Nosmo King
Gold Member
There are way too many issues to debate and disagree over, so i thought I'd bring up three issues here, debate the various aspects of them, solve the problems they pose and move on to three other issues.
These three things have been like a burr under my saddle for some time.
First: oil speculation. I fully understand why a commodity market is necessary. I even understand somewhat, how they operate. I cannot understand why an individual or group should be allowed to participate in that market unless they are actually going to take delivery of the commodities.
The way I see it, it's almost as if I go into a convenience store to buy a Snicker's bar. There they are on the rack clearly labeled $.75. I pick one up and as I carry it to the clerk, someone with a price gun says 'I think that Snicker's bar should be worth $.80' and changes the price. Then, someone else figures that candy bar is actually worth $1.00 and changes the price again. By the time I make it to the counter, someone else has affixed a price tag reading $1.15 to my Snicker's bar.
Now, none of these folks ever had any notion of actually eating the candy bar. But the clerk takes my $1.15, pays M&M Mars $.75 for the candy (the original price) and divvies up the remaining forty cents with the goons changing the price on it.
Why do we permit speculation on commodities when those bidding up the price don't take delivery on what they have been bidding on?
The second item stuck in my craw is the notion of greed. We've heard a lot about greed lately. Conservatives tell us that unionized teachers, firefighters, policemen and road crews are greedy. The backbone of the middle class is daily accused of committing one of the seven deadly sins.
Liberals tell us that CEOs making exponentially more money than their average employees are greedy. Companies laying off thousands of workers find the bushels of cash to pay bonuses and benefits to those in the executive suite. Conservatives tell us that the pay scale is so A) jobs can be created B) the very best talent in the business world can be retained and these companies can continue to prosper and C) it's part and parcel of our basic freedoms to be paid as much as we can get away with (the John Dillinger syndrome)
So what makes for a greedy person? A middle class family trying to put aside a nest egg, provide for their children and enjoy a higher standard of living or; a company president making 700 times what that company's average employee makes?
And finally, I wonder about those advocating a smaller, less intrusive government while they also advocate for government control over reproductive freedom. I guess a government telling a painting contractor how to stage ladders and scaffolding is intrusive but a government making a frightened 18 year old endure a three day waiting period during which she is inculcated with a stifling right wing morality tale is just dandy.
Which is it? Shrinking government down to the size of a uterus, or a real advocacy for freedom?
These three things have been like a burr under my saddle for some time.
First: oil speculation. I fully understand why a commodity market is necessary. I even understand somewhat, how they operate. I cannot understand why an individual or group should be allowed to participate in that market unless they are actually going to take delivery of the commodities.
The way I see it, it's almost as if I go into a convenience store to buy a Snicker's bar. There they are on the rack clearly labeled $.75. I pick one up and as I carry it to the clerk, someone with a price gun says 'I think that Snicker's bar should be worth $.80' and changes the price. Then, someone else figures that candy bar is actually worth $1.00 and changes the price again. By the time I make it to the counter, someone else has affixed a price tag reading $1.15 to my Snicker's bar.
Now, none of these folks ever had any notion of actually eating the candy bar. But the clerk takes my $1.15, pays M&M Mars $.75 for the candy (the original price) and divvies up the remaining forty cents with the goons changing the price on it.
Why do we permit speculation on commodities when those bidding up the price don't take delivery on what they have been bidding on?
The second item stuck in my craw is the notion of greed. We've heard a lot about greed lately. Conservatives tell us that unionized teachers, firefighters, policemen and road crews are greedy. The backbone of the middle class is daily accused of committing one of the seven deadly sins.
Liberals tell us that CEOs making exponentially more money than their average employees are greedy. Companies laying off thousands of workers find the bushels of cash to pay bonuses and benefits to those in the executive suite. Conservatives tell us that the pay scale is so A) jobs can be created B) the very best talent in the business world can be retained and these companies can continue to prosper and C) it's part and parcel of our basic freedoms to be paid as much as we can get away with (the John Dillinger syndrome)
So what makes for a greedy person? A middle class family trying to put aside a nest egg, provide for their children and enjoy a higher standard of living or; a company president making 700 times what that company's average employee makes?
And finally, I wonder about those advocating a smaller, less intrusive government while they also advocate for government control over reproductive freedom. I guess a government telling a painting contractor how to stage ladders and scaffolding is intrusive but a government making a frightened 18 year old endure a three day waiting period during which she is inculcated with a stifling right wing morality tale is just dandy.
Which is it? Shrinking government down to the size of a uterus, or a real advocacy for freedom?
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