mrsx said:
You know, I think you have some very good points there. I don't disagree with what you have said, but what has the military done for me lately? Why are we kissing the ass of these Saudi princes who are funding anti-American madrasas and suicide bombers? They enjoy their marble swimming pools etc. because our military is saving them from their own people. That makes them a province of our empire. Fine! Now it's time for them to pay the bill. "Free gas for free people!"
Consider the consequences of what you want.
Consider the Law of Supply and Demand which states that the demand for a resource increases as price decreases according to a formula:
Demand = Supply/Price
If the price goes to zero, the demand becomes very large, eventually going to infinity (using a calculator, make up some numbers for "Demand" and "Supply", then substitute decreasingly smaller numbers for price e.g. 1, .01, .000001, .00000000001 and so forth, and you'll see what I mean).
But if the demand become infinite, what happens? The supply will decrease rapidly, even exponentially, so that eventually, you will see all oil resources depleted. And since there is no money, no gas/oil exploration and therefore, a world wide shortage of oil and gas.
Prices go up and down for a reason, i.e. to regulate demand and conserve resources(or increase production of the resource). That is something that Leftist/Socialists don't seem to understand. They believe that the law of supply and demand can be ignored as well as its consequences when they propose social and economic policy. But the law of supply and demand is a natural law just like the Law of Gravity or the Laws of Relativity. You can't escape the influence of gravity, you can't go faster than the speed of light and yes, Virginia, there really ISN'T a free lunch.
I could go on and on with other examples that show just how misguided many economic policies are and how they create social problems, for instance....
1. Rent Control in New York City causes homelessness
2. Farming subsidies exacerbates world hunger (as in India, where people are starving, but the government pays farmers to actually destroy crops)
3. The minimum wage has increased unemployment and poverty
A good read for you (or anyone) is "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell. He does a good job of explaining a lot of this. He also has another book "Advanced Economics - thinking past stage one" which is a companion work to it.
on the Saudis! 
).....
