I would normally say the same, except for Ron Paul. Are you aware of the man? If so, I'm curious; how do you believe he is not honest, and not working for the benefit of his constituents?

cej102937

That works unless they put the phone in a shielded bag. Then it won't receive text messages.

Iceland has an economy today, after they let things crash in 2009. Greece will have an economy again shortly after they let things crash.

There is some historical precedence for this. The crash of 1920 was much larger than the crash of 1929. Question: why did it take 10 years and a world war to recover from the (much smaller) crash of 1929?

cej102937

Agreed 100 percent.

Thus I find myself in a strange conundrum; I am frustrated at the rising cost of gasoline and electricity, yet I look forward to its increase.

cej102937

But you are late to the party.

Several years previously to this, the SEC granted special privileges -- hedge exemptions, specifically -- to various large investment banks. Goldman Sachs was the first, in 1991, followed by all (most?) of the other large players. These exceptions allowed the big banks to trade the market as if they were primary producers, when in fact they have no actual goods to deliver. This allows them to drive the price in both directions, and is likely the direct cause between the extreme volatility in nearly all the major commodities markets.

These exceptions are not exceptions that you or I could obtain. They are granted by the SEC to certain specific banks, to allow those banks to run their corrupt derivatives trades in our markets. It is with these exceptions that the large investment banks drive the incredible volatility and obscene price gouging that is currently prevalent in the commodities markets.

Your example, of the CME's margin hikes, is actually a textbook example of wrongful government intervention in the market. They used margin hikes to deliberately crush the exponential rise in commodities. Why did they do this? Because at that time, the large investment banks held enormous short positions, which stood to lose tremendous amounts of money. By raising the margins, the CME allowed those banks to continue making enormous sums of money, while simultaneously maintaining the value of the US dollar by obscuring the fact that it is being steadily inflated to worthlessness.

The whole game is rigged, top to bottom, no better than a casino. The problem is caused by government intervention, but you must often look more deeply to determine how. If the government did its job, which is to ensure a free and open market and stay the hell out of everybody's business otherwise, then this whole situation would never be a problem.

cej102937

Historically, countries have handled this kind of situation with trade tariffs. If you make it very expensive to export, then those materials will tend to remain domestic. An additional bonus is that this method is completely constitutional in the United States, whereas adding restrictions to mining companies' use of product is quite unconstitutional.

Coal is used for more than just gadgets. However, none of the edifices you described last more than a couple generations at best before they must be replaced. I will grant you that the benefit of good schools can uplift a culture for many generations; however, we have many more efficient ways to create these institutions, right now.

This is why increasing domestic energy production does not reduce local energy costs:
http://news.yahoo.com/first-gas-other-fuels-top-us-export-200739553.html

Want to bet how much of the oil transported to the Gulf of Mexico via the Keystone XL pipeline would actually end up sold inside the United States?

cej102937

I drive a car, I enjoy electric light and water provided by the destruction of non-replaceable energy sources. I am at fault.

The mining companies enjoys their ability to extract a profit from the earth because US political entities (state and federal) lease public land to those mining companies. The US government sponsors and profits from these destructive mining activities. The people of the US allow this to continue. We are at fault.

"It's despicable that a private company gets to make so much money from selling a national resource."

I do not think I could have put it better myself. Thank you.

I also do not think government should get to make money from selling a national resource either, because the value is in the conservation of that resource; once you exploit it, it no longer has value.

cej102937

"We" in this case refers to me, my family, the people in my geographical region who share the burden of local environmental problems, and the people in the political entity of the United States who collectively share the burden of allowing this monumental destruction of our children's land.

cej102937

The outrage is not in the who, but in the what. The destruction will last for as long as the human species exists, yet benefits only a couple generations. Once burned, the energy is irreplaceably lost, and whatever we are making with it will last for another couple generations at most. The majority of what we make with it won't even last a single generation. Much of it barely lasts five years.

We lose our mountains to make 5-year gadgets? There's no conspiracy; just an incomprehensible degree of greed and waste.

Selfishly, I feel a little better if it at least benefits my own country. For our mountains to be lost to benefit another country feels like a mounded insult on top of a grievous wound.

cej102937