Gas prices to go up from CNN

[thebear54]

I understand basic economics well enough to remember how the last "trickle down" and "rising tide lifts all boats" helped the middle and lower classes. And how when you're super rich, being broke means you only have multi-million $ estates in 3 different countries...all equipped with $5000 shower curtains....

Funny.....BUT SO TRUE!!!
John

[Heraclid]

I like you guys too much to want to go too far down this road, so maybe we should drop this, but I will say this and I'll leave it at that...

First of all, I'm don't consider myself poor but I'm not rich or even what I'd call middle class. But I'm still a conservative and I still think the rich are rich because they keep doing the things that make them rich, and the poor stay poor because they keep doing the things that make them poor. You cannot keep making the same decisions and expect anything to change. And the wealthy have as much right to their money as you or I do. It is theirs and nobody has a right to try to tell them how to spend it or how much they can have. You've got no right to it. I guess you want to take their money and spread it around so everyone is equal. Well you just watch what happens to unemployment and your standard of living when you get your way. We'll all be equally miserable - I pray you never get to see how you like it then. I've about had it with jealous people wanting to cut other people off at the knees - not because it will do a damn thing to improve their lot in life, but just because they have more than they do and they can't stand it. It's sick.

Reagan cut taxes, the economy spiked, and revenue to the government doubled while cutting taxes sharply. Letting people keep more of their own money works. And if you're so worried about your taxpayer dollars, you need to start demanding some accountability from your government regarding how they waste those dollars. Government was never meant to provide anyone with social security because they won't save for their own retirements and all these other things government does now that it has no business getting into. But lots of folks don't want to do anything about it because once they get on the government take and get used to the handouts, they don't want the personal responsibility that comes with turning that around.

I fear for the future of this great nation. People have become so misguided that they don't even know the basics about how this country came to be and what made it great. It is a historical fact that whenever the populace of a nation discovers it can vote itself money out of the public treasury, that nation crumbles and becomes a pale shadow of its former self. Our founders understood this and that is why we were founded as a representative republic. That is why the word democracy does not exist in our founding documents. Our founders wisely sought to avoid it altogether. Democracy is inherently flawed - it is mob rule rather than rule of law. Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what's for lunch. Get a clue before we're all screwed.

Rant over.

[Joe_Black]

Not a bad rant and we're certainly well into "troubled times".

Here's mine: Our nation's attitude about fuel and consumption, and the resultant cry against rising prices yet little action among the criers, are just symptons of the greater ills. We are no longer a nation of united states. That's just a holdover kept to make the illusion feel better. This "country" is a vast pool of consumers gobbling the spew from special interests and a corporate controlled government. The only change on the horizon is when the entire planet is basically a conglomerate of controlling mega-corporations looking to extract every possible resource and capital from it's captive workforce. My bet is we're there within the next century. Why? Very, very few people are willing to rock the boat. Remember television before remote controls? You'd have to really dislike something enough to get up to change the channel. As a nation we've barely begun to even grumble about what's on the American channel, just the whiny brats at the back of the room have even made themselves noticed.

If you're over 35 you can probably relate to the changes in your lifetime, the slide to mediocrity and the lack of desire to succeed. An overfed slacker-society is ripe for control and we've taken the express lane to get there, all at the illusion of superiority over the rest of the world. Look at how children are raised and schooled today compared to the way we were. The ideals of differentation and competition are gone in order to maintain control and "political correctness". Drone production. So we continue to outsource while domestic labor unions price our nation out of jobs and the rest of the world becomes our supplier. The eventuality is that we will produce nothing and then be at the mercy of our benefactors, who we will be dependant on for food and energy. It's hard to threaten when your military doesn't have food or fuel.

But it's just business. Remember that when nations begin mergers and acquisitions. What kind of lay-offs and downsizing will be the result of that?

End rant.

[Heraclid]

I still think we're a country. I don't think corporations control the government, but I do think the government seeks to control corporations.

I'm 28 for a few more weeks, but we had a little box with a slider on it that went to 18 channels, I think. I remember that Channel 15 was Disney. I used to watch the old Zorro episodes a lot.

It's all about power. Government exists to serve the people, but government increasingly believes we exist to serve it. I still do believe we are the greatest nation on earth, but we're not on a course to keep it that way. And a lot of people in this country seem to like it that way.

You know there's something wrong with education when they start talking about not handing out awards for A-B honor roll or whatever because the other kids who didn't earn them might feel bad. Screw that. Earn it then. Like you said, they're taking away any incentive to excel. Then little Johnny is all proud of his or her school supplies on the first day of school and the teacher confiscates them from everyone in the class and tosses them in a big bin and says they belong to everyone and they're not his anymore.

Education funding needs to be cut, not just frozen. Spending more and more isn't making it any better. They need just enough to get the job done, and there need to be standards that are stuck to so we get some results. There are way too many government programs, perhaps many the brainchilds of good intentions - but good intentions are useless without results and we need to demand results. Like the old saying goes, sometimes the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Joe, your post had visions of the Imperial Senate and legions of Storm Troopers dancing in my head. :-) I don't see things ever getting quite so extreme, or at least I certainly hope not. But it's true that we are producing less and less here, and other places will suck on the teat of the USA until they're fat and happy and when they don't need us anymore and we're not producing enough on our own, we will be ripe for the picking. And many will put on that yoke quite willingly.

[kpaske]

I think you both, Heraclid and Joe, have made some extremely valid points about this direction of this nation. My question is, outside of trying to affect our own little corner of the world, what can be done to stop the snowball effect? It seems to me that way too many of the people who make the decisions in this country are fat cats who are way too content to give up their short sighted greedy goals because they've lost the ability to understand the long term consequences of their actions. My fear is that those who have the forsight to see the direction we are headed are in a small minority and don't have the financial or political power to reverse the trends. Am I just a pessimist?

[Heraclid]

I once heard someone say that we get exactly the government we deserve, and I'm inclined to agree. Perhaps I am just naive, but I would say that I am guardedly optimistic. I think the situation isn't looking good but I think the number of people who recognize the problem is growing every day. I know that eventually enough people will see what's up and do something about it, but how deep of a hole we're in by that time is anybody's guess.

[nater]

My Trooper has been gathering dust for months now... I do most of my city driving in the Prius. I've been averaging 43 MPG in cold weather and over 50 MPG in warm weather (above 50 degrees or so).

My Trooper seems archaic in comparison...

Nate