The Free Market Sets Prices at the Pump
In another example of the administration’s doublespeak, President Bush said (on April 28), “Higher gas prices ... [are] a tax on families.” It’s hard to see how the operation of the free-market system can be considered a tax. It’s time we stopped looking at cheap gas as an American birthright and started treating it as the limited natural resource that it is.
Instead of pumping oil at increasingly desperate rates, it’s time we began a concerted program of conservation and the development of renewable energy sources. Although we’re not in immediate danger of running out of oil, we are nearing the historic point of peak production, after which production will inevitably decline.
Meanwhile, many parts of the world are rapidly increasing their rates of consumption. Can’t Bush see beyond the end of his term in office?
David Salahi
Laguna Niguel
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