice for snake eyes, and humanity will come up the loser when the earth's normal climate cycles occur.
Since you understand economics, why did you think that the petro station merchant was doing you a favor by lowering his prices in response to lower-than-anticipated demand pressures? Or that regulating prices during times of shortages will produce any desirable effect (unless you desire empty shelves posting pre-shortage water prices and empty filling stations advertising pre-shortage petro prices)? Or that mandating a minimum wage for drummers will not result in lost gigs for drummers, or for organic farm interns will not result in fewer internships?
And why is it that you believe that (1) I have never owned a business and (2) that owning a business constitutes an absolute requirement for understanding economics?
And if you understand climate cycles, why in your post did you attribute this season's non-winter entirely to the six years of Bush policies?
"Since you understand economics, why did you think that the petro station merchant was doing you a favor by lowering his prices in response to lower-than-anticipated demand pressures?"
He wasn't doing me a favor, Paul. I liked the low price so I stopped. In fact, if I had waited, I saw a station selling gas for 1.93 in Detroit later in the day.
I rewarded him with my business. I could have rewarded the guy who was selling at $1.93 or one of the guys who was selling at $1.99.
But your problem is you just want to prove that you're smart by starting a debate where there is nothing to debate. You're such an asshole.
Very intelligent discourse, Nadir. Calling me an asshole will require me to redouble me efforts to prove that I'm smart.
Your original post was very antagonistic, accusing Bush of "screwing up the environment", doing so to such an extent that it has eliminated winter, and branding this a "temporary silver lining" on the way to disaster. Then you threw in a shot about his new "way forward" destabilizing Arabia, which you topped of by flipping him off.
Now you claim that this warranted no response, except for "assholes" attempting to prove prove that they are smart.
Nadir: Since you believe that only business owners can understand economics, please answer these questions:
1. Should the owner of Randazo's Frut Market have a say in the wages and prices associated with your band? Should he have a say in how much you pay your drummer? Or how much club owners pay you? What if he got elected to congress and proposed mandatory minimums for drummer and band wages? Ie, paying drummers enough to raise a four-member family "above the poverty line" (about $20k/yr), and paying bands enough so that all of their members have the same wage?
2. What fraction of senate and congress members have ever owned businesses? Do you accept their decrees about "anti-price gouging" and minimum wage laws? What businesses have John Kerry, Al Gore, and Bill Clinton ever owned? You voted for these guys; do you believe that they understand ecnomics?
3. What business has Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, Che Guevara, Mao, and Lennin ever owned? Do you believe that any of these guys understand business or economics?
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