From: Matthew Welland (matt@essentialgoods.com)
Date: Sun Feb 02 2003 - 21:07:14 MST
On Sunday 02 February 2003 05:16 pm, Mike Lorrey wrote:
> --- Kai Becker <kmb@kai-m-becker.de> wrote:
> > Am Samstag, 1. Februar 2003 20:37 schrieb Rafal Smigrodzki:
> > > ### If gas costs .85 $/gallon, I can drive to visit my wife in
> > > Pittsburgh and still have money left to invest in a high-tech
> >
> > company.
> >
> > > If you increase the cost of gas to 5 $/gallon, as in Europe, I
> >
> > won't be able to drive 700 miles a week,
> >
> > Pardon, but I assume that your real interest is not to buy oil/gas,
> > but to travel these 700 miles/week in a comfortable, self-determined
> > way, isn't it? So, the real problem is not the price of oil/gas, but
> > the missing alternatives to todays cars for transportation, which
> > use a)a large amount of b) oil/gas, which is c) neither unlimited
> > nor d) produced in an ideal free market.
> >
> > I'd set on (a) first, and on developing (b) and (c), which would
> > probably
> > solve (d) as a result (iff the b/c-solution doesn't produce another
> > single factor dependency).
>
> Taxing the hell out of oil and spending 99% of those taxes on welfare
> state agendas does nothing to develop alternatives, produce unlimited
> supplies, or in any way create a more ideal market. Quite the contrary.
Government spending is a (very big) issue that is separate from the issue of
how best to raise the money to run government. Would you be better or worse
off if your oil heating bill increased by $200 next winter AND you also got
an additional $200 in your tax rebate check? That is the question I am asking.
By the by, I've known some dang good workers who relied on welfare to get
back on their feet from knocks beyond their control. If done wisely (and I
acknowledge that often it is not) I think welfare can be an excellent
investment in the future of the nation.
Matt
-- > ===== > Mike Lorrey > "Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils." > - Gen. John Stark > "Pacifists are Objectively Pro-Fascist." - George Orwell > "Treason doth never Prosper. What is the Reason? > For if it Prosper, none Dare call it Treason..." - Ovid > > __________________________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. > http://mailplus.yahoo.com
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