Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Gas Puzzler


Soon after landing on American soil, I found myself lining up for gasoline for 45 minutes, and that told me something was wrong with this land of free enterprise. When all the establishment media I could lay hands on failed to explain the shortage, I knew it was worse. When only a fringe magazine (The Libertarian Review, July/August 1979, with outstanding articles by D.T. Armentano, Murray Rothbard, Roy Childs et al) offered a credible explanation, I learned where to go for more good sense on all manner of anomalies; and so in due course I encountered Strike The Root.
This year, there aren't any gas lines (though stay tuned), but the price seems outrageous; and in particular, its rate of increase recently has been amazing. Once again, establishment media offer no credible explanation; reports of gas prices often follow weather information, which seems quite appropriate since they have little idea what causes either. But this time, there's a difference: I've not yet seen a fully credible explanation of what's going on even in libertarian literature. That's a first.

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