Here comes Mighty Mouse
Posted by Ritter on May 19, 2008
(that would be our intrepid slawmakers) to save the day. Not.
A Senate panel wants answers to their questions on whether
institutional investors and hedge funds are contributing to food and energy price inflation.
No word on whether they intend to ask themselves what government’s role in such inflation could conceivably be.
I know this is complex and difficult to understand but prices rise when demand outstrips supply at a given price. So, if you want lower prices for gas and food (and anything else, for that matter) you can do either or both of the following:
- Increase supply (drill more, refine more, regulate less, tax less);
- Decrease demand (end subsidies and other assorted boondoggles, such as ethanol mandates).
Of course, if you’re a politician, those are not likely to interest you. Instead, therefore, your options will be:
- Find a scapegoat (that would be anyone who has not yet achieved the coveted status of “victim”, preferably successful capitalists and their businesses);
- Tax and regulate (because that’s how you justify your existence, maintain your elite power status and keep those kickbacks er, campaign contributions coming in).
Naturally, trusting our elected officials to do the right thing (by them), we can expect more of the latter. Much more. Especially when the socialists are voted in, which is a given, since no capitalists are running.
UPDATE 5/21: The little critters do not disappoint — they remain clueless, but never miss an opportunity to pander to wealth envy while blaming someone else. Congress grills oil execs on record pump prices but turns a deaf ear to logic: “As repetitive and uninteresting as it may sound, the fundamental laws of supply and demand are at work,” said John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Company.
