A GASOLINE PRICE GOUGING BILL --- WHAT BULLSHIT

The vote was 284 to 141.  There were 56 "Republicans" in the mix.  The bill was a bone for the ignorant; an anti-price gouging bill.  This was in response to the recent rise in gas prices.  These politicians wanted to go home for the Memorial Day break and tell their constituents that there were actually doing something to ease the pump pain.  As soon as the House passed the bill a local Congressman -- Democrat, of course -- rushed out a press release: 

REP.  JOHNSON SAYS NO TO GAS PRICE GOUGING
Fines May Support Energy Assistance for Nation's Needy

Now isn't that so special?  Not only will Congressman Johnson be able to go to his town hall meetings over the weekend and tell the myrmidons that he is doing something about gas prices, but he's also doing something to help the poor, poor pitiful poor as well!  What a guy?  (By the way, Hank Johnson now occupies the seat once filled by the Cutest Little Jihadist in Congress --- none other than Cynthia McKinney.) 

So, what constitutes price gouging under the bill?  Well ... that's hard to say. After all, the purpose here wasn't to really establish what is price gouging and what is not.  The purpose was to pander to the voters.  So the politicians decided to tell us that price gouging occurs when the price is "unconscionably excessive" or "indicates that the seller is taking unfair advantage of unusual market conditions."  Well .. that pretty much nails it down, doesn't it? 

What this bill really does is set the stage for even more political posturing in the future.  Let this atrocity become law and the next time gas prices go up political hacks will hold grandstanding hearings to see if anyone out there might be taking unfair advantage of market conditions or charging a price that is unconscionably excessive.  Since those terms are so vague, the politicians will have wide range to strut and grandstand before the TV cameras as they grill evil oil company executives.

Bush is threatening a veto if it the bill should get through the Senate, but just when has the president shown any determination to keep the government from interfering in the free marketplace?   Sorry, but outside of the war against Islamic fascism and the big "A" I'm not really looking for the president to show any leadership on this point. 

The concept being presented to us here by our rulers is that free enterprise, the time-tested law of supply and demand, should only be allowed to work for things that you do not need. 

This is nothing less than an orgy of pandering by power-drunk politicians pandering to the government-induced economic ignorance of the dumb masses.  Does that sound insulting?  Are you offended.  Well, perhaps you shouldn't be.  You, after all, listen to talk radio.  I'm referring to the vast majority of the American people who get their daily dose of news from Entertainment Tonight and feel that the most important decision to be made anywhere in the free world before another sunrise is who will be the new American Idol.  These people can't name their two U.S. Senators, they don't know how long congressmen serve, and they couldn't name two cabinet-level departments in the executive branch of government;  probably not even one.

Our rulers couldn't get away with this price-gouging absurdity of the American people had even the most fundamental economic education.  In virtually every news story I have read, heard or seen concerning gas prices and the push for anti-price gouging legislation there has not been one single reference to oil company profit margins.  Profits?  Oh my yes!  Our rulers and the media know that we understand high profits, and they also know that not one out of ten Americans know the difference between a profit and a profit margin.  It's not how much money you make, it's how much money you make on each dollar of sales.  Hank Johnson -- our local congressman with a penchant for pandering -- knows this.  His press release .. the one where he cleverly added in a shout-out to the "needy" ...  cites the profits of the oil companies, but not one word about profit margins. 

Why are Americans so damnably ignorant?  Does something like this happen by chance?  When I was doing research for the chapters in "Somebody's Gotta Say It" about our government education system, I was shocked to learn that some of the people involved in the formation of our present system of government education had a goal of making sure we enough to function, but not enough to be much of a threat to the ruling class.  The details and references are in the book, but let me share a few gems with you.

Let's go back to 1888 and the Senate Committee on Education.  The committee was addressing local control of education.  Concerned was expressed that local control of the government education process might actually result in our children being taught too much!  The committee report actually says "We believe that education is one of the principal causes of discontent of late years manifesting itself among the laboring classes."   In other words, the more someone knows the more discontent they become in later years.  Discontent with what?  Their rulers?

I'm trying not to give away too much of my book here, but this dumbing-down of the American people deserves your attention.  You can, after all, click here to get an autographed copy of "Somebody's Gotta Say It" for your dad for Father's Day.  So just one more quote.  We go to the Rockefeller Education Board.  This is the group that funded the creation of many of our early government schools around the country.  Direct quote my dear friends ... read this and try to absorb it:

"In our dreams ... people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands.  The present educational conventions (intellectual and character education) fade from our minds, and unhampered by tradition we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive folk." 

Come on people!  Do you understand what was being said there?  Was this the goal of those who created our system of government education?  Were our children to be molded into grateful and responsive citizens bowing to the "good will" of the ruling class?  There's more to the Rockefeller Education Board's report.  Buy the book.

Oh ... and by the way, "Somebody's Gotta Say It" will also show you why anti-price gouging legislation does nothing more than produce shortages. 

The bottom line here is that if the American people had a clue about free market economics the politicians couldn't get away with idiotic nonsense like this anti-price gouging law passed yesterday by the House. 

MORE ON THE AMNESTY BILL

No matter which way you slice it, dice it or re-work this immigration bill, it is still going to allow millions of criminals to become legal U.S. residents .. and many will become citizens with full voting rights.   Right now I suppose all that we can hope for is the lesser of all the evils.

Yesterday the Senate tightened up some parts of the bill. It capped the number allowed through the guest worker program at 200,000. The Bush administration originally planned for 400,000, with the option to increase that number to 600,000 if necessary. It also cut down on the number of temporary work visas, and said that security at the borders must be tightened before any of these new laws go into place.

This one is my favorite: cracking down with mandatory prison sentences on illegal immigrants who are deported and then re-enter the U.S.  Well, isn't that special.  How about prison for the ones who enter illegally to begin with?  All we have to do is make sure that the living accommodations we provide in our prison camps for illegal aliens are at least as good as the conditions from whence they came.  Start rounding them up and throwing them in prison for a year before they're sent back and you'll see a screaming halt to the Mexican invasion. 

As for the 12 to 20 million already here?   Read what Dick Morris has to say about the amnesty bill and the Republicans.  Sadly, he makes a lot of sense.  The disgusting political reality is that this whole immigration debate is now about our law.  It is about political power.   Its about votes. 

The media is up in arms because House GOP leader John Boehner used a profane four-letter word to describe the bill. What's the big deal? I think there are a few more choice words I could add to his list.

Who knew Paris Hilton was a fan of the FairTax? Sent in by Dave Brooks.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

MONDAY ON THE NEAL BOORTZ SHOW Neal Boortz has the speech that THEY don't want you -- or especially your children -- to hear. Tune in for Boortz's famous Commencement Address. Two opportunities to catch 24 minutes of blistering reality from the High Priest of the Church of the Painful Truth. Listen Monday at 9:35ET, or to the replay at 12:35ET for Neal Boortz's Commencement Speech. Times are for the flagship station News/Talk 750 WSB.

Ann Coulter on the amnesty bill.  She says what we are doing here is importing a slave class.

Iran continues to expand its uranium enrichment, despite the U.N.'s demands. Are you shocked? Since when did the U.N. scare anyone...much less Iran.  

John Edwards to start singing a different tune with his campaign? Might be a little hard to harp on poverty while showing off your $400 haircut.

You know that crazy, left-wing blog Daily Kos? Well their annual event Yearly Kos-to be held in August-will host none other than John Edwards, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson. Looking like a liberal Presidential showdown.  Gordon Brown, of the Conservative party, will be the next Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Fidel Castro says he is alive and well. I'll believe it when I see it.

Two teenage girls might be charged with hate crimes after handing out anti-gay fliers about a classmate.

Naples (Italy, not Florida) is in a garbage crisis, with stacks of garbage over 10 feet high in some parts of the city. That stinks.

If you're a gay man, the FDA still says you can't give blood.

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